Sasquatch 2012: A (VERY Summarized) Summary.
I departed for Sasquatch at 5:30am last Thursday morning.
At roughly 9:00pm this evening, I found my way home.
In the past six days, I have…
- Had a picnic and drank beers in a park by the mountains in Vancouver.
- Experienced a 5 hour bus ride becoming a 12 hour bus ride (the hard way).
- Learned that Washington State is breathtakingly beautiful, and in a matter of hours experienced densely forested mountains, snow covered peaks, and desert-like plateaus.
- Made new friends, that felt like family.
- Missed out on seeing some of my favourite artists perform live (Girl Talk, Alabama Shakes, Trampled By Turtles, Beck, Santigold, Said the Whale, Coeur de Pirate, etc., etc.).
- Didn’t even get that bummed out that I missed some of my favourite bands live, because I saw others that were completely mind-blowing (Jack White, Bon Iver, Beirut, Blind Pilot, Ben Harper, Civil Wars, Childish Gambino, The Shins, etc., etc.)
- Experienced ‘Skinny Love’ live. Didn’t cry. Felt like my chest was caving in.
- Huddled in a tent, sleeping in jackets and shoes, relying on body heat to get minimal relief from the cold. Shook all night, and prayed for the sun to rise so I could feel warmth again.
- During the days, piled on SPF 60 sunscreen, while sweat and dust clung to my body, and still managed to burn a little bit.
- Didn’t shower. Didn’t get rained on. “Bathing” consisted of hiding in the tent and wiping down with Wet Ones. My hair was a lost cause.
- Wore a tutu and face paint as part of a day’s attire. Just because.
- Didn’t wear make-up. Didn’t feel unpretty because of it.
- Took my pants off to Tenacious D singing ‘Fuck Her Gently’ in front of 80,000 people (I’ll be staying tuned for my ass on YouTube!).
- Had beers before 11am every single day.
- Lived primarily off cold Spaghetti-o’s, dried fruit, and granola bars.
- Woke up to the sounds of cows mooing, people mooing at cows, and the occasional saxophone.
- Didn’t once miss modern “conveniences”, such as my cell phone or the Internet. Really, really felt liberated by living a stripped down lifestyle.
- Watched two dudes dressed as sharks, dance with someone dressed as a banana and didn’t really think much of it.
- Left the camp like a refugee at 12:00am, jumped on the bus for a 6 hour drive, sat around at the Vancouver airport for 4 hours, jumped on a plane for a 4 hour flight.
All in all, I guess you don’t know unless you know. Sure, there are thousands of people walking around out there with a festival experience, or numerous festival experiences, but all I have is MY experience, and my experience was golden. Any setbacks aside, I don’t have an ounce of regret or feelings of “I wish it had gone this way”…I wouldn’t want to change a fraction of it, in fear of it compromising anything else. Naturally, I’m totally biased and convinced that Sasquatch rules over all other festivals, my companions rule over all other companions, and my joy and laughter was pure magic.
I can only hope you know what I am talking about.
Happy festival season, boys and girls. Live it up, love it up!
