Burning Man: Day 5

My magic carpet

Angel. A fire dancer from LA

Dust tornado. This one missed our camp, but its big brother was soon behind

A daytime view of the fire-breathing serpent

In years past this was called the Temple of Tears...

Solar-powered, L-wired, desert-grown sun flowers

The ravenous, blood-sick creature

In another life, I believe this was a parachute

The parachute from a distance

He seems friendly enough, a bit like Salad Fingers

Officially the Belgian Waffle House, but to me the Matchstick Palace

Inside, looking out

I love big, reflective glasses

Although friendly, I learned waaaay more about these two than I wanted to. Seriously.

Back at camp (inside the dome)

I woke up around 10:00am feeling like a sack of crap. A few hours of sleep and curled up on a little fold-out bed found me in a less than optimal state for sure... my eyes were crusted shut and hurt when I blinked them; it felt a bit like gluing sandpaper to the inside of my eyelids. Thinking back, it didn't help that we've got a shortage of clear (night) goggles and I went without for much of last evening.

Regardless, it was a gorgeous morning and I quickly devoured a breakfast of granola, a banana and sunscreen. The playa was calling, largely because I left my water bottle out at the far edge of the ridable space last night. I made a straight shot for the perimeter fence to recover my lost decanter -- it was not to be: there was no sign of my lost item, nor the resting spot I had assigned it. It's fine, I suppose -- I'll try down at center camp's lost + found, and I've still got my CamelBak.

The temp was right, the light was excellent and I was in a picture taking mood. I made my way haphazardly through the desert, bouncing from art installment to art installment, meeting many friendly people along the way. Of particular interest was a giant parachute-type thing that was suspended by bamboo that flexed in the wind. It became both a shade structure and a fluid piece of art. Loved it.

The 5 hours spent cruising around in the sun gave me plenty of time to reflect on life and after the massive sand storm that shook the camper's (and campers') foundation I was feeling completely exhausted but agreed to go out to the "white party" at the Opulent Temple. On the way we (Larry, Ben, Tom, Adam, Peter, Sandra and myself) stopped in at The Bad Idea Theater (still our fav.) to watch Wizard People, Dear Reader (illegal-art.com) which was hilarious. The others were on foot so Tom and I rode our bikes up to the party and gyrated in a sea of dust and white for about 30 minutes before the others joined us. I eventually journeyed back, alone, to find my bed waiting. I stood at the foot of my bed, briefly, and then fell both onto my face and into a deep sleep.