Thursday, July 30, 2009

WANDERLUST

Welcome to the WANDERLUST Festival in Beautiful SQUAW VALLEY USA!


So we all heard about this great weekend festival at the top of Squaw Valley a long time ago, but no one wants to buy tickets to a place they get a free pass to in the winter. So here were the list of options to see the shows:

1. Write a haiku online and win tickets
2. Call into a radio station and win tickets
3. Pass out flyers on the streets and get free tickets
4. Hike up to the top and poach the fence or know the person patrolling and beg him to let you through
5. Somehow find a festival wristband on the ground and claim it

Well I went with option 2. That's right! I won tickets from a local radio station. Funny story actually. I had to work later in the day and so I woke up and laid in bed for a while. While dozing I decided to turn on the radio to see if I could win some tickets. I heard a Spoon song playing, which is one of the bands in the festival, and I thought maybe I would call in just to see if they were giving away tickets when an artist from the festival is on air. I called in when the song was over and as it started ringing I almost hung up thinking I was an idiot for trying. Howie, the host, picked up and I asked if I could win tickets. He said,

"Are you serious, did you realize you were already calling in to win tickets? Did you even realize you heard a Spoon song? You've won tickets to Wanderlust!"

Kim: "What the heck? Really??!! I will be right there. Where are you guys located?"

Howie: "South Lake Tahoe."

Kim: "On my way!"

It took an hour to get there and Howie stuck around to meet me. He even recorded my voice telling everyone to listen to his radio station. Everyone in the station was laughing when they heard I came all the way down from Tahoe City. I was PUMPED!

FRIDAY
We collected a bike gang and rode up to Squaw to see The Mutaytor and Sharon Stone and the Dap Kings. That woman is sassy! Then we saw a decent DJ and yes, actually closed the festival down. We were the last gang in the Village and scored free pizza out of it! Our bike gang rode home and got back at 4am.

SATURDAY
We took the gondola up to the top of Squaw Valley where an immense stage was set up. We enjoyed Rebecca Welsch and her folksy banjo and guitar and then were entertained by Jenny Lewis and her band. If you haven't checked her music out, do it soon! It then got a little hot and we all jumped in the mountain lake under the chair lift. Weird seeing all those little wonders that are normally covered by snow! And of course the place was full of locals and I knew all the beer pourers. This concert was pretty much free the whole weekend!

Michael Franti and Spearhead were supposed to play, but he got apendicides and so the rapper Common replaced them. Not the same, but still a good show. Then we headed down the gondola to see the other shows: The Mutaytor again and the awesome DJ Girl Talk. He mixes old hits like Bruce Hornsby and Michael Jackson to newer songs. It was incredible!

Matt and I were going to ride our bikes home, but we were lazy and stuck out our thumbs when a Jeep pulled over to pick us up. It happened to be a Squaw Kids instructor and we were grateful for the ride!

SUNDAY
Well I had to work the close shift on Sunday, but Spoon was playing at the top of the gondola and I really wanted to go! I made a deal with my co-worker. He let me ditch out of work for 2 hours to see the show and I promised to stay extra long to finish up all the work. I hurried over across the valley and met up with some friends at the top, watched the show, and rushed back to work to close up.

What an amazing FREE fun weekend!!! I hope they do it again next year!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Oops I Did It Again

So I have a new scar from another mountain biking mishap, but this time it's on my knee and not my head, which is a slight improvement in location. I was just wandering around Page Meadows to check out the blooming wild flowers and was then going to commute to Squaw to play some golf, and halfway though the plans I had to make a detour to the hospital after an "opps, I went over the handlebars and fell on a rock" moment. It's all good though; I carry a first aid kit and cleaned the gash right away...the doctor even said I did a good job. I was going to bypass stitches altogether, but it kinda kept bleeding, so I thought I better get a few. Luckily, my friend Katie P. was working at the hospital that day, so she kept me company and snagged a few photos. I have to admit I am a weirdo and don't mind messing a few things on my body up as long as it's fixable. I feel alive and almost brave when I do these things, and it's nothing that doctors and Dairy Queen can't fix. Enjoy!

San Diego June 16-22

Hello again friends! So my sister up and moved to the lovely city by the ocean: Saint Diego, so of course my mom and I hopped on planes to come and visit. I had never been to this city before, but by the end of the trip I'm pretty sure I could live comfortably there, even though it's so close to Tijuana, which mom had absolutely no desire to visit. Here's how it goes:

First of all, we were treated like royalty. Catherine, Shelley's friend and roommate, has parents who are, well, loaded. They have a condo downtown, and I mean downtown, San Diego that no one uses, so we volunteered for the difficult job of looking after the place. It was high security and we needed our key for just about everything. And parked in the garage to use at our disposal was a BMW convertible....yeah, pretty sweet.

So we spent some days at the beach while Shelley did her surf thing, checked out a Farmer's Market at Ocean Beach and ate at a vegan buffet that actually wasn't too bad. (My taste buds are now much more flexible after The Cleanse).

So if you ever go to San Diego you have to visit Balboa Park. It is a ginormous park filled with museums, architecture, theaters, fountains and gardens. Our first visit was the Museum of Man where we learned about the early days of brain surgery (like thousands of years ago using rocks as hammers), mummies and shrunken heads. A few days later we visited the Natural History Museum where Body Worlds 2 was on tour, you know, that weirdo process that German doctor created that preserves human cadavers perfectly in tact. It wasn't as creepy as I thought it'd be and I learned heaps about the human body and the importance of keeping it healthy. They also had a life size model of a great white shark that eerily freaked me out.


We made an excursion to a Padres baseball game. Wait, it wasn't an excursion because it was right down the street from our conveniently located condo! I was so excited for some baseball culture so of course mom and I got a hot dog at the game. The Padres are a pretty good team and I found myself cheering for them as if they were the Reds...strange, I know! And mom cheered for them too: "Go Pedros!" (It's Padres mom!!!) So then they started playing some fun music and I was having such a great time I stood up and danced to "do the mashed potato (do-do), do the alligator (do-do), put your hands on your hips (do-do), let your back bone slip (do-do). Nanananananananananana." When Shelley pulls my arm and points to the Jumbo Screen, and there was a gigantic Kim dancing for the whole stadium to see! I was shocked, but the guy in front of me said, "Just keep dancing!" It was a great game and we even got to see the "Friarworks" after the game. That city is so clever!


We also visited the world famous San Diego Zoo and did we see a lot! There's actually a gondola there called the Skyfari that takes you from one side to the other and buses that pick you up and drop you off due to the size of the place. We saw pandas, zebras, koalas, loads of snakes, polar bears, hippos, gorillas, elephants and a million different types of strollers! I mean, those prams are fancy now a days: dual strollers, fat tire strollers, wide load strollers, strollers with conveniently placed cup holders, and on and on. But back to the animals. I have to say my favorites were the gorillas. It is wildly strange how similar their behavior is to ours.








So we went out to eat a bunch and on the last night we strolled around looking for a nice restaurant. Mom and I agreed on a menu with lots of variety. We all enjoyed the meal on the patio when I glanced inside and noticed words on a big screen. This place had a karaoke night going!! I was so excited that I signed up right away. It was a little nerve racking singing in a new place, but all went smoothly and then Shelley and I sang a duet: "We Built This City." People were rocking.

San Diego is quite a town filled with great taco joints, gelato places that are open until midnight, beaches, baseball, shopping and class. I would love to visit again!