2007-06-05
June 1st to June 4th 2007
Mountain Jam III
Friday I went to my last day of class for my computer course. We got out early, about noon, and I started the hour and a half trip home to pack for a three day festival at Hunter Mountain, Hunter NY.
Fred had taken the day off to start getting us read to take off. He put puppy in a kennel for boarding while we were gone. It�s a good one I�ve used before. And he did the wash so I had clean clothes to pack and so he had underwear. It�s a good thing too because I had extra clothes for my header in the mud but that�s another story.
We took off for the approximately 4 hour drive about 2:30 and arrived at the Point Outlook Mountain Inn and Victorian Rose Restaurant about 6:00. It�s renowned for its 5 state view of NY, MA, NH, CT & NJ. So romantic huh? Well, we were there for 3 nights and 4 days and ever saw further than about 1000 ft and that was on the first day. By the second day the fog was coming in the windows and stayed for the rest of our time there. (But it was still romantic, it�s who you�re with that makes it romantic).
Here�s the view from the front of the Inn
Here�s Fred on the back deck with a mountain in the background.
We made it to the festival just in time to hear the end of the New Orleans Social Club, which ended at 7:30. They were really good and that surprised me because this is Fred�s music. I was never a Dead Head and most of the bands I had never heard of. I didn�t know even one band that was scheduled to play. As a matter of fact the last outdoor, multiple day, music festival I�d been to was Woodstock in 1969, and it rained, and that�s another story too. So I had no idea what to expect. Would I have to endure it or enjoy it?
Then Warren Haynes came on with Gov�t Mule. He was AWESOME! I didn�t know a single song before this and now I know �30 Days in the Hole� and �High & Mighty� among others. Warren played with the remnants of the Grateful Dead as the band simply known as The Dead after Jerry Garcia�s death. (I know, I didn�t know this either but apparently there are thousands of concert goers that do, heck I had never heard of Mule or Warren before Fred)
As the sun set I noticed a phenomenon that I�d never seen before. I�m an ocean girl. I don�t snow ski. I�m not usually in the mountains. I watched as a mist rose from the sides and tops of the mountains and it rose into the clouds. I actually watched cloud building and it looked so ethereal. It was beautiful to watch. I took pictures but I observed it every night in awe.
Close up
from a distance
The next day started foggy but by the time we got to the grounds, a natural amphitheater at the bottom of Hunter Mtn, it was sunny and hot, in the low 80�s. We got there in time to see Ozomatli. I was very, very impressed! Their energy just overflowed the stage. I looked them up later and once at a jam they refused to leave the stage and instead jumped right into the crowd and did a 45 minute encore! They also opened for Santana when he was doing his Smooth tour. I never heard of them and I was just amazed because they were REALLY good and had the audience just eating out of their hands.
Ozomatli
After them was Umphrey�s Mcgee and G Love (Both incredible bands! Loved, Loved, Loved them!!) before Gov�t Mule and Warren Haynes played again from 8:45 to midnight.
It was about this time I started to notice some things. You see I brought the binoculars and used them. The performer�s faces were as familiar to me as my own by the end of the performances. I was noticing that a lot of people that looked like the band members of the bands I was seeing looked like they were in the VIP section Fred & I were in. He got VIP tickets because it had guaranteed parking in a lot close to the stage and a special viewing area with a tent in case it rained. But it REALLY WAS the VIP area not just for people that over paid for convenience but for the bands after they finished! Yikes! OMG!
It was also this day that I noticed the odd and funny things that go on at these festivals like twirling in time to the music
and funny performance art and structures like a Karma Wash.
It was also the first late afternoon of pouring rain. I was stuck in that tent unable to see through the crowd in there for about an hour. It changed our plans for the next day that would almost certainly see more rain. I even slipped and fell in the mud that day just like back in Woodstock. People were doing it on purpose too, just like back at Woodstock. Luckily I had another pair of pants but the mud was being called �Blood Mud� because it was red clay. That night ended with more Govt Mule until midnight and we returned to the inn. You can see the crowd and mud here.
When we woke up it was POURING out so we hung out and ate and when noon came we watched the simulcast on the laptop. The conditions were drenching and predicted to get worse as evening came. That night Phil Lesh was playing with Warren Hayes and a few more and there were some very interesting looking bands playing that day. No way were we staying in. So we thunk and we thunk some more and this is what we thunk up.
We figured that we had one hooded rain poncho so we�d just go buy another one. That way we could sit in our chairs and the poncho would cover us AND the chair! Perfect, no? Well, try being the 10 thousandth customer looking for a rain poncho after yesterday�s rains. Everybody thunk the same thing and we were too late and sold out. We had to go to another town just to find a tarp.
We cut a hole in the tarp and Fred had a baseball cap for his hood. He let me have the poncho. The end result was similar to being a pod person but it was a DRY pod person. Here�s a picture of Pod Fred.
Anyhow the rain let up and we saw this really impressive act done by Michael Franti. He�s got thinking man�s lyrics to his songs and supports peace and unification of people. The best line was God is too big for just one religion. I loved him and he got the whole mountain jumping. As a matter of fact he demanded it! He�d yell, �I wanna see you all jump NOW!� and then he�d start jumping and we�d start jumping, it was all just so high energy. He got right down into the crowd and it was ROCKIN�! He�s cute too (and tall!). Here�s a picture
That night was Phil Lesh and Warren Haynes and Scofield and others. Wasn�t Scofield involved with Superfly somehow? I couldn�t track it down. Does anyone know? Anyhow it was an incredible performance in which they covered a lot of Grateful Dead songs because Phil Lesh was the Grateful Dead�s bass player. Plus they did a blazing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I�m sorry I don�t have any pictures of the night acts but my digital camera doesn�t photograph well in low light. Even the picture of the Karma Wash I posted above was taken in twilight and look how dark it is. Bummer huh? Yeah,me too.
The next morning the fog was so thick you couldn�t see across the street. So that�s how I came to stay 3 nights and 4 days in a romantic Inn with a mountain top view of five states and never saw it. *cry*. But the restaurant had something called an Italian tuna sandwich. Instead of making tuna with mayo it was made with olive oil on the dry side with chopped parsley, celery, onion, kalamata olives and a squeeze of lemon juice on a baguette with tomatoes and romaine. YUMM! They also had a toasted quesedia (sp?) made with sweet baby spinach, mushrooms and a drizzle of olive oil and melted swiss cheese. I wanted to kiss the cook. It was delicious. It was her own recipes and I wish I could have tried them all,
We left about 12:30 and found a post card for Boxx (all I need is her address) and got home and retrieved puppy by 6PM. We unpacked and were at the Moose by 7:30. I love running away but I love coming home too. It was the bestest vacation I had in a long time because I shared it with someone I love. I can�t wait for next year!
