Sawtooth Music Festival 2011

My man Reese and I rolled up to the Sawtooth Music Festival at 7pm on Friday evening.
Our hour long drive from Sun Valley was the same ol' nothing but beautiful - north
on 75 up over Galena Summit, past Smiley Creek Cabin (home of the world's best
milkshakes... or at least Idaho's best milkshakes), rolled past Redfish Lake and
then a left at the Stanley turnoff.

We missed the first 3/4ths of the weekend, but we were determined to
enjoy ourselves to the fullest for the remainder of the party.  Our first task
was to find a camping spot.  This first task was made easy when, while
still sitting in Reese's Honda Element, we were set upon by two
beautiful girls - Amy and Darcy - who are not lesbian sisters,
who immediately offered us swigs of Sweet Tea Vodka
and warned us not to leave the vicinity without setting up camp.

Now, denying one pretty girl might have been difficult, but denying
TWO pretty girls seemed downright impossible, if not just plain silly.
We found a cush spot a few cars away and set out to dance and see the music.

And then the rain came.

And the thunder and the lightning.

The rain drops were like cold tiny water balloons and they fell
like industrial sprinklers at a perfect 45 degree angle from the south.

The four of us took refuge in Reese's Element and enjoyed the
half case of PBR that was conveniently located at our feet.  An acoustic
jam session ensued, full of steel strings, harmonicas and the always
essential tambourine.

Plus an orange glow stick axe, of course.

And then the sun came out.

Just in time to set.

And then when I didn't think it would get any prettier, a rainbow appeared.

As did two other beautiful people, Mary and Cherene.

All at once, there was a rainbow to the east, a sunset to the west, and
sun-kissed mountain peaks to the south.  It was like we were all
Hobbits, marching away from Mordor for the last time.

Is that too much of a LOTR nerd reference?

I don't think so.  A few people told me the same thing, and
we became instant friends.  (Obviously)

Nite fell upon us, as did the rain, later that evening.  We
resorted to more acoustic jam sessions and indulging in
our rapidly depleting stash of PBRs.  Mary and Cherene
helped restock us halfway thru the performance, and
we were eternally grateful.

The band known as Free Peoples were gypped of their set
that Saturday nite, and so for 2 hours late into the darkness,
they played next to the stage with only their amps and
one microphone to carry their sound thru the field.
They rokked my face off, and I'm pretty sure the fiddle
player melted the majority of the other 150+ audience
members faces as well.

And so it was that a faceless audience was rokked to
sleep that nite in front of the Sawtooth mountains
under the milky way.

And the next morning, we all awoke to a fog that
hadn't been seen in months.

My man Timone and Tess drove me home the next day
while Reese went off on a kayaking adventure.

And then for good measure, I schooled Timone and Tess on
my new favourite phenomenon - Owling.
(You must see the bottom photo on that page - "Hawking")

Though I think I may have to still work on my form a bit.

-JoeySee