Josh and I woke up early on Saturday, and stumbled out around sunrise to go to the porta-potties. On our way back we decided to go look for the camp near ours that supposedly served coffee, which we eventually found. They were just brewing a new batch so we lounged around in their camp lounge for awhile and had a fun time talking to a few other caffeine-craving early morning burners, most of whom were just rolling back to camp after a long night rather than early risers like us (but we were all equally tired and punchy). I met a nice older man who gifted me with a carved wooden spoon/fork combo that he’d made and we had an especially fun time bantering and telling bad jokes with John the Irishman and Gaby from Sebastopol, who were camping down the street at Campoline (a camp with a bunch of giant trampolines out front). We said we’d come see them later if we could, and then they took off and we slowly made our way back to Pink Heart.
Josh went back to the yurt but I sat outside in the Pink Lounge for a while, doodling in my journal and talking to people who came by to get water. I worked the water bar for a little while too.
Josh and I were thinking about heading out for one last exploration adventure, with Center Camp as our loose destination, but as we were getting ourselves together I wound up talking to Anjanette about whether or not she’d gotten back over to the roller rink we’d seen farther down the Esplanade, like she’d wanted to. She said she hadn’t, and I felt bad that she hadn’t gotten to do something she had really wanted to do (plus I realized at that point that she and I hadn’t really had much time for playa adventuring together this burn) so I said “come on, let’s go right now!” and when she said ok, I asked Josh if he’d wait to go on the Center Camp adventure until Anjanette and I went over to the Black Rock Roller Disco. He was fine with that, so Anjanette and I hopped on our bikes and off we went.
The Roller Disco was not too far down the Esplanade, and when we got there it wasn’t even particularly busy, so after locking our bikes we walked right up and found some skates in our size and put them on and went out on the rink. I have to admit that I had a really hard time keeping my balance (I’m not an especially good roller skater and both the skates and the floor were battered and dusty and added extra difficulty) so I only wound up making it around the rink once, and then I gave up and watched Anjanette skate. They had good booty-shaking disco music though so it was fun even to stand around and observe.
When Anjanette was done we walked back across the Esplanade to where we’d locked our bikes, and as we did so the wind and dust kicked up and the rink was playing an old funky Prince song and we looked at each other and started laughing and dancing in the dust, just like we had so many times before. It was a great little "I love my BFF" moment and I’m glad we had a chance to share it.
Eventually the dust died down somewhat and we headed back to Pink Heart. Anjanette stayed at camp and I went back out again with Josh. We rode down the Esplanade towards Center Camp, looking at art cars and theme camps as we biked by and enjoying the usual dusty, colorful “you just can’t make this shit up” chaos. We stopped to see Cosmic Praise, a two-story tall twisted minaret with an observation deck built around a “Spark Chamber” cosmic ray detector on top. This was another project I’d supported on Kickstarter and I really wanted to climb up to see the Spark Chamber, but after waiting for awhile we got impatient and decided to just keep going to Center Camp.
At Center Camp we poked around a little and waited in line for a cup of iced coffee. Fortified by our cold caffeine, we headed out to wander slowly back to camp via the city streets. It felt like the city was already beginning to shut down and pack up, but we saw lots of neat things anyway (how could you not?) We didn’t stop for any adventures until we got close to home, where we saw Campoline and decided to stop to a) jump on the trampolines and b) look for our friends from earlier that morning. Josh went to go sit at the Campoline bar while I jumped and bounced (yay bouncing!). We didn’t see our friends so after exhausting myself on the trampolines (which didn’t take long), we went back to Pink Heart to rest up and pack a little and change into our Burn Night outfits.
We’d made an arrangement to meet up with Mary and Evan and Oliver around 7pm out at Between Dimensions to stake out a spot to watch the burn. We got there before they did and spent a while waiting around in the dust (it had been getting increasingly windy and dusty all day) and watching the art cars, bikes and people streaming towards the Man. There wasn’t anything going on yet since it was still daylight, and when we went a little closer to go look, we could see the giant piles of kindling that had been placed around the Man’s feet. This was going to be a huge burn, and we were really looking forward to it.
Finally it got to be sunset and our friends showed up and we spent more time waiting anxiously, listening to the competing thump thump music of the nearby art cars and worrying that it was going to be too windy/dusty for a good burn. But the excitement of the whole city that was building around us and our appreciation of spending this time with our friends again helped keep us excited and upbeat, and we took turns making little explorative forays into the rings of art cars to see what was going on. One of my favorite art cars, the one that looks like a giant lit up boom box, was parked nearby so I went to go check out what they were playing. As I cruised through their temporary dance floor, someone called my name and I turned around and found Joyous, one of our friends from 2012’s burn. It was another beautiful serendipity moment.
We were so excited to see each other and it turned out he had been with friends but was now on his own so I told him he had to come back and hang out with us at Between Dimensions. So he came back with me and we had fun showing him the sculpture and passing out lollipops to people for awhile. Then he had to go to the potties and set out by himself (rookie mistake!) and never did come back. (Apparently he got lost.) That’s the way the playa goes, though.
Finally with a burst of fireworks and a sudden increase in noise and energy, the Man exploded. We whooped and cheered and hugged and danced and as always, were completely awed by the sheer scope and size and beauty of the fire, which is so amazing and so unlike anything else in the world. We were farther away from this burn than we’d been in past burns, though, so even though it was HUGE, we didn’t feel the heat or the thrill of dangerous proximity this time. It was such a giant structure this year though that it took a loooooooong time to burn, and eventually we (like the rest of the city, I suspect) got kind of blasé about it and decided we were done watching the actual burning, and were ready to go elsewhere. We didn’t really feel like hitting the rave parties or pushing out to deep playa though, so we bid farewell to our friends at that point and headed back to Pink Heart. (This just wasn’t a party burn for us, for whatever reasons.)
Josh and I spent the rest of Burn Night hanging out in the Pink Lounge, having deep conversations with nearby random strangers about their life stories and what they were burning away. Eventually we bid the three boys we were talking to farewell though, and went back to wipe down and lie on the air mattress inside our yurt and vibrate along with the bass from Buddha Lounge (which is what passed for sleeping most nights.)