Paul and Marie

Portland, what a wonderful place!

Prior to hitting Reno and then the burn, Paul, Natalia and I decided to visit our friend Kira and stay at her house in Portland.  What a great house!  A welcoming home full of artists, musicians, clothing designers (Kira!) and even a chocolate-maker!  Paul and I set up our tent in the back yard near the compost bin (all those warm smells of decomposition and garden) while Natalia found a cool corner in the basement to set up her cot.  What a full house, with so many busy people and visiting friends preping for burningman.  An old friend named Mark from Vancouver was simultaneously visiting as well; talk about a party atmosphere!

The house is situated in a lovely old neighbourhood in a decidedly hip part of town.  Of course the hippest little shopping street is called  ”Alberta street”.  We spent time checking out local shops and cafes and picking up last minute items for burningman.  Mark played an open mic one night and we went out to the Alberta street pub to catch the show.  I’ve been to a lot of open mics and I have to say, there were some very talented people there.  Portland seems like the kind of city to foster creativity.  What a variety of performers!  Mark did great with his Dylan-esque guitar and harmonica crooning.  Much fun was had.

The definite highlight of our time in Portland was the “Last Thursday” celebration on Alberta street.  Last Thursday is essentially a street party, vendor free-for-all that happens the last Thursday of every month.  Anybody can set up a table and vend their wares WITHOUT PAYING FOR THE SPACE.  Now could you ever imagine that happening in Calgary?  Me neither.  It was fantastic!  People were selling paintings, clothing, sculptures, music, massage… etc.  I even saw someone offering $5 haircuts on the street.  We spent the afternoon and evening helping Kira sell her hand-made, one of a kind clothing.  It was so fun to model her custom outfits and work her table.  There was live music and food and I even found myself a glow-hoop to play with and an encouraging audience to watch.  So much fun!

Of course the Last Friday after-party was at Kira’s place.  A night of druming, dancing, beer, wine and even a couple of poetry readings.  At some point in the wee-hours of the morning Tony and his crew of Vancouverites showed up to crash on their way to burningman.  Everybody was excited and on the cusp of  a great adventure… oh the anticipation!

But you, my friends, will just have to wait.  I have just exited the desert and am still reeling from my first shower and dip in the hotel pool.  The surreal experiences of the past week are marinating in my sun-baked brain.  I would like to do the burningman story-telling justice so I need to ruminate on these cacophonous events.  Stay tuned.

~Paul and Marie

Hello all!

This one is gonna be short because there is no cheap internet in Reno (at least none that we could find)!  In approximately 3 hours Paul and I depart for Blackrock city and the burningman festival.  We plan on writing a post about the wonderful 3 days we spent in Portland and the magical week we are bound to have in Blackrock city, but you will just have to wait…..

(burningman.com)

~Marie and Paul

Hello all!  Marie here.

Well, we certainly had a relaxing time at the resort paradise I like to call mom and dad’s house.  After the first day in B.C. we had already tucked all our worldly possessions away into storage and started to relax; the tough part was over.  The weather was beautiful and we spent time at the beach and even a day boating with new friends.  The nights are so deliciously dark in the country.  We spent an evening star-gazing and meteor watching.  Breakfast on the balcony everyday, cooking and visiting with mom and dad,  riding on the back of dad’s sweet motorbike…it really was like being retired for a week.  I think somewhere around day 2 it fully sank in for Paul that he wasn’t returning to work anytime soon. 

We tinkered and prepared for our imminent adventure south.  I spent a whole afternoon transforming my bike into a pink unicorn named “Charlie” while Paul spent the same afternoon (more sensibly) tuneing up his bike.  My bike may not be in fine running condition BUT Charlie has wings and his horn blinks majestically with LED lights.  Yes, I’m quite proud of my Playa bike this year and can’t wait to show it off.

On the eve of the 24th Paul’s sister Natalia came to join us in B.C. The following morning, loaded down with camp-gear, costumes, blinkie lights, fire-spinning equipment and a good dose of reckless-abandon… we headed south. 

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Our road trip began on Friday. The stunning reality that we had too much stuff became true on Thursday during rush hour as we drove around Calgary in search of the right trailer size from Uhaul. Once we found it, we had to again, drive around some more, to find the right sized trailer hitch to fit our 1 1/4″ hitch mount to compensate for both the low van and the high trailer. Who knew that a non-standard trailer hitch would provide such an entertaining challenge the night before leaving.

Friday morning as we were all packed and ready to go, all we had left to do was stop off at our favourite coffee shop, the Cabin cafe, on Bow trail for coffee and breakfast. We were joined by the mayor who was there to send us off. It was nice to be sent off by him after living in Calgary for the last three years. Realistically though, he was not at our table, nor did he know us from Adam, nor was he there for our send off, but maybe, just maybe, in some way he approved.

Our regular six hour drive took us eight, it was not too bad though, as all the people passing us, honking and waving their hands and fists or even shaking single fingers at us were welcoming us to British Columbia even though many had Alberta plates. We knew it was going to be friendly, but we were not prepared for such a positive response. We arrived at Marie’s parents house in Wynndel where we were truly welcomed by Juergan and Linda. We were fed, wined, and given a place to put down our head.