Pickathon, I miss you!

Goofin off at Pickathon!

Oh, I can't believe it's over.  My beloved Pickathon 2010 has come and gone.  Oh, how I miss you, my Pickathon, my roots, indie, americana, folk, alt country Pickathon.  Not one other subject has been spoken of since our departure.  We will reminisce about you till the end of our days.  You give love in mega doses.  It's just like the sign in the barn says, "Your pleasure is our motto!"  True dat!  I was as pleasured then as I am now, to have the memories and loads of new vinyl to listen to. Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure.....

This may end up being a HUGE post!  I took a lot of pictures and video.  May have more images and less words as we progress.  And so.  Here we go!

Our trip started on Thursday when we camped at Beacon Rock State Park, on the Washington side of the Columbia river, in Skamania county.  Gorgeous!  We loved it and cant wait to stay again next year.  Camping here made it so that we were less than an hour from Pickathon so we could roll in early on Friday morning. 

On Friday morning we had breakfast

then bought some local honey at the entrance to The Bridge of the Gods and crossed over to Oregon.

Once at Pickathon, the real fun began!  There are a million cool things about Pickathon and one of them is that for the entire weekend, there are kids activities scheduled.  So after we set up camp we headed over to the Circus Cascadia area to try our hands at some circus stunts.  They also have yoga, self defense, tracking, wild edibles and medicinal plants walks, crafts, story telling, music workshops, theatre performance for the kids to experience.  Way cool!

Chad doing a balancing trick.

Gus on stilts.

Me on the balance board.

Jasper Hula Hooping!  By the end of the weekend he could raise his arm over his head, twirl the hoop up to his wrist, back down around his neck, and back down to his waist, all in one non-stop whirling dervish minute!  He loved it and boy did it wear him out!  He slept well at Pickathon!

Now for the music and musicians!

This is a (not so good) photo of Sam Quinn and Jill Andrews of the Everybodyfields doing a workshop in the Workshop Barn.  Oh yeah, another cool thing about Pickathon, they have an entire barn dedicated to workshops with all the musicians, on all different subjects.  Incredible!

The Fruit Bats in the Galaxy Barn!  I was SO excited to see these guys.  Big fan!  And I got to see them perform twice plus I attended Eric Johnson's banjo workshop as well.  Good Stuff!!

One of our favorite bands to return to Pickathon was Breathe Owl Breathe. Here they are on the Fir Meadows stage. We discovered them at Pickathon last year, have since seen them perform three times in Seattle, on of those at a house concert, and then again at Pickathon this year.  Yes, we are stalkers!  We love B.O.B.!!!  More below:

 

Here is Breathe Owl Breathe on The Woods Stage, a stage set in the middle of a magical forest.  Here are my kids watching them in awe:

A picture August drew about one of B.O.B's songs.

This is Michael Hurley's back!  Ha!  Love this guy!  Another awesome thing about Pickathon is that all the artists hang out in the crowd, checking out their favorite music too, and you get to see them, talk to them, appreciate them and get to know them.  It's Lovely!

Here are the Red Stick Ramblers doing a set in the Workshop Barn.  I love these guys, they are super cool, but I do love me any kind of cajun/french/Lousianna-ish music!  Chad and I were in Baton Rouge(Red Stick) last fall to see the Avett Brothers and bought both Red Stick Ramblers and Lost Bayou Ramblers, who we saw last year at Pickathon, CDs.  This is dance your booty off kind of music!  And boy did we!

Here are the Black Lillies on the Woods Stage.  Before we left town on Thursday morning, we had spent Wednesday night at The Tractor Tavern watching these amazing Knoxville musicians, along with Sam Quinn and also Chatham County Line, who I didn't happen to get a photo of but who are an amazing North Carolina string band and also played at Pickathon as well. 

This is Sean Hayes playing on the Mountain View Stage.  Look at the pretty clouds!  It was SO HOT over the weekend, the clouds provided random and welcomed bits of shade.  You can see Mt. Hood from here too but not in this picture.  Sean is an excellent musician from the San Francisco area. Bought a CD of his.  Also bought 3 Bonnie "Prince" Billy and the Cairo Gang albums on vinyl, 1 Michael Hurley vinyl, 1 Anais Mitchell vinyl, 1 Chatham County Line on vinyl, 1 Black Lillies on CD, and 1 Jill Andrews on CD.  Already had 2 Breath Owl Breathe on vinyl and CD.  Lots of new music to listen to!  Yay!

We saw a ton more music but I didn't get pictures of every single band or performance. 

 The last thing we saw before we left late Sunday night was Bonnie Prince Billy and the Cairo Gang on stage and it melted my heart.  LOVE me some Bonnie Prince!  I go gaga over them!

Pickathon is also a great place to meet up with friends and make new friends.

Here are some friend photos:

  

Karli and I chillin in the sun.

Eric, Karli, Cedar and Rowan visiting our camp sight.  We adore this lovely family and miss them now that they live in Port Townsend.  Don't get to see each other much but love it when we do!

Me with Tony, Daisy, Ruby and Cash.  Love these guys and have lots of fun being with them!

Jasper with Ruby and Cash.  Jasper LOVES his friends so much and it was such a blessing for him to have other children to run wild with all weekend!  Wore him out so he would pass out with his big brother in the tent each night so his momma and papa could go get their groove on!

Jasper with me and Daisy, my better half, more sweet, super cute "twin"!

Next I will show you some pictures from around the farm.  Pickathon is held on Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon, about twenty minutes from Portland, but out in the country.

Some of the "critters" around the farm.

Ewwww!  No, these feet aren't bruised!  They are DIRTY!!  This is what feet look like when you are having fun camping on a dusty farm!

Another farm critter and a 7th annual Pickathon t-shirt.  This was our third year attending and it was the 12th year of the festival.

Here is the amazing outdoor showers under the red tents, all made of wood and beautiful and gorgeous.  And an Airstream turned into a sauna!  Yes, a sauna!  And the other photo is of the Pendarvis Farm House.

Here is a back view of the stages with the sails strung overhead for shade and a view of the farm house mini amphitheatre in the backyard.

Pickathon is one of the first festivals I have attended that is committed to going green.  They offered one pint Klean Kanteen stainless steel cups for sale AND offered NO PLASTIC OR PAPER!  Can you believe it?! The food vendors offered some cups but gave a discount if you had your KK cup.  The bottom of the cup says, "Eat, Drink and be Wary of Plastic."  Love it!  KK made the first BPA-free stainless steel water bottles.  It is awesome that Pickathon held an event of this size, with the help of Klean Kanteen and was able to pull it off with no plastic or paper cups!  It should be the law!  In the beer garden you paid $5 for the cup and then you could buy your beer or wine. We bought a set for our vintage travel trailer and we bought the Pickathon cup cozies to use with them.  Perfect! 

So now we are home.  And unpacking and repacking for a trip out to the Olympic Peninsula for a family reunion.  I have a lot of new music to listen too and I am happy for that.  The last three or four weeks has been a whirlwind of coming and going, trips, and lots of good times.  I enjoy it.  But I am really looking forward to being home next week, for a good solid three weeks, before another trip away.  I miss my crafting, sewing, gardening, friends, and house. I am sure my space at M&M is looking atrocious.  Lots to catch up on and do.  But I wouldn't trade it for the what the last few weeks has provided in fun, experience, and adventure.  Love you summer.  And miss you Pickathon.