Bonnaroo

On a random Wednesday night where Brian just happened to be home we casually discussed going to Bonnaroo over dinner. Because, you know, we didn't have any plans, had never been to it or anything like it and, sure, we've never taken the kids camping before...but lets just explore the option. Oh, and the festival starts tomorrow. But, that's us.

Random photo-op area.

Well it totally worked out. The big concerns were finding cheap tickets (the kids were free!) and the weather. We couldn't go for the whole four-day bonanza anyway, so we plucked up some less-than-two-for-one tickets off the Internet, took Friday off work and started making packing lists. (Brian had one, I had three.) The weather forecast looked perfect. (Had to bring heavy blankets!) I scoured the Internet for some "Taking Kids to Bonnaroo" guides and found very little...which could have been a bad sign, but it wasn't.

Family camping had oh, maybe 100 cars in it.

It's pretty easy to pack with the truck and a camper-shell - you just grab Tupperware bins and throw stuff in.  (Organized, of course) Brian built us an shade structure and we loaded up the futon mattress and kids crib mattresses, because you know, we're "roughin" it. A couple tarps, some food, the backpack/wagon and of course, glow-sticks by the fist-full and we were off!

So much space. Almost too close!

I really expected to be part of something similar to SEC football-game traffic as we headed south. Seriously, something - anything! But no, there was nothing. No Bonnaroo bound tagged cars, no traffic on our exit, no vehicles on our road. So the couple hour commute was more like 55 minutes - roughly faster and smoother with less interruptions than my Friday morning commute. No line to get in and no wait to get processed had us at our incredibly convenient family campsite in minutes. Family camping is the way to go. I can't stress this enough. It's mellow, spacious, close to all amenities and just minutes from the entrances to the center area. Only drawback, you are so close you can hear the main stage perfectly. All night, ahem, morning long.

That little $1 stool saved the day. Aria tripped over the tent entrance a dozen times till I put that helpful tool in place.

One man tents are crawlspaces. 2 man tents are kneeling forts. 7 man tents are like master bedrooms suites of the camping world. I don't know how we lucked out registering for this tent, but huge thanks to someone for buying it for us. Brian rigged us a great set up and we benefited from it all weekend long. (Note: they've really expanded the RV rental option...just sayin')

We ate lunch and went in for Two Door Cinema Club and some ice cream treats. First impressions, where are all the hippies? Don't get me wrong, folks embraced the music-festival vibe, but missing were horrible body odors, gut-punching waves of petuely, and folks tripping out of their minds. In its place were middle-class young adults in appropriate clothing (mostly) wearing tons of sun protecting lotion or gear (saw VERY few sunburns) sporting camel packs of water. Everywhere I turned there was a volunteer in blue gloves picking up trash - all of it - by hand. And trash? You better get it right: compost, trash and recycling bins, clear, blue and green bags - overall - social pressure was very evident to not be that guy. You did not want to be seen littering, miss-tossing your waste, with a sun burn. And all that? That makes for a mellow, appreciative, easy crowd to bring your family into.

Fitz, and the middle-aged dude on stage is the sign interpreter, and was hilarious to watch.

Our little red wagon was the best. Easy to navigate, plenty of storage, and the kids enjoyed having their space (and not walking). It also made a great tool for standing on to watch the shows. We got a great position for Fitz and the Tantrums. Roland's sudden fear of heights meant he was on my shoulders and Aria was on Brian's.  After about 40 mins of kids on your back... especially the 45lbs one....you're done. Roland scaled the fence and we stood on the wagon enjoying the side view. It was hands down the best show we saw, by far. Loved it. 

REALLY good lemonade. Aria is scratching off the artwork I painted on her hands.

Bonnaroo is so entrenched in their brand there are certain things they can't do - like inflate prices and serve crappy food. All the food was cheaper - and a million times better - than a Predators game. There's never any lines and only about 110 vendors to choose from. The have to be open 24 hours a day to be a vendor, which is pretty fantastic if you are concert goer. Translation, breakfast and lunch we could fix on our own at the truck, but we had great snacks and dinners at the event. Almost all of it is sporting some sort of "locally grown", "organic" or "no hormones" pitch. Delicious.

Sometime during the night these walls exploded with awesome glow-in-the-dark grapfiti.

We kinda lost our concept of time and therefore Friday's nap - or rest time with food - started about 8PM Friday night. We had wanted to hear FTP, but skipped it for better seats at Radiohead. Costume-wise folks got more creative at night. (Only two folks sported costumes during the day, not that I was disappointed) There were a few tramp fairies, and handful of folks wearing suits of glow-sticks, which tells you how laid back the general attendees were. Can't say enough fun things about glow-sticks. Aria loved watching the girls with lit-up-hula-hoops, who wouldn't! Radiohead's sound was really quality, and after about the 4th song, I felt Aria's head fall heavily onto mine (she was in the backpack), looked down to find Roland asleep in the wagon so we headed back to our campsite to enjoy the rest of it. (Kids, you feel asleep at Radiohead...just saying.)

Radiohead about to take the stage.

The kids slept the entire night. That's not unusual except Umphrees Mcgee came on stage at 2AM and played till 4:30 and I am sure Brian and I were awake for every bit of it. So loud! When everyone in our tent (and no one else) got up about 8 we quickly realized that kids + late nights + camping = tough to keep kids voices down. We ended up feeding them breakfast in the truck. This way they could make as much noise as they wanted and no one would hear them! We learned that Aria has a special dance for donuts. :)

Saturday was a completely different day. No longer newbies we toured the center area, ate lunch at the truck and then returned to play in the water zones and enjoy the Kids Jam tent activities. Here were all the other kids and their parents - and tons of folks just wanting to enjoy the water. We enjoyed Flogging Molly from the shade of a tree and then took awesome naps. We had the best gyros arguably I've ever tasted. We solved puzzles on the iPad, painted toe nails, read and colored with our camping buddies. We didn't have to be inside to hear some of the great bands, so I can vouch for the Roots and Skrillex and more from my tent, for sure.

Who knew? The kid was awesome!

Saturday night we headed in early to watch the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Roland, now apparently a navigational whiz and old hand at this outdoor music gig, enjoyed touring the line of vendors and then finding his way back to Brian and our wagon without help. Granted, I am walking right behind him with Aria on my back, but I was impressed, he's got his Mom's sense of direction that's for sure. The show was another great time of lounging on the mat, playing with glow sticks and enjoying the music. A special treat were the lanterns everyone kept sending up into the sky. Aria loved those.

We knew it was going to rain at some point Sunday morning so we prepared everything before we went to bed, which was smart when we woke up to the softest rain. Sure, it would have been cool to stick it out and hear another couple bands play, but nothing was really wet at the moment and we didn't bring mud boots...and it was a nice place to call it a wrap. Turns out there is a Crackle Barrel one exit down the road which made for a nice breakfast during the showers.

Lesson's learned, points to marvel? Can't say enough about family camping. I recommend borrowing a kid and passing them back to the parents once you've got that F on your windshield. Kids in the tent? Bring a training potty from home and you'll likely never need to go near a porta-potty. Boom-boxes provide great white noise in between FM stations. What we learned from the more affluent parents attending with kids - RV's are awesome and VIP tickets are the way to go! Yes, duh, water, sunblock and hats, but next time: kites, art supplies and a Frisbee. And friends! Last minute, cheap tickets are the best, but it's a gamble worth taking. If the weather and lineup is good next year - which I can't imagine it wouldn't be - I absolutely would go again and welcome anyone to come with us.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

In the end, it was a better time than I could have imagined. We wanted to hear some great live music and hang out as a family, and it was all that and much more. It was an easy, fun adventure that the kids seamlessly adapted to and an experience all of us thoroughly enjoyed. A couple days after we got back Roland wanted Brian to build some gates to the top of our street so we could have our own outdoor concert in the cul de sac. Awesome idea.

Believe it or not, more photos here.

But if you must find some reason to not go to Bonnaroo, here's one: there are some really bad tattoos out there. Hopefully Roland and Aria got enough of them to think long and hard about body art, but we should probably take them back a least a couple more times to make sure they understand that point. :)