Dang am excited, SF'ers 1st burn, no q's, just a quick hi

[pchops]

Long time board voyeur, things have worked out well which will enable this year to be my first burn and wanted to share how f’ing excited I am. ABSURDLY excited. Have hit the point that I’m having problems falling asleep out of a mix of sheer giddiness, list making and general visions of playa fun to come. Going with a few long time burners and have enjoyed seeing their enjoyment from watching my wide-eyed-ness about what’s to come.

Don’t have any questions; friends and these forums have been priceless for prep, though possibly some to come. Just wanted to share a hi and thanks for all your great discussions. Awesome for making a virgin be a bit self reliant in their prep.

Quick blurb about me, Brooklyn raised, made the move to Boulder about 8 years ago and in October made SF my new home. Have been fortunate to have had a TON of awesome adventures along the way, looking forward to extending the ole comfort zone a bit more with this upcoming desert journey.

Get to ride this pre-event excitement for another 3 +weeks. That’s some kick ass foreplay.

Cheers,

Paul

[Savannah]

Hi Paul! Your energy and excitement truly radiate.

Welcome to the board . . .

[trilobyte]

Welcome to ePlaya, and get ready for all that pre-excitement buzz to be filled with the great adventure! Sounds like you've been doing your homework and have things under control, but if any questions do pop up this place can be an awesome resource. Hell, it can also be a great place to just sort of share that overflowing excitement and exuberance with others that may be experiencing something like it

Cheers!

[illy dilly]

Hell Yeah Paul!
Welcome to ePlaya!

Are you talking about Boulder, CO?

[pchops]

Thanks for the welcoming. Yes, feel it's almost dangerous to bridle this level of excitement and sadly only have a few friends whom I can share with. And as a few of those were the one's that were once planning on coming and now aren't, it's a thin line between being exuberant and obnoxious.

Illy, yep, lived in North Boulder in a few spots for about 6 years and the last two in the highlands area in Denver. And have dug your CO/BM avatar for a while now, as it seems you're pretty active (and helpful) on these boards. Think there's a few folks from our boulder office heading to the burn this year, have meant to inquire. Are you camping with a big Colorado contingent? Sf is outstanding, but do miss the 303

[illy dilly]

it's a thin line between being exuberant and obnoxious.

O yeah, its a very thin line.
And its gonna get worse when you get home, and you try to tell them all about it. You'll find that they will get very tired of hearing about Burning Man.

Have you ever been to Portland, OR?
I think it is big Boulder. Its just as weird, the Bums get away with just as much, and the whole thing slops in one direction! But, I'm also not a huge Boulder fan (if you couldn't already tell).
We are not with one of the "huge" CO camps. To my knowledge, there aren't any "huge" CO camps that are more than 50% CO. Though, we are The Gnome Dome, there are 12 of us, and we'll be camped at 3:30 and G someplace. And thanks for mentioning (and helpful) in parenthesis

I've wanted to visit SF, and a lot of CA. Have a ton of family and family friends that I haven't seen since I was a kid, in CA. My folks grew up in Colver City, almost all their family is still out there. I was born in CO, but we used to go to CA every few years when I was growing up.

[Elderberry]

Hey there, welcome to eplaya!

Hate to tell you this, but Burning Man is one of the few instances where realization exceeds expectation!

[pchops]

Have spent time in Portland, great city, but for my interests, Boulder was a bit of a utopia. Easy access to some outstanding road riding, mtb'ing, hiking trails, within a few miles of my front door, intelligent liberal crowd and cheap living (compared to most big cities, not cheap compared to the rest of CO). Was awkward at times that if I had a deep tan I could find myself as the darkest person in a bar, but such it is, diversity certainly wasn't a strength.

Imagine Colorado is good BRC prep with the dryness and altitude. One thing I don't miss about living a mile high was the constant need for moisturizer and constant water guzzling. I'd always force friends I picked up from the airport to down one of bottles of h20 I'd bring them before being allowed to leave the car

Thanks, jkisha, i enjoy when things exceed expectations. The one upside of having to scramble to get a ticket (which I was able to buy from a kind soul on CL at face value after she had a little "why do you want to be on the playa?" contest) was reading all the stories of 8+ year veterans sharing pleas to be back home. The hot dusty backdrop isn't overly inviting, so there's got to be some sheer magic going on out there to make people eager to plan all year, spend all sorts of money and such.

[illy dilly]

Yeah the altitude is lower, which is nice! But it is dryer and hotter. Especially compared to this year. This is one of the most humid years I can remember in CO.
The water chugging, dry skin, and (unavoidable) nose picking pretty much stay the same.
I bet you'll find that weather wise, camping in BRC is similar to camping in CO. Except you can't count on the late after noon rain/monsoon in BRC. Its hot in the day, duh. It cools down at night, but doesn't get pretty cold real quick, like the mountains. Ya know mountain camping, how you have about 1hr after sun completely sets to have your fire going and have warm clothes on, in BRC you typically have tell a little after midnight get your warm pants on. But, in BRC you also have sunlight on you until the sun is completely set. None of that "can't see the sun after 4pm, but its still light out" non-sense.

[illy dilly]

Did you ever go to the Great Sand Dunes?


Its nothing at all like that. The sand isn't nearly as hard, its not even sand its dust. It kinda stings a little in the wind, but nothing like being at the top of a sand dune. It is warm to the touch, but wont scald you feet if you walk on it barefoot. And the temp doesn't drop nearly as quick at night.
But the playa is also a hell of a lot harder to clean off.