Salad . . . uh.

A few weeks back Rachel Tim Erin and I went to Valley View Hot Springs – the secret naked camping grounds with gorgeous algae filled natural springs of hotness. When relaying the directions to my oh-so-capable manual drivers, I would tell them it was just past Salida. All three Alaskans continued to pronounce it salad-uh, when it was clearly suh-lie-duh.

… time warp a few weeks .. . . . . . . .


After spending five days in this wonderful historic town right on the Arkansas River for FibArk, I think I finally concur with my pronunciation-impaired friends. Pronouncing it correctly would go against all the quirkiness this town has to offer.

I met 5 real gems. In short, the characters I crossed paths with daily were:

- a corduroy sewing hippie chick living in South Park CO with her husband Stu and two children who I swear to gaia were raised by wolves.

- the sweetest young playboy model looking jeweler who had 15 sisters and 9 brothers

- a didgeridoo making man living in Ward CO with the light bluest eyes I’ve ever seen

- a young girl who was betrayed by her lover – her girlfriend cheated on her in the jail cell next to her after they robbed the only cool coffee shop Salida has to offer: Bongo Billy’s

- my Israeli hat seller friend who tossed Frisbees with me and made me feel at home


The music was kicking, the river was flowing and all in all, I would come back and do it again. Most festivals have very definite “themes” or purposes, i.e. bluegrass, folk, art, etc. This festival had so many things going on, it was always entertaining. Two of the four days had 2 hours worth of karaoke on the stage in front of us. The first day, 75 percent of the participants blew me away; one of the guys serenaded me with Elton John, while another woman nailed Black Velvet. The second day of karaoke was the contest, which drew in all sorts of crazies. One guy totally ruined one of my favorite songs (She Talks to Angels, by the Black Crowes) by messing up a very essential line. He said, “She’ll tell you she’s an orphan so you won’t meet her family.” The true line, which says much more interesting things about the girl, is: “She’ll tell you she’s an orphan after you meet her family.” Much different, bud.

Someone stole my hoop. ☹ That’s what we get for sharing, I suppose.

A chick AC/DC cover band named Hell’s Belles from Seattle really just ROCKED the house on Saturday. They really did well with the crowd, too. I loved one line the lead singer shot out at the men in front: “Hey, I’m really lovin’ this testosterone cess-pool you got going on here in front… really entertaining and all… but I am pretty sure the people around you would rather not get intimate with your elbows. If you wanna jump around like a crazy – there’s a fence over there – go bounce off of that a few times. Thanks guys, let’s all have a good time.” These girls rock it – check them out sometime if you ever get the chance.

That’s all for now. No pictures because it was a very busy weekend and I took as little as possible to and from the show. That’s an excuse – I had plenty of time. I just forgot.