Coco crews

martin's beach

june mountain

mammoth

dana point

10-day - santa rosa island revisited - B&W holga shots

After staying at San Miguel for 4 days, the northwesterlies came up and we pushed to the backside of Santa Rosa using sails and the sweet free power of wind.

...while ignoring the fact that ross is on his cell phone, check out the seemingly dreamy softness and glow of sailing (for those of you who have never sailed, it's always like that)

Ian sitting pretty portside

We got around South Point and the wind died. We motored to Ford Point where it was sheet glass with no other boat in sight. There was a pristine 100 foot tall sand dune to the east...it was decided that our surfing that day would be done on land.

After taking the kayak and lil visitor to shore, RP and I climbed up the dunes with body boards while Ross and Ian hauled up the kayak...such a fun ride. We all traded, standing up on body boards. Ross even went down standing up on the kayak! When we thought we were done from the exhausting hike back up the dune, we'd get pumped watching a buddy come down and run back up. We ended having 6 'last goes' each because it was tiring but too much fun to stop.

Ross and Ian on the kayak test run - fresh powder - first tracks

That's our beloved Corsair in the background, with lil visitor on the beach. This was also the same day that we did the cliff jumps and hung out around the secret elephant seal pool on San Miguel...maybe the best day of the trip?...we definitely slept quite well that night.

TIMF

There is a music festival in San Francisco called Treasure Island Music Festival. Last year, Randy and I went, and it was the best music festival ever - very organized, free parking, free shuttles, the music was great and all the people that attend are cool as shit.

When it got to be mid summer, I started telling anyone and everyone about it in hopes of gathering a big crew. My friend Nikki recently moved to SF for grad school. She is a bad ass. She is super chill. She's funny as fuck, and she dances incredibly well. Turns out everyone else bailed, and Nikki was the only one that bought a 2 day pass (other than me)...basically we were partners in crime for the weekend.

Nikki posing in front of the burning man style dandelions.

Both days were a blast. The first day was the more electro pop dance day, while the second was the indy rock/folk rock day. There were various artworks from burning man. There was a little gypsy carnival with games to play. They had a ferris wheel which allows one to take in the postcard cityscape of the downtown SF complete with Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate, and Alcatraz. They also had a huge arts and crafts tent where you could make wind chimes, wallets, and beer cozies for free. This is all in addition to the normal clothing/nicknack booths, beer tents, and food carts.

Sweet ass ferris wheel - we went for a rainy ride, day 2.

The highlight of the weekend in terms of festival events was a thing called the silent disco. We had heard people talk about it during the first day, and with our friend Mer, we decided to check it out late on Sunday.

...It ended up being the funniest and funnest thing ever! We walked up and there was a little outdoor patio area where a ring of grass and trees surrounding a circle of concrete. There were black lights, christmas lights, and strobes...but no amplified sound. When we arrived all we could see was the scene filled with a few hundred people dancing there ass off without any music.

The whole idea revolved around wireless headphones, which they handed out at the entrance. A DJ was spinning live, but there were no speakers - everything was played through the wireless headphones. Too much fun, especially when you go from the National which is sleepy folk rock to heavy deadmau5 remixes just by putting on headphones. The best part being when the people dancing would sing choruses and fist pump - without, the headphones on, everyone went from bouncing around in silence to belting out the chorus of a song that no one could hear (without headphones) while fist pumping, then going back to their little groove. Brilliant!! We stayed and danced for hours...too much fun.

Our last view as we left the festival.

Nikki pulled the sweetest move as I dropped her off at home Sunday night. At the festival, there were a few poets with rickety old typewriters. They would write custom poems about any topic. I told Nikki about a guy we met that did that the year before - Randy and I chilled with this guy and he was pretty much the man - super funny, he could write incredibly well, and he travelled around and did that for a living - living the dream. Soo, after she gives me a hug, she hands me a piece of paper rolled up in put in a little bottle. These are the topics she told the poet: a princess, india, a ninja, and an assassin. She didn't read it before she gave it to me...so here it is:

on a mission

for grant

she wore her bindi jeweled

and her sari in gold-lined

silk. no one ever could

have known her heart,

worn on such beautiful

bare sleeves, had been

stolen by a murderous man.

and now, she is on a

mission to get it back.

silvi

10.17.10

treasure island

Thank you Nikki. Thank you Mer. Thank you universe.

coco monster