Day/Night One on the Playa (Monday)

After about 3 hours sleep, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise. We had some coffee and breakfast and decided we had better get the camp set up before the heat of the day kicked in.....

The sun rising over our neighbors camp
prior to them putting up the scaffolding.

View of the city from atop the RV

Our look at the Man on Monday morning

It took us a little over an hour to set up our camp, complete with carpeting, two canopies, tables, chairs and solar lights. Because of the strong winds, we staked the canopies down with 12 inch rebar stakes and ratchet strapped the canopies to the rebar stakes. This seems to be the easiest and best way to secure canopies and tents.

Shortly after we had set up the camp, the dust devils started blowing across the playa... a sure signal that MORE is to come....

The first dust devils started about 9am, little did we
know what was coming that day....

Of course we had to fly the colors being pirates and all

Soon the dust devils were replaced with stronger winds
and the dust storm was beginning

Playa Jenni kicking back after setting up the camp

Magic too enjoys a rest after the set up
notice the dust blowing behind her?

About 10am the winds really started to kick up...
and the white outs began...

Our next door neighbors were trying to get their
camp set up while the winds were blowing
unfortunately their setup didnt survive the wind storm

This is pretty much the same angle as above
but as you can (cant) see.... the white outs can be bad

And then they get total white out!
At times you can't see 3 ft in front of you

The wind storm raged for hours... we finally took shelter inside the RV... fire up the generator and kicked on the A/C and took a nice long nap... we were exhausted.... The storm raged until about 10pm that night. The neighbor who has been to Burning Man for 8 years, said it was the worst storm he has ever seen! Luckily our shelters held up without any problems.... gotta love them ratchet straps...

Once the wind storm quieted down we decided to venture out to the playa to get our first glimpse of the city.

Princess Playa Jenni was dressed and ready to go
Thanks to Shakes for the tiara and earrings!

Some of the art cars were lined up at the DMV to be checked
and get their papers to operate on the playa.
this is a submarine... it had all the sound effects
of a real submarine too!

Playa Jenni and her first view of the man lit up

The tower had the flags of the world
all over it!
NO, they didnt burn the flags with the man

We rode around the playa and checked out
some of the art installations
This one looked like crystals
and was very pretty to see...
but look closely,
can you tell what these are?

It amazes me to see what the artists use
for their art...

We found this guy near Center Cafe
This is the happy side

This is the NOT happy side.

In the Center Cafe, Playa Jenni tried
her hand at hula hooping...
she did very well!

However, this gal was AMAZING
she had THREE going all at once!

Outside the Center Cafe...
you can see the Man and the crescent moon

This is Center Cafe! A great place to see lots of art
and people, get a cup of coffee, chai tea etc....
By the number of times we went here,
I would say its out favorite place on the playa

A small replica of the Man

This art installation was beautiful
and caught your attention!

As the moon rose above the Man...
it was time to head back to camp

Time on the playa is strange.... you think only maybe an hour or less has passed and actually it has been 3 hours!!! I am not sure why this happens, but it does. It really doesnt matter whether it is day or not.... time on the playa is VERY different.

Once again it was 2-3 am before we got to bed...... and into the next day....