that caravan recap i was talking about...

it's already tuesday night but the memories from this past weekend are still very fresh in my mind. lots of family and friends have asked me about my return from maine. i can't help but giggle in reply.
even in the car on the drive up i had butterflies in my stomach. i'll admit, this was my first festival so i was only really going off of stories that friends had shared with me and i really had no real idea what to expect.


the very first night b exclaimed that he was so excited to sleep in a fort. i explained that they were called tents and then put two-and-two together and realized this was the poor boys first time camping.

ashley.

festival goers bathing in the beautiful 'great lake'.

hammocks all around.

one of the houses on the property.

i just overheard b on the phone say to a friend, "caravan was as close to 'free love' as it gets.". it was a perfect way to describe it. so many folks from philadelphia (and surrounding areas) who all took a couple days off from school or work to drive 8+ hours up the coast and listen to some live music in a beautiful location.

tents in every which direction.

the amount of support that i saw between bands was wonderful. everyone sat through each others sets and cheered, clapped, hooted and hollered until the music shut off at 10:00pm; even after that the party continued way into the night. i heard so many people refer to one another as "their brother" or "their sister". we discussed the experience on the car ride home and were astonished that we heard no one raise their voice in quarrel and no one, thankfully, was injured during the weekend.

motorcycles driven up the coast from pennsylvania to maine.

the path that we walked from our tents to the 'quarry' where the music was played.

the sunset on friday night.

sleepy heads.

food was cooked over a campfire, carnivores and vegetarians had an option at every meal. i had to laugh on saturday when our friends decided to leave caravan for a couple hours to go purchase lobsters. they brought them back and cooked all 14 of them over the fire and shared the leftovers with anyone who walked up, curious to see if the rumors were true.

lobsters, my mom will kill me when she sees we didn't eat them sitting down and on a plate!

brendan was the lobster expert, easily identifying every part.

10 years.

had to share this group-shot that nell took.

(left to right) 

kyle, august, brendan, me, amber, vanessa, bryan, ashley, and brian.

all in all, a great weekend with new friends and old ones.

hope your week has been great.

in the dust of the day, in the dirt of the day

as is every long-weekend vacation, this past one was too short.

b and i loaded up the car thursday morning, poured ourselves extra-large cups of coffee, fastened our seat belts and began the 9-hour drive up the coast to maine (i keep reiterating that we 'drove up the coast', while we did indeed do this, it wasn't as scenic as it sounds).

my aunt & uncle are amazing hostesses and my cousins are the most beautiful girls, to say it was a pleasure to see them would be an understatement. every visit with them is always too short.
their lake house is like going to summer camp complete with a bunk house, floating dock and mosquitos.

caravan was amazing as well, i feel like it deserves a whole other entry just to talk about each band and each night and each person who was there. truly the most interesting and unique experience that i've ever been a part of.

sunday night's are always a time for soaking in what the past week gave us and what we hope for the next week to come.

i'm sorry for the lack of words, days spent in the car make one quite sleepy.

i hope that your week is a good one.


listening to: joanna newsom - sprout and the bean
reading: dave eggers - what is the what



*** all photos are mine unless specified otherwise.

this summer has been well, a summer. record high temperatures, loads of adventuring, days spent at the pool, nights spent on the porch. summer is more to me than just memories, it's more about routine. like how b and i drive to work a little early, windows down of course, so that we can stop by rojo to grab an iced coffee for him and a hot one for me. or like how michelle and i make sure to pack extra big lunches because we know that we'll be sharing them amongst each other.

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yesterday alli and i surprised my mom, with the help of our step father, and took her into the city.

ladies who lunch.

we can't ever go to Parc without getting the escargots.

allison's lamb sandwich, complete with: arugula and harissa aioli.

my mom's tomato tart, complete with: sweet onions, zucchini and a drizzle of 25-year-old balsamic.

 my smoked salmon tartine, complete with: capers, horseradish creme fraiche, and red onions.

speaking of delicious food, michelle and i felt inspired to make a pizza with eggs on it the other night, something i'll be recreating again very soon.

we're adventuring up the coast tomorrow. to maine to be exact. the first stop will be to visit my dear aunt, uncle, and cousins whom i don't see nearly enough. it will be b's first time meeting them all and i'm just ecstatic. our second stop will be just a mer 15-minutes away to caravan, where the lawsuits as well as a multitude of other philly bands will be playing. maine has always been a summer vacation for my family to escape the heat and trade in some cooler temperatures for a couple days.

this adventure will be all about simplicity. i'm known for packing too heavy for weekend get-aways so it will be nice to trade in my extra-large suitcase for a small duffel bag. lots of light pieces, perfect for being comfortable, dancing the days away, and happy. we've packed lots of snacks too. i spent the afternoon making chocolate chip cookies and putting trail mix into a mason jar for little snack along the road.



till next time.