#42: Coachella Camping Diaries

stories from coachelllaaaaaa

Hi,

I did not go to coachella, I went to Nelsonville Music Festival in Nelsonville, Ohio. It was soooo much fun I’m sad to be home :( I went with my coworker and friend Kat and her friend Russell and his friends Car and Chad. I am kind of new to realizing that there are camping music festivals in the US, I thought this was something they only had in England. Sorry if that sounds dumb of me but it’s true. I wanted to go to one because it sounded much better than a festival where the music ends at eleven and then you have to figure out how to get home or to an Airbnb or something.

So Kat invited me to this festival and she’d already been two years ago and had so many supplies and it felt like a easy thing to say yes to. Leading up to the trip was crazy with errands and I hadn’t been sleeping well. We grocery shopped tuesday night and I made peanut butter cookies and pasta salad and packed and worked the day before we left. On thursday, it felt so nice to drive out of town, but some of the stuff that had been making me anxious followed me through my phone and it wasn’t until friday afternoon, after spending the night at Kat’s aunt’s house, after getting to camp and losing cell service, that I started to feel better.

It wasn’t coachella but I kept saying it was because it got me in the spirit of festival fun. I wore a tiny little outfit and a big hat because it was coachelllaaaaaa. I took selfies and smoked weed because it was coachelllaaaaaa. I didn’t realize it at the time, but friday was the summer solstice. It felt like the day was forever. So we got to camp and then Russell and his friends came and by the time we were all set up and fed it was 5 or 6 which was the perfect time to start drinking and head down to the festival.

We were camping on a hill and only had a short walk down to festival grounds aka coachella valley. There were three stages: one of them was medium small by a creek in the forest and people would hammock in front of it, one was medium big under some shady trees and people would lay blankets in front of it, and one was a more typical headliner stage. There were food vendors and people selling their art, and the general demographic was split between groups of friends in their late 20s-early 30s and families with kids. There were also plenty of older couples and what seemed like a disproportionate amount of teenagers.

I came to the festival a little underwhelmed by the lineup, especially in comparison to previous years. I only really knew the two alt-country headliners, and I’ve gravitated towards other sounds recently. Also it feels like the genre is just over the bell curve of its popularity, like a little eye-rolley. (This is more a reflection of the fans then it is of the music, though the influence of a big label on an ‘indie’ artist should not be overlooked.) Anyways, I wasn’t crazy excited for the lineup, I was more looking forward to time off work, being outside. But! But, but, but my expectations didn’t matter and the relevance of the artists didn’t matter because in the end live music is so amazing. All of the artists were so gracious and talented. Kat and I spent a lot of time at the creekside stage, where the small folk groups played, and the beautiful voices and guitar playing and fiddle playing were everything I wanted and needed. I kept thinking about how people were making new music right in front of me, to enjoy right then and there and never again in the same way.

Anyways, friday night the alt-country headliners played and I got to hear two songs that I had listened to a lot in my car, on the way to and from work, and hearing them live felt crazy and I put my big sunglasses on so nobody would see me crying. We drank whiskey from this plastic flask and when it was time to sleep I did not toss or turn at all. In the early morning I woke up to pee and the sun was just starting to rise. The air was full of dew. When I woke up for real a few hours later it was because the dew turned to steam and the tent was hot enough to want to get out of it. We drank coffee Kat made and drank tangerine juice that Car brought.

At this point our friends went to work volunteer shifts, which I could’ve and maybe should’ve done to get my festival ticket for free, but Kat and I didn’t do that and instead spent two full days laying on our blanket and in our hammocks, reading and listening to the music and drifting in and out of naps.

Slow-paced, distraction-free downtime in the sun did crazy things to my brain. I was on my period too so felt like my head was being emptied out and deep cleaned. I thought about: how good it felt to live my day with the day—from sunrise to sunset, how often we are around reflective surfaces it’s no wonder we are narcissistic, how much I like to be a little sweaty and unkempt, how burdensome it is carry around my phone and wallet and keys, how the internet shoves ads in my face all day and tells me what I am supposed to like and how I am supposed to live, how putting down my phone makes it easier to form my own opinions and decide that the world is not cringe, the world is cool and awesome. FUN FACT: when you cut yourself off from fashions and distractions and just hang out in the hot country woods for days, you discover that the world can still be cool and awesome.

The days unfolded very lazily. There were lots of side quests and sights. Little girls building fairy houses, little boys pushing each other around, teenagers flirting with their crushes on the hammocks, old ladies in long dresses, old men in folding chairs. Lay around, go on a walk, refill your water, go pee, run into a friend, lay around more, get up, walk to camp, roll a joint, eat a sandwich, go back to the music, lay around more, grab a beer, lay around more.

Back at camp at night, we ate hot dogs and fajitas Russell made and beans Kat made and smoked weed someone’s dad grew. We didn’t stay up too late because it was dark and we were tired which are two amazing reasons to go to sleep.

So this is how the days went, generally. Sunday night we packed up and Monday morning we drove home. I sat in the back seat, bloated from so much cheap meat and beer, bug bitten, tan lined, and of course very happy.

I’m missing some important stuff but this is the stuff I want to keep to myself.

Since coming back, I’ve been: trying stay broken up with my cell phone, getting myself all cleaned up, finishing Braiding Sweetgrass which I started on the trip, listening more to the bands I heard over the weekend, cutting the neckline of the shirt I bought, and as always, practicing yoga, hanging out with my friends, and writing a letter to you. Thank you for reading and double thank you to Kat, Russell, Carr, and Chad for bringing everything needed to make a comfy campsite, and for letting me tag along!!!! :))) <33333 I love camping, I love summer, I love the hot country woods, I love my hammock, I love grilled hot dogs and cold beers, I love hippies, I love music, I love strawberry ice cream, I love fireflies, I love coachellaaaaaa <<3333

& I love you,

Jillian