GNARNIA!

I have to interrupt the posts about my California trip with pictures from this weekend! I was thinking about keeping the posts chronological but I'm just so excited about the most recent adventure that I had to share. Sean and I just got back from another festival, Gnarnia, that was located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina at Beech Mountain Resort. The weather was gorgeous and cool (aside from nightly rainshowers), the music was incredible, the scenery was breathtaking... It's hard to remember to take pictures while enjoying the festival experience, but here you go...

On the road again....

to North Carolina this time!

I-95 never changes...

First views of the Blue Ridge Mountains!

We took the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway to a cozy, quiet campground in Julian Price Memorial Park, about an hour away from where the festival grounds were located. Since we had to drive ~10 hours from Florida to North Carolina, we decided to find a Park close to our destination and break out our tent pre-fest. We enjoyed a cool night with some wine by an imaginary campfire... but when the sun set the creepy sounds began. In the middle of the night we heard the most eerie, drawn out, girly screaming echoing through the trees, along with creatures crunching all over our campsite. Can't say I was too sad when the sun came up and we began to pack up and make our way to GNARNIA!

After a rather disorganized parking-lot-to-campsite ordeal involving school busses packed with hippies, U-Hauls full of camping gear, a lost camping chair, and a crowded campsite, we finally settled in and got started on festing...

After passing by the vendors, the Mane Stage, the Beava Dam tent, and Queen Loopy's club, there was a free ski lift that ran up to the top of the mountain and back all day... what an awesome perspective on the grounds and what beautiful views!

Looking down on the main stage and vendor area...we caught some shows from above

Up up up up....

In the distance we caught sight of where we parked, along with some tents poking through the trees on the other side of the mountain.

Gnarnia was full of art installations and surprise performances... there was a huge bicycle xylophone with an armchair in it, a trapeze artist, a fiery water fountain, slam poetry, break dancing, you name it.

Overlook at the very top of Beech Mountain...

Goodbye Gnarnia! 

I will post some videos that we took shortly, but I wanted to share the experience as soon as I could!

http://gnarniathefestival.com/