Rock Fest 2012 Part 2

There's so much to Rock Fest besides just the concerts. The camping and meeting new people is such an experience in and of itself, so the rest of the trip deserves its own post.

As I alluded to in my first Rock Fest post, this was my second trip out to the Fest. Man Friend was one of our Fest Virgins, my uncle has been every year, and my aunt hasn't missed a year since she started going about four or five years in. Having my best friend by my side and meeting three new really fun couples, I had even more fun than last year and couldn't have asked for a better four days.

I planned most of the trip with my aunt and uncle, partially because they have been going so long, and partially because they just have way more stuff than Man Friend and I do combined. Also, because Aunt and Uncle are frankly just awesome people who I really enjoy spending time with. Uncle is my godfather and also shared a duplex with my parents for a few years when I was a kid. Growing up, I spent a lot of time with him and we've always gotten along really well, so when he married Aunt, it was kind of like an automatic like. But I got along with Aunt right away too, and now we're just one big barrel of fun.

Unlike most people who surround me, I love the heat. I love summer, I love the sun beating on me, and I love being warm. However, it was really frickin hot this weekend. Just about unbearable hot. Luckily, at the campsite, we had a little bit of shade from Aunt and Uncle's camper awning, but that only took care of not having 90 degree heat beating directly on you. And in the concert area, we didn't have anything. Man Friend and I went through almost an entire spray bottle of SPF 50, and both of our fair skin still got burned. Poor Man Friend was was more burned than I was; even though he put new applications of sunscreen on frequently, he still looked like a lobster by the end of the trip.

Before I left, my dad said "Please
drink more than just alcohol this
weekend." So I texted him this from
our pit stop to Subway before
getting to the Fest grounds.

It was actually so hot that I was worried about dehydration all weekend. I got overly dehydrated once in Hawaii, and after nearly passing out on a school trip, I don't ever want to experience that again. I was pounding so much water that it was cancelling out my alcohol intake. Even though I drank A LOT, I didn't get drunk one day. I was a little bummed by that, but not bummed enough to stop gulping water. You have to know your body's limits and being able to feel the giddiness of being drunk is simply not worth risking personal safety to me. However, my favorite beer Summer Shandy and Jack Daniels Downhome Punch wine coolers did go down really easily in that heat.

Enjoying a Shandy with my awesome homemade coozie from
my younger cousin.

Our campsite was actually made up of a group of many sites. Aunt and Uncle have a lot of Rock Fest friends, and they all reserve sites together. Our area consisted of eleven couples and two singles, all coming in from Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, and of course, Wisconsin. I had so much fun hanging out with the people I had met last year, and getting to know the people who I was just meeting. Even though there's about a twenty year age gap between me and the majority of the people in our group, they never fail to deliver a good time. Not to mention, not one of them has ever treated me any differently because I'm so young. They just all accepted me (and this year, Man Friend) into their Rock Fest family.

In between shows and before concerts started for the day, there was never any shortage of things to do at the campsite. One couple (from Michigan) brought the game for bean bag toss with Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers bean bags. We played that game a lot, and it was especially fun whenever the Packer fans played against the Lions fans. Nothing like a little healthy competition to get things going. We also sat around an inflatable pool, occasionally dipping our feet in to cool off during the day and around the fire at night.

Man Friend and me playing Bean Bags. I had to be the Lions :(

On Sunday, the last day of the Fest, there weren't too many bands any of us were especially eager to watch. The big two were Poison and Def Leppard, but they didn't start until after it was dark. With nothing to do during the day and after sitting in the beat sun for three days, we decided to spend a few hours swimming. About a 45 minute drive from the campground was a nice little beach everyone referred to as "The Falls." Don't ask me which "Falls" these were. I have no idea. Anyway, despite my reservations, I really enjoyed myself.

After nearly drowning as a child, I'm terrified of water. Absolutely terrified. Needless to say, pools and natural bodies of water aren't exactly my best friends. As soon as the water reaches my waist or chest, I get really nervous and typically will not go any further. In fact, I will likely back up or get out. I don't swim well, and if I can't touch the bottom with my toes, I'm over it. Well, much to my distaste, we got to the Falls and I found out that in order to actually get to the beach, you need to cross a part of the river (or lake? who knows) because there isn't any adjoining dry land. Already I was hesitant. Then our group started crossing, and the water was up to their waist at least, and they're all way taller than me. At this point, I was way past hesitant, and ready to say fuck it and just wave to them from the other side.

Luckily, though, my ever calm better half convinced me it would be okay and we slowly made the trek to the other side. We had to watch for some really slippery and sharp rocks at the bottom so we wouldn't fall or slice our feet open. Oddly enough, this added danger was a little bit of a relief to me. It gave me more excuse to go extra slowly without worrying about holding up the rest of our group or feeling like an idiot. When everyone is cautious, you don't really stick out much. Once we got to the other side, the water actually wasn't very deep at all. I waded in up to about knee length and sat on some of the higher rocks with everyone. I ended up rather enjoying myself after the worrisome crossing was over. And when it was time to go back, I knew what to expect which takes care of half the fear.

Man Friend and Uncle swimming

Year two of my Rock Fest excursions was quite the success. It was worth every penny I spent and every moment of unpaid work days I used. I had so much fun all four days; it was a wonderful little vacation, even if it wasn't anywhere fancy.