Over this past Memorial Day weekend, I went up north with a bunch of friends for four days of camping in Bradley, CA to catch Lightning in a Bottle. For those of you that don’t know, LIB is a festival put on by the Do LaB featuring music ranging from electronic dance, deep house, techno, experimental, and folk music.
Not only a music festival, LIB ensures its visitors are culturally and spiritually enlightened with tents solely devoted to cooking classes, yoga, meditation, speeches and more. Not to mention there’s a beautiful lake and the food vendors serve great eats (regardless of the general lack of meat and exorbitant pricing).
We drove Thursday afternoon for four and half hours up to northern central California to this radical festival. Being the high-maintenance LA girl I am, the one catch for me was the fact the only housing option was camping.
While there are “glamps,” they range from around $1500 to $2500 for a nice tent with one or two beds (keep in mind we’re college students so this was out of the question). Thus, we set up a good ‘ole tent and made do with port-o-potties and spigot showers.
Camping isn’t that horrible and in high school, I did it many times for class trips, and it was always fine. Yet you get a little more drained when you’re partying in the desert for four days with highs of 85 degrees and lows of 40. Not to mention once the sunburn sets in, the cold feels that much more frigid.
Thus, although I am no camping expert (and maybe my boyfriend and I did leave one night early due to lack of motivation and energy to continue on) I will share a few things that made my four days camping at LIB a weekend to remember:
1. For the love of GOD, bring a warm, comfortable jacket
This is the jacket I brought and it worked wonders. I basically lived in it over the weekend. Albeit, it will most likely get trashed so don’t get too attached.
2. Look good feel good, amirite?
You may call bullshit on this saying, but I beg to differ. There truly is something about appreciating your outfit and look that makes you forget you haven’t washed your hands in days and have dirt seeping into your pores. Bring some funky fresh gear to help jazz up your look and mood.
3. A hose shower is better than no shower
Pictured: me feelin' real good after a spigot shower. Regardless of the fact I added dirt to my hair every time I tried to rinse the shampoo out, the sheer mentality of getting clean automatically boosted my mood every day, and I swear I felt physically refreshed inside and out.
4. Bring extra toilet paper
First of all, the toilet paper provided in port-o-potties is one-ply and just doesn’t cut it. Second, they generally run out of toilet paper at one point or another. Third, nice TP serves as a great way to blow out all the dirt you’ll inevitably accumulate in your nose.
5. EMERGEN-C, ADVIL, AND PEDIALYTE
This is in all caps because I cannot express how grateful I am I brought massive amounts of all three substances. Every night my boyfriend and I would jug some Pedialyte, throw an Emergen-C packet in our mouths, and pop some Advil. When you’re partying in the heat and cold all day long, it’s pretty essential to boost your immune system and electrolytes as well as fight off the impending headache.
6. Bandanas or, better yet, a full blown face mask
Dust is everywhere. Breathing is important.
7. Bring some ~good vibes~
It’s easy to get down when you’re sunburnt, smelly, bloated, hungover and sleep deprived. Regardless, you’re at a dope music festival! The world is beautiful! You’re with people you love! Embrace the dirt and let yourself thrive (then sleep for 30 hours and go to the doctor once you get home).
LIB was a mind-blowing weekend, and even though I hate camping, it was an experience I highly recommend for music lovers and nature lovers to get down and dirty at. If you’re like me, prepare yourself both mentally and physically. Woogie oooonnn!
