Jerry Day!!!!

Awwww, it's Jerry!!  He actually looks a whole lot like Child 1's 2nd grade teacher

So, for those of you who don't know, today is August 1, which was the birthday of Jerry Garcia. This being the Bay Area, home of Jerry and the Grateful Dead, there is a concert every year to celebrate the life of Jerry and bring all the Bay Area deadheads together to remember Jerry and the Dead and the good ol' days. The show is held at the appropriately named Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, in San Francisco. We went last year for the first time and will probably make it an annual event.

This post will serve as both a description of our day as well as a reminder to myself of all the things I need to do/bring next year that I had forgotten about from the year before. Note to self: Read this post on July 31, 2011!

1. Bringing an autistic child who is afraid of dogs to a free outdoor hippie concert where the ratio of dogs to people is probably 1:10 is not necessarily a good idea. He was fine, if not a little bit nervous. Aversion therapy! says hubs. Right? Sure! Next time I'll just have to remember this so we can discuss it in advance.

2. Just because it's outdoors doesn't mean smoke gets dissipated or smells don't still waft if you know what I'm sayin'. Next year bring a gas mask for the kids!

3. There is VIP parking there, and you can get your name on the list by being part of the production or I guess knowing somebody. I've been chatting with the organizers of this thing on Facebook for the past few months and I probably could have gotten my name on the list if I had asked. Note to self: CHAT THEM UP FOR A FREE PARKING SPACE NEXT YEAR. Not only did we have to park about 6 miles away, we got lost on the way back to finding our car. But the parking lot is just right there! Hopefully I will remember this for next time.

Here are some interesting bits of knowledge I gained from today's activities:

1. Child 2 picked up on The Hippie Dance really quickly. In fact, I don't think he even saw anybody else doing it, he just started doing it on his own. He said he was like a bird flying. (all I know is something like a bird within him sang??)

It's the arms that really make it work

2. These are pretty much all of the same people I went to shows with when the band was playing 15+ years ago, yet none of them seem to have any kids. They just got older and crazier and higher and gained about 100 dogs each, but no kids. Why is that?

That's actually all I can think of right now because I'm tired, but if I come up with any more pearls of wisdom for you, you can be sure I will update this post with them. In the meantime, here's a video I found while looking for hippies dancing. Enjoy!

A lovely view of heaven but I'd rather be with you.

UPDATE:

This picture just seems appropriate for right here.....

 

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