Labor Day 2007: A recap

Labor Day 2007 was, once again, an epic weekend of lots of fun, lots of drinking and food and awesome people.

Friday Night: At one point, I had visions of a huge group of people descending on Aspen to enjoy a night of music by Nickel Creek and Ben Harper. Alas, the masses became me, Sawyer 1 and Sawyer 2. Sawyer 1 is a local attorney who, by all and any standards of friendship, has walked mile after mile for Team Gavrell. He saw the Hubby through an epic professional challenge and I am forever in his debt. Hence, I was thrilled when Sawyer 1 announced that his baby bro, Sawyer 2, who is from L.A., was in town for the weekend and up for the show. Off we went, me flanked by two Sawyers. We arrived just after a thunderstorm had cleared and Nickel Creek was rockin' out with a beautiful rainbow crossing the mountains as a backdrop. We quickly moved to the front and gleefully bopped along. Chris looked like he had put on weight and gained some color. (Last year, he looked as if he'd be chasing the dragon a bit too much..). The Watkins kids rocked the folky tunes! It had been so long since I had been to a true concert...and man, do I need to get back! I forgot how cool it is to be in a huge mass of people listening to amazing music. R.O.C.K.I.N'. Ben Harper then came on and it was magnificent. I must confess that my primary draw to the concert had been Nickel Creek. I had not listened to Harper since college. However, within his first few songs I was completely captivated. He is a phenomenal musician with a passionate and soulful approach. His sleeves and his politics sent me into a frenzy. We burned one down! Fantabulous!

Saturday: On Saturday, the Denver & Durango crews arrived and mingled with the Valley folks to set off a hillarious and exhausting Field Day. The Hubby's friend from L.A. and his girlfriend also arrived after an epic D.I.A and cross-state trip. Two teams formed: Toe-jam, led by Laura, and Morning Wood, led by Boots.

We started with an egg & spoon race. As this is an adult Field Day, participants raced with cups of beer. I managed to drop three eggs mostly due to drunken laughing. Next, we paired up for balloon toss. Team Torres rocked the toss and their munchkin, Aiden, was a superb cheerleader. This year, we finally had our act together and pre-purchased ropes for the three-legged race. Relay-style, we huffed and swayed down the course. And yes, there were a few tumbles! Of course, Boots and I once again rocked! Check out the action pic! 2007 introduced two new games to Field Day. I don't names but one can be described as necking-someone-to-pass-an-apple and the second as spin-around-a-bat-until-you-are-stupid. We picked apples and then got down and dirty. And no, there was no hot lesbian action, just a lot of fruit passing. The bat game was insane. The Hubby proclaimed that competitiors had to first chug a beer, race forward and then spin around the bat TEN, yes TEN times, before running back. We were in stiches laughing because people were falling all over the place. That crazy inner ear! The most unique and bold Field Day game was saved for last: Chase the Chicken. Originally, the Hubby had considered a 'kill the chicken' game. However, as this is the age of PETA and YouTube, we thought that would not be the best game. Hence, we settled with Chase the Chicken. This game also gave our extra roosters a purpose! Utah boldly caught the first chicken but Team Toe-jam came back to catch the chicken in the second round. The chase was so exciting that one team member from Morning Wood severely bruised her toe (I mean, severely..severely painful). This final event allowed Team Toe-jam to pull ahead by one point to win the tournament. Alas, what else could we do but eat and drink? So we hit the keg and the cocktails flowed...So tipsy was I that I failed to notice the Hubby excuse himself to puke or the extreme drunkiness of others. Delightful!

Sunday: Last year, the Hubby came up with the idea of a big 'ole float down the river. Never would I have imagined such hilarious fun. This year, we once again set off with a keg in a raft, kayakers and tubers. Mr. Idaho went down on a boogie board and flippers. Utah decided to embrace the float as the opportunity to kayak for the first time. While there are no major rapids in the section, it is still a large, powerful body of water and, when in a kayak, you are essentially pinned into your boat. Two times after being wrapped and doing an emergency exit, Utah exclaimed "Man, almost dying twice in one day wears you out!" Uh. Yup. But Boots was relieved to have her man outta the kayak. So was I! The raft was led by One Eyed Willy with support from a gang of wenches (aka sexy bitches). As one of the wenches, we were on beer duty which has to be one of the best jobs EVER! We managed to kick the keg before coming into No Name. Note to self: full keg for next year's float. Note to future floaters: a Nalgene bottle is definitely the best beer-carrying device.
Following the float, we headed out for a big night at the Burning Mountain Bowl. Team Idaho represented with a who-can-bowl-the-fastest contest. Smashing! Thankfully, no one was hurt and all pins survived. To embrace the Cali presence, we concluded the night with a viewing of Point Break..ah yes, Keanu and Patrick in their finest moments!
On Sunday, folks packed up and headed out. And, as always, we went through our withdrawal. I channeled my withdrawal into cleaning. The Hubby made himself a cocktail.
Thanks to everyone for an incredible weekend! Here's to 2008!