Clearwater Festival, Day 1

We had an amazing time at the Clearwater Festival this year, and even managed to bump into some homeschooling friends, which, in a crowd of probably 15,000 people, is fairly amazing luck.

If you love peace, planet Earth, and music, there is no better way to spend a weekend. And there's even science. The Clearwater Discovery Tent and the Tidewater Tent feature aquatic animals including amphibians, fish, crustaceans, insects and reptiles. There are tanks of live specimens, and microscopes to examine the tinier critters with. Mikro had a blast looking at mosquito larvae under the microscope, as well as cranefly and dobson's fly larvae. He loved all the animal encounters, and it was hard to pry him away to find seats for the musical performances.

His favorites were Pete Seeger and the Riverkids, Tom Chapin, Joanne Shenadoah, Sarah Lee & Johnny, all the Clearwater Generations performers, and the reunion of Sloop Singers at Circle of Song (where he got a big high five from Sarah Underhill for his enthusiastic participation). My favorites were Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie, Joanne Shenadoah, Riverkids, and the Sloop Singers. There were so many performances going on simultaneously that it was impossible to see everyone you wanted to, and we missed seeing some personal favorites, like Magpie and Roger the Jester, but wow, what a line up! We also enjoyed the tales of Eshu Bumpus, Kay Olan and Margo Thunderbird at Story Grove. We signed petitions in the Activist Area, shopped the craft booths, and watched Mikro run around on the playground, making instant friends with other kids. And we sang, tapped our feet, and in Mikro's case, danced in the aisles. What a great time!