How I Spent My Summer Vacation

From last Friday to this past Tuesday night, I was on my summer vacation. Friday, I did nothing but laid around and then went to the bar for a few drinks. Saturday, I went to Warped Tour with four friends, and five Spaniards who are visiting for a month or so. Wait, four of the Spaniards are visiting. Garcia is from Spain, but he's lived here for ten years. His sister Maria, her boyfriend Javier-Luna, and their friends Freddie (Alfredo) and Cesar are just visiting. After Warped Tour, I DJed at the Garden Bowl all night. Sunday I did brunch with a friend, and then Monday and Tuesday I went up north with a friend visiting from SF, and met up with everyone I was with at Warped Tour (well, most of them), plus Andrea who was visiting from SF.

This is what I learned on my summer vacation:

• Having never been to a Warped Tour, I had no idea how much of a punk-rock warzone it can be. Especially when held in an urban environment. They must've paid every crackhead in a five block radius to clean up, because I drove by on Sunday, and you'd never know anything happened in that spot.
• You can bring in bottled water to Warped Tour as long as it's sealed. However, once you get to the gate, they make you open it and throw away the cap. This is annoying. And each bottle that I bought had the cap removed. Very annoying. I'm guessing they do this so that you can't use the capped (and possibly water-filled) bottle as a projectile in the pit. Any other explanation that we could come up with didn't make any sense.
• This is funny because when entering, we weren't frisked or anything, so I could've had a knife in my pocket.
• Bullfrog Sunblock works pretty well. But if you're using the spray-on kind, make sure you rub it in. And apply liberally.
• The eggs benedict at the Majestic Cafe (brunch) is bland. The eggs were not poached, they were like the egg patty that you get on an Egg McMuffin. And the hollandaise was bland and thin. Now I remember why I stopped eating brunch there. ANYWHERE else is better.
• The patio at Slows is now open.
• Spaniards love the rock and roll. Seriously. They're fanatical about it. At least the five who I hung out with are.
• The trip from Detroit to Oscoda is supposed to be about four hours, but there are so many distractions that you barely notice.
• East Tawas, MI has a very nice public beach right on US 23. There's a Carter's Freshables grocery store right across the street, but the Wal-Mart down the road shut it down.
• The water at that beach was mostly clear, and warm, but not warm like bath tub water. It was just right. Not too crowded, either.
• Oscoda has a great 'old man bar' called Edelweiss Tavern with cheap-as-hell prices.
• Behind the Edelweiss is a restaurant called Tait's Bill of Fare ("Fine dining in a relaxed atmosphere" with "spirited drinks"). The bartender at the Edelweiss recommended it. We were hoping to get smelt, but he told us it was out of season. At Tait's, all the dinner dishes come with soup AND salad AND your choice of potato or risotto. Plus the main dish was a decent size. I had the chicken special which was two chicken breasts coated in bread crumbs, parmesan, and garlic then grilled. I chose the risotto, which was actually more like cheesy scalloped potatoes with flour added. I think they may have been out of Arborio rice and just tried faking it. For the soup I chose the "Millenium soup," which was black bean soup in the bottom of the cup with white cheddar cheese cream on top. Holy shit, was that good. Surprisingly, the salad was actually a good Spring Mix with grape tomatoes and cucumbers. With the exception of the risotto, it was an excellent meal. I forgot, we also had an appetizer that was crab/spinach/mushroom stuffed phillo dough. That was also really good. Our meals came with a bread basket, and they were very good about refilling it. Andrea had the pickerel, which she liked, and hers included all the sides. She also had a couple of drinks. All of that food, along with the drinks for two people came to about $53. Totally a good deal. Especially in a slightly touristy area.
• Being four hours from home with absolutely no access to the internet, and a cell phone that was only working intermittently feels so good. I can't explain it.
• On Monday night, Javi and Bill made sandwiches which I guess are a creation of Javi's. They took italian sausage, wrapped it in bacon, then put it all in aluminum foil and dropped it in the bonfire for a little while. Once that was done cooking, they chopped up the sausages, and put them on un-toasted white bread with ketchup and American cheese. That was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. I'm definitely trying that at home.
• Apparently drinking Corona all day at the beach is more or less nullified by the sun and sweating out every fluid you consume. Andrea and I killed a 12-pack on the beach in Tawas before we got to the cottage in Oscoda, and I wasn't feeling it at all.
• Tab Energy Drink goes very well with vodka. Like Red Bull, but lighter and it's sugar-free, it also has a slight vanilla taste to it.
• On Monday I went to bed when it was still dark out (4:30am or so). The Spaniards were still up playing football on the beach at sunrise, apparently. They've been here for a few weeks, they should be used to the time difference by now, right? Right? No, I think they're just crazy. In fact, I don't even believe that they slept at all. I went to bed and they were up, I woke up and they were up.
• Lake Huron is beautiful on a hot summer day. No land in sight straight ahead of you, clear water, and a sandbar that goes way out.
• Oscoda seems to breed some sort of mutant strain of flies that have evolved beyond any sort of bug repellant. They bite mostly on the ankles. It seems that they particularly like fleshy people and Spanish people.

Those are just a few of the things I learned on my summer vacation.