We had a great group of people come together to form the Xanadu theme camp at Burning Man. Loosely based around friends and friends of friends from Seattle, we all survived the week with warm feelings toward each other and a genuine pleasure in each other's company. Some theme camps buckle under the strain of construction, chores, heat, exhaustion, personality conflicts, and the roller coaster ride of Burning Man, but Xanadu ended the week with hugs (and a few tears) from every member to every other member. The people were the best part of the camp, by far. Our funky homage to the cheesy 1980 disco movie "Xanadu", starring Olivia Newton John and lots of bad acting, was just the corralling point for everyone's efforts. More info about what we built is in the journal (click "Up", above, to see it).
Robbie,
Warren, and Jeff on top of the step van, with all of us returning from The Ranch
where we retrieved one of Xanadu's two geodesic "pleasure domes"
Here's
Xanadu under construction: one of the domes off to the left (the other was put
in the middle of the rink), skates, altars to the Muses, and some random offerings
The
Bunny Mailbox, with Josh, Jon, and Susan working on one of the altars
Warren
test skating the roller rink before the dome and paint was added
Xanadu's
communal kitchen, with Colby, Deb, Karen, and Mariah doing food duty
Dan,
Mariah, Molly, and Teresa just before heading out to join the Billion Bunny March
Josh
demonstrating his dance moves and the black lights under the dome in the roller
skating rink; the dome was lined with glowing flowers, camo netting, and disco
lights
Our
Snowball's Chance In Hell snowcone stand, complete with the Wheel of Sin, sinfully
delicious flavors, and devilish hosts
The
Xanadu Gang
Top
left to right: Jon, Jodi, Deb, Dan, Warren, Robbie, Karen, Gabe, Kelly
Bottom
left to right: Scott, Jeff, Josh, Xan, Colby, Mariah, Suzanne, Molly, Teresa
(not
in picture: Susan, Rebecca, Dan N)
Burning Man Burns With Fire 
