The alien bar scene in Star Wars?Here we are below playing Family Feud Burning Man Style.
There are overtones of Mardi Gras, and the Circus.
Barbara and Sheryl were rapt observers, as were we all!
Did I mention shades of Halloween?
There is an ethic of "radical inclusiveness" (and I might add - more common decency than you see from those types who want to do away with Social Security and Medicare.)
Throw in some whimsical, fantastical and often pyrotechnical art works and large to monumental “installations,” sculptures, inspirational temporary architectural structures, roaming and even soaring art vehicles lighting up the night, lots of fire and noise, a bit of nudity, and a very polite and giving crowd of individuals doing their own thing, and you have Burning Man.
There is live music to be discovered of all sorts, as well as techno-music concerts/sort-of-raves, seminars to make you blush and gifting of all sorts. Here we are "gifted" drinks on Tequila Tuesday.
In a desert tent arrangement we listened to some great live music and relaxed.
Mike and Randy also participated in yoga here when there was no music on.
Did I say we were occasionally gifted drinks? At this "bar" Carlyle was gifted an entire mug full of Rum. The rest of us managed to get some Coca Cola with our rum. Nothing is for sale, but you will, for example, be gifted with more Happy Hour drinks than you will be able to remember. 
You can participate in yoga sessions and unknown numbers of community sponsored events, and if you need help – there will be somebody gifting it somewhere on the Black Rock Desert.
Bryon was riding his bike along the playa one night and his seat up and fell off! We searched everywhere for the part that connected the seat to the post - but no luck. (The luck was that Bryon wasn't impaled by the post when the seat rocketed off.) The next day we found a "bike shop" that gifted Bryon a new seat and post. Shortly after that Carlyle's tire blew out the sidewall, and here he is at the same bike shop where they gifted him a new tire and tube. The guy who organizes this "gifting" bike shop must work and plan and save all year long to come here and do this for the people of Burning Man. It is a very sweet thing.
It is a remarkable, hard to describe, festival of free thinkers and accepting people, arts and artists, performers and performances from the mundane to the astonishing.
The whole community is stitched together by the bicycle. It is a bicycle culture of gifting, and a culture of accepting and acceptance of everyone.
Bryon had gone to Burning Man last year (you could see his earlier blog entry), and his reporting of it helped inspire our friends Carlyle and Barbara Stout to buy tickets for this year.
They encouraged us to join them. but I was concerned – dust, wind, desert heat in the summer – did I really WANT to do this? Oh – what the heck – it would be an adventure, I was sure – and it is soooooo hard to pass up an adventure!
We were happy that Mike Reeder and Randy Albert decided to come along too, and our tribe of six headed out in two motor homes and one truck with a trailer. Once reaching the Black Rock Desert, the three hours of S_L_O_W_L_Y creeping the short distance from the road into the dusty, wind driven, playa of Burning Man began our acclimatization.
Mike and Carlyle
Bryon and Randy
Bryon rigged up a tarp for our encampment that attached to all three vehicles and gave us shade all day long. The Stout’s wonderful carpet transformed us into a caravanserai where we could rest on cots during the heat of the day and share our stories of life and experiences on the playa.
Sometimes we were out all alone or in some combination of some or all of us together. There was so much to see and do at Burning Man that it was almost overwhelming. There is no way you can see it all. But we gave it our best shot. (If you enlarge this next picture you will see with a chuckle that it is The Naked Man Bike Ride.)
And this is a major facet of the entire Burning Man experience:
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