As we have said, we have lists for EVERYTHING! Every summer, we attend the annual Edmonton Folk Music Festival. http://www.edmontonfolkfest.org/ It is a 4 day event and all we do for those 4 days is eat, sleep and folk fest. Organization is the key. Our Folk Festival packing list is now listed under the Packing List Menu item.
I have grouped the items on the list so they make a bit more sense – food, clothes, important stuff (like tickets) and other stuff. Murray and I each carry a backpack stuffed to the limits with food, stuff and mostly clothes. This is what our list looked like after I did the initial pack.
There are items on the list that we do not always take – camera, tape measure, bug spray, parking pass and hiking boots. We always take the rain gear and the warm layers. The rain gear is indispensable as it can be beautifully sunny in the morning and pouring rain by evening. Sitting on the side of a hill until midnight can get chilly, so long underwear, fuzzies, mittens and touques come in handy.
Our dining room looks like disaster zone during the folk fest. We gather all this stuff and lay it out on the floor between the living room and dining room. Each day we pack it up and each day, when we get home, we unpack most of it. I even undress in the dining room each night and leave my warm clothes there, so they are ready to be packed again in the morning. This ensures that nothing is left behind.
A few years ago, Murray and I drove into the garage extra late one night. Knowing we had to unpack, get up early the next morning, repack, and then head to the line up for gate placement tickets, Murray turned to me and said, “Why don’t we just sleep right here in the car.”
See you on the hill!