"Holi" Cow!

Went down to Spanish Fork over the weekend to attend "Holi" at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple on Saturday with the Julies and Janeen. It was a bit unorganized, but it was certainly a fun experience.JB and I waiting for the bus at one of the remote parking areas ... before the "colors"

An indication of things to come ...

They packed us like sardines into yellow school buses and shuttled us to the temple.View of the temple from down the hill where the bus dropped us off.

I wanted to be a spectator at the festival and not get any colors on me. Yeah, good luck with that ... no way around it when you're surrounded by people who look like this.

The first in my group to be christened. A stranger dumped some purple on my head.

The Julies in the gazebo where they sell colors ... there wasn't a line, just a mob of people around a folding table. We opted not to spend the $2 per color and just let other people decorate us as we walked around.

We had to be "dusted off" by security before we entered the gift shop. This is me "dusted off" and within the first half hour of being at the festival.

A few relics in the temple:Chanters:A few different shots of the temple:

On the way back to the shuttle stop, Janeen asked a boy to put some pink in her hair. Suffice to say, the boy had really bad aim.

Getting in the car to head home, this is what I looked like:

I freaked my neighbor out when I got out of the car looking like this. He told me I looked like I had been beaten up and thought I was bloodied.

I imagine this is the closest Utah will come to "Woodstock". To those who may be interested in going next year, these are a few things I'll plan on doing again (or differently) in order to make the experience an enjoyable one:

1. Park at one of the off-site parking places and pay the $2 for the shuttle (it also benefits the local boy scout troops).
2. Wear clothes you won't mind throwing out -- there is no such thing as going home unscathed. You will get "colors" on you.
3. Bring sheets and towels to cover your car seats and put it on the car seats before you catch the shuttle.
4. Bring baby wipes to clean up, especially if you're planning on grabbing dinner or doing some shopping elsewhere after the event.
5. Wear something to protect your eyes (i.e., sunglasses, goggles, etc.) ... some festival attendees just don't care and think that everyone is there to get colored. They just toss the chalk powder in your face or dump it on your head, so if you wear contacts ...
6. Wear a medical mask (when I blew my nose, what came out was very "colorful").
7. Go on Sunday if you want to avoid the college-age crowd ... the crowd is smaller and, chances are, a lot less wild