The Man Burns... Eventually

So after a half-day whiteout dust storm, we got the call for the big Burn. Jen and I marched out to the playa and got ourselves some seats near the front. Here are two clips of the fireworks.

After the fireworks and one heck of a huge fireball explosion, the man started to burn, and burn, and then smolder, and then smolder some more. After about an hour, he FINALLY toppled over into the pile of ashes beneath. This was way past the patience level of (we guess) about 20,000 of the burners who had already rushed the fire. But the fire would not be denied its prince, no matter how hard he resisted.

So with this, the week ended for us. Our friends are at the temple burn (Sunday night) as we write this; maybe next year we will stay the extra day for this special ceremony. After all the hard work of putting the camp together and being full-fledged participants all week, it does seem like we should have stayed for the temple burn rather than punch out Sunday morning like a couple of weekend tourists. But I think eight nights on the Playa are just about all I could ask Jen to put up with, and she admits to being quite happy about sleeping in a bed tonight after a couple of showers and a good meal.