"Mission Transition" Summer Lake Hot Springs, Oregon Desert - Pictures Added - Other Events

S seamus Member Portland Joined: May 07, 2003 Posts: 462	S seamus Posted posted on Sat, Sep 10, 2005 5:14 PM As many of you know, my inlaws manage the Summer Lake Hot Springs near Paisley Oregon. Every year after the Burning Man event in the Nevada desert more and more of participants(burners)from the great Northwest descend on this quiet little slice of heaven to bathe, rest, and prepare themselves for integration back into the real world. Word of mouth, and a few mentions on the internet, have turned labor day weekend into an event all it's own at the Hot Springs, and it's becoming more than my inlaws can handle on their own. This year we were asked to get involved. We set up a full blown outdoor Tiki bar and lounge, where we served tropical libations and DJ'd lounge and Exotica for four straight days and nights. It was fairly easy getting set up. My inlaws already have a Mexico themed lounge off the back of their house, complete with outdoor kitchen, stage, thatched roof palapa bar, and about ten umbrella covered tables. We brought in a large selection of Tikis and Tiki fountains, and various decorations, and had the place Tikified in just a few hours. There is also a large party barn where they featured DJ's mixing and spinning mostly techno and house stuff, but many of the burners said that that was just about all they were hearing out at Burning Man, and were delighted to have the change of pace our little lounge offered. The two busiest nights were Sunday and Monday (4th and 5th), and we were slammed! Mai Tais and Mohitos were the top sellers, and I gotta say, our Mai Tais were getting rave reviews! My mother and sister inlaw kept the troops fed with home made pizza and enchilada plates, and were kind enough to stay open almost as late as us to make sure anyone and everyone had a chance to eat. Many of the attendees had never heard of any of the drinks on our menu, but after one,, they were back for multiple re-fills. Where else can you get a quality Mai Tai in the middle of the desert for 3 bucks!! In the mornings we would head over to the kitchen for our coffee and home made (gigantic) cinnamon rolls, and find people anxiously waiting for Bloody Marys and more music. We ended up running from 10am to approx 2am depending on the demand. It was a lot of hard work and long hours, and if I hadn't had access to all that Rum, I may not have been able to keep it up. At least not with smile on my face! The trip was a booming success. The road weary travelers really appreciated and responded to our, dare I say, "Oasis" in the Oregon outback, and many begged us to bring our set up out to Burning Man next year. I can't say that everyone "got" the whole Tiki thing, but alot of them did, and that made it worth it. I even sold a couple of my spitting Tiki Fountains. Our mission to spread the good news of Tiki to the yet un-enlightened will continue, as we prepare for another Enchanted Tiki Night at the Drift Inn in Yachats OR, which will be leading up to the Yachats annual Mushroom Festival, where we will help put on the big fund raising dinner theatre in mid October - this years theme being... you guessed it, TIKI !! Cheers! TikisbySeamus.com [ Edited by: seamus 2005-09-12 12:27 ]

As many of you know, my inlaws manage the Summer Lake Hot Springs near Paisley Oregon. Every year after the Burning Man event in the Nevada desert more and more of participants(burners)from the great Northwest descend on this quiet little slice of heaven to bathe, rest, and prepare themselves for integration back into the real world. Word of mouth, and a few mentions on the internet, have turned labor day weekend into an event all it's own at the Hot Springs, and it's becoming more than my inlaws can handle on their own.

This year we were asked to get involved. We set up a full blown outdoor Tiki bar and lounge, where we served tropical libations and DJ'd lounge and Exotica for four straight days and nights. It was fairly easy getting set up. My inlaws already have a Mexico themed lounge off the back of their house, complete with outdoor kitchen, stage, thatched roof palapa bar, and about ten umbrella covered tables. We brought in a large selection of Tikis and Tiki fountains, and various decorations, and had the place Tikified in just a few hours.

There is also a large party barn where they featured DJ's mixing and spinning mostly techno and house stuff, but many of the burners said that that was just about all they were hearing out at Burning Man, and were delighted to have the change of pace our little lounge offered.

The two busiest nights were Sunday and Monday (4th and 5th), and we were slammed! Mai Tais and Mohitos were the top sellers, and I gotta say, our Mai Tais were getting rave reviews! My mother and sister inlaw kept the troops fed with home made pizza and enchilada plates, and were kind enough to stay open almost as late as us to make sure anyone and everyone had a chance to eat. Many of the attendees had never heard of any of the drinks on our menu,
but after one,, they were back for multiple re-fills. Where else can you get a quality Mai Tai in the middle of the desert for 3 bucks!! In the mornings we would head over to the kitchen for our coffee and home made (gigantic) cinnamon rolls, and find people anxiously waiting for Bloody Marys and more music. We ended up running from 10am to approx 2am depending on the demand. It was a lot of hard work and long hours, and if I hadn't had access to all that Rum, I may not have been able to keep it up. At least not with smile on my face!

The trip was a booming success. The road weary travelers really appreciated and responded to our, dare I say, "Oasis" in the Oregon outback, and many begged us to bring our set up out to Burning Man next year. I can't say that everyone "got" the whole Tiki thing, but alot of them did, and that made it worth it. I even sold a couple of my spitting Tiki Fountains.

Our mission to spread the good news of Tiki to the yet un-enlightened will continue, as we prepare for another Enchanted Tiki Night at the Drift Inn in Yachats OR, which will be leading up to the Yachats annual Mushroom Festival,
where we will help put on the big fund raising dinner theatre in mid October - this years theme being... you guessed it, TIKI !!

Cheers!

TikisbySeamus.com

[ Edited by: seamus 2005-09-12 12:27 ]

Post #185846 by seamus on Sat, Sep 10, 2005 5:14 PM