Post #90510 by 2QueerTikis on Mon, May 10, 2004 5:57 PM

Tiki Oasis IV… Holly Mother of Vishnu! What a weekend! This was our first Oasis and most definitely will not be our last. I can not even begin to express to you all how impressed we were with the event. Although we always enjoy the hard work of the staff at the Caliente Tropics, you should all be commended for going above and beyond the call of duty to make us feel that aloha spirit!

Friday: I had spent most of the week and all day Friday packing the car—fully stocked bar, check, vintage tiki bathing suits, check, and so on. I got the call around 5:30 PM from Jay, “Honey, I’m going to be late.” Of all the days in the world to work late, not this Friday, PLEASE! Anyway, he got home at 8:00 PM and we were on the road. Tiki tunes ablaze, the time past quickly enough and we arrived sometime around 10:30 PM only to be greeted at the front desk with a warm friendly smile and a free room upgrade! A pretty good birthday present for Jay, I thought. But we had missed the performances and costume contest…major bummer… but wait, “Who’s that in the dark over there? OH YAY! It’s Floratina!” Apparently we were just in time for the Zombie Taste Off!!! After sampling all the brews I developed a quick buzz… and so began the drinking… A stop in to Hut 135 to say hello to Al and Shelly proved almost deadly with a few fantastic drinks and the company of our friends Rebecca and Dave. Now, the night gets foggy here, but I know we met a bunch of new friends and had one hell of a night.

Saturday: Uhg… What time is it? Everything is spinning. Where is that light coming from? Need aspirin. GOD! I knew there was something I forgot to pack. I, unfortunately, was the “less sick” of the two and so Jay sent me out into the blazing Palm Springs sun on aspirin recon. Stumbling around and looking like I had been run over by a truck, I found a lovely couple emerging all bright eyed and busy tailed from their hut. I explained my horrible predicament and got a perky response, “Oh, too many Funky Monkeys! Take as many aspirin as you want.” Because I never got your names, THANK YOU SO MUCH. DJ California Kid was well on his way to setting the mood for Saturday… Wow, this was going to be so much fun! We shopped, we drank, we mingled, we swam; REPEAT… This went on for hours. We participated in Cherry Capri’s Tiki Origami Class that bore out the cutest mini origami hula shirt as the fruit of our labor. We then took a side trip to the M Modern Gallery for some high brow tiki art. Great work on display. We made a quick stop at Warehouse Music for a CD of traditional Hawaiian chants and love songs to ad some badly needed diversity to our hut’s soundtrack. By the way, I just have to note that we looked really funny in our vintage tiki duds tooling around in the modern world. Back at the Caliente we blended right in and continued to enjoy the music and the carrying on. I also have to say that the Reef Bar looked fantabulous and having the Purple Orchid at the Oasis was a real treat for everyone. When the sun went down the festivities really got going. The Fisherman, King Kukulele and APE put on a killer show. Eating our fajitas on the grass made the concert that much more enjoyable. Jay and I were lucky enough to get a quick photo with Ginger Goldmine just before she went on stage. I literally had to pinch myself to make sure it was all real (OK, maybe to also check my rum to blood ratio). Vintage Girl’s costume was amazing. How many bananas was that anyway? Then there was the Al & Shelly Hut 135 Party. The drumming, the singing, the tiki phone, Al’s Paku Paku’s—It was sublime. Yeah, so the hot tub conversation at 4:30 AM on adult prams was a bit off... sorry for my ramblings. 5:00 AM—Pass Out.

Sunday: Wake up from coma sleep at 12:00 Noon… wait… Check Out!!! Damn… what was that Floratina was telling us about calling the desk? Ask for a late check out! Thank you to the Caliente staff for pushing it back to 2:00. Also somebody offered us some kind of magic hang over cure the night before. Whatever it was, it worked. Surprisingly clear headed, we sadly cleaned out our room, packing away all our tiki treats and our happy little bar. We bought a couple of last minute gifts for the folks back home and then laid in the pool for the rest of the afternoon. The Reef Bar provided us with a nice flow of Mia Tias as we said our goodbyes to all of our new friends! It was great to meet and hang out with you Joe. We look forward to that Disney trip this summer. Before we headed out of Palm Springs, we had a great rib dinner at the Haleiwa Joe's Seafood Grill. The architecture of that place is phenomenal. We left Palm Springs very late and hit every bad patch of traffic possible. Thankfully we had the Fisherman’s CD (thanks for signing it guys!) to get us home. Our little LA apartment has never looked so lack-luster… At least we have the memories (and pictures where the memory fails)…

To all the folks from Tiki Central: Thank you for making our first Tiki Oasis so special. You are all such great people. Jay had a rock star birthday. We’ll definitely be back next year. ALOHA!

[ Edited by: 2QueerTikis on 2004-05-10 17:59 ]

[ Edited by: 2QueerTikis on 2004-05-10 18:06 ]