What can I say about Burning Man that hasn’t already been said? It’s an annual explosion of creativity and debauchery in addition to being heaven on earth for pyromaniacs. I can safely say that I have never seen so much fire all around me. For six days I walked around every night and saw no less than a dozen gigantic propane jets shooting fire into the sky. The propane fire jets were everywhere: on art cars, in art installations, at dance parties, in computer-controlled arrays, built into massive serpents.

I camped with Liminal Labs, a group of very interesting people mostly hailing from San Francisco and New York, and a couple people from the UK thrown in for good measure. Everyone in the camp was an accomplished professional with fascinating stories to tell. It’s always fun to spend time with people who work hard and play harder.

Burning Man is for the kids, and by kids I mean adults who are on vacation from rules, clothing, and sobriety. It’s without question the adult equivalent of Disneyland, and probably more fun for adults than Disneyland is for children. The culture is one where norms are stripped away (often literally) and absurdity, humor, beauty, and freedom are the dominant paradigms. It’s not for everyone, and in fact there are few people that I would recommend it to for the same reason I strongly recommend it for others. Some people need the rules and the typically taken for granted conveniences in order to be happy. For some, having to use port-a-potties with dubious sanitation standards every day for a week is a deal breaker. Some refuse to come because it’s in an extremely dusty lake bed. For some, seeing grown men over 60 completely naked at least once per hour for a week would be very troubling. Others might say that seeing completely naked and thoroughly attractive women at roughly the same frequency makes up for this.

If you’re not willing or able to make it with me in 2007 (oh yes, I’m going next year if I have to sell organs on the black market) you can recreate the experience at home by following a few steps. You can also check out the photo extravaganza I shot over the week.