Six Gay Outdoors members, veterans of Tanglewood concerts, participated in the Tanglewood Camping Weekend.

We were rewarded with a perfect summer's weekend, sunny days with low humidity and crisp, cool nights.

We met at our campsite at Beartown State Forest for 10AM. After skirting Benedict Pond we hooked up with the Appalachian Trail and began climbing up to the ledges. 

On our way to a viewpoint, we met a couple of Appalachian Trail thru hikers. It was a father and son team. The father (I think his trail name was fish), started in Georgia in March and his son (trail name was minnow) joined up with him after school in Virginia. 

We then meandered in a delighfully cool forest. We were ready for a lunch break once when we reached Sky Peak Road. We continued to make good time using old roads and returned back to Benedict Pond around 3PM. The hike at times was boring but it was a good excuse to be with friends!  

Everyone skipped the swim to check in to their motels and make our 6:30PM rendezvous time at Tanglewood. However, Jon and I couldn't resist after everyone left. 

We hustled over to Tanglewood, but alas were 15 minutes late. With hundreds of people taking prime spots on the lawn we don’t blame our group quickly taking up space after waiting for us a short while.

Dodging hordes of people Jon and I found a small spot that could hold two lawn chairs. We were directly in line of the shed (where the orchestra plays) and able to view the video screen.

Before the concert began, we munched on chicken, pasta and some Italian pastries that was accompanied by a couple bottles of wine. Then at 8:30 John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra played ions from "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Star Wars," narrated by Darth Vader himself, James Earl Jones.

Yo Yo Ma was the guest soloist for "Memoirs of a Geisha," but even his presence couldn't prevent Jon and I from almost falling asleep. Maybe it was all the wine we drank but it was too mellow for us.

However the music from the movie "Star Wars" more than made up for the first half with its energy and familiar music. What a fine way to end our weekend, under the stars with music from "Star Wars" playing in the background. Feel the power of The Force!

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