Last weekend, I attended the inaugural Eaux Claire Fest in Eau Claire, WI. (We are all just assuming at this point there will be another one.) The festival was the brainchild of Bon Iver front man Justin Vernon and co-curator Aaron Dessner of The National.

They planned a music festival with various genres of music, as well as art and video installations. They wanted to feature a variety of independent creators. And it was a success.

THERE WAS SO MUCH GOOD MUSIC. Really, I can’t state this enough. I saw The Lone Bellow, Low, Sturgill Simpson, The National, Spoon, Doomtree, Tallest Man on Earth, Policia, Indigo Girls, Sufjan Stevens, and Bon Iver. And I could’ve seen more. I ended up missing Lizzo, who always puts on an amazing show. But I’ve seen her before, and I will see her again.

I’ve attended a fair amount of music festivals, and I’ve gone camping many times. This was my first time combining the two experiences, and I have to say, I was nervous. Here are the things I learned.

1. Keep hydrated. And I mean water, not beer. This seems like a duh, but believe me, when that much amazing music is going on, it is easy to forget. Also if you are constantly sweating, like I was, you are going to need a lot of water. And beer doesn’t count. I mean drink beer, yes, but you are going to need water too. This is part of the reason I missed Lizzo. I was dehydrated and exhausted about halfway through The National. I had to sit Lizzo out.

2. Bring snacks. Trail mix, beef jerky, whatever. Food for your gulliver. I didn’t bring food on Friday because there was supposed to be a plethora of food trucks. Well, there wasn’t that many. By the time I was ready to eat, so was everyone else. The lines were long. So I waited. Not the best idea. When I went back, the lines were shorter, but places were out of food. I ended up with a popsicle. Not exactly what I had in mind.

3. Sunscreen like a boss. Thirty-three years of being an extremely pale lady prepared me for this. Apply sunscreen frequently because you are going to be out in the sun pretty much all the time. Nothing is worse than a horrible sunburn on your second day of an outdoor music festival.

4. Wear lightweight clothing and comfortable shoes. You are going to be in the sun, so there is no getting around sweating. Try to get as much airflow to your body as you can with lightweight, breathable clothing. At the Eaux Claire Fest, we were out in an open field, but there were patches of concrete in front of the stages. Concrete is hard to stand on for any length of time, so by the end of the first day, my dogs were barking. The second day, I wore shoes with better arch support, and I sat down more.

5. Get a good tent, or have a backup plan if it rains. I have a pretty cheap tent. The night before I left, my brother told me you can coat the walls of your tent with silicon to help rainproof it. I did not run out and buy silicon. I maybe should have. Friday night, we woke up to a torrential downpour. The tent was leaking. If it rained, I had planned to sleep in the back of my car. My seats fold down, and you can lie pretty comfortably in the back. Well, I could anyway. Steph’s legs were a little too long to be totally comfortable. So yeah, maybe think about spending a little more money on a tent.

6. Embrace the filth that is part of the festival experience. You are going to get dirty. There will be mud. There will be sweating. You will most likely be covered in sweat and mud. So will everyone else. Don’t let it ruin your fun.

7. See as many bands as you can, but remember to take breaks too. The second day of the festival we didn’t head in until the early evening because there weren’t any bands that we just had to see. I was also tired from the day before and waking up in the middle of the night. We actually had a great time just chilling with some new friends at the campsite that day. And I had much more energy to see Sufjan and Bon Iver that night. It was my first time seeing both bands, and I was not disappointed. For me, Sufjan was the highlight of the show.

This week’s video is a live performance of “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens. This is the song he closed with, and it is one of my favorites.