Tiki Oasis 2010!

It's hard to believe Tiki Oasis 2010 has already come and gone! Tiki Oasis can sometimes feel a bit like Christmas - weeks of prep, an event that flys by and the next thing you know you're standing in your living room with a suitcase in your hand, sunburnt, a bit bleary and wondering how it all ended so quickly.

Some of you may know that we added a new element to our Tiki Oasis experience this year. We presented a symposium we've been working towards for years on The Aquarama - an underwater show once located in Osage Beach, Missouri. We truly enjoyed having the opportunity to share one of our favorite stories and we want to thank all of you that attended. Special thanks to Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid for being our very amazing guest, and also to Marc & Ann for their friendship and generosity. Look for more Aquarama material coming soon!

Photo courtesy of Michael Contos. Visit him on Flickr here.

Another highlight for us was bringing back a vintage cocktail recipe not served or seen in roughly 40 years. The Aquarama Sling. If you were lucky enough to grab one of the 500 gift bags you received one of our recipe cards. For those of you that didn't end up with a card we proudly offer the recipe below. Bottoms Up!

Here's a quick rundown of how our days went:

Thursday - A great dinner with friends at The Red Fox Steak House (very cool place) followed by the opening party at the Bali Hai. The high point of the evening was Marina's performance with The Tikiyaki Orchestra - wow! You'll see bits of the performance in our video below.



Friday - Our Aquarama symposium, grocery shopping (Bathroom Salad anyone?) and a perfect evening watching the show from the balcony of our room.

Saturday - The Vintage Roadside booth was open for business! We introduced three new designs again this year and had a great day. Saturday night favorites included Charles Phoenix, the Lampshades and a mind-blowing performance by Ape.

Sunday - Rolling out the Vintage Roadside booth for another fun day, and a great poolside set by the Martini Kings!

Here's where some of you head for the airport and arrive home a few short hours later. Us? We load up the car and head 1100 miles north. The plane might be faster, but it's almost impossible to convince the pilot to swing back for another look at that big fiberglass statue!

We enjoyed some time with friends along the way home, enjoyed our first lime flavored Crush, didn't enjoy those horrible cheese chips at a mini mart on Sunset Blvd., almost melted from the heat in Stockton, napped in a few rest areas (Hello Weed, CA!) and that brings us to today - already crossing off the days in our calendar until we can all do it again!

Thanks again to everyone that was a part of the weekend - we truly appreciate it!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside