5.28.2013

Bucket List Item: 5 Tips to Make Your World Renowned “Mountain Play” Experience Even More Spectacular. Bay Area, California


Daddy Von Trapp and his curtain-wearing kids belt out tunes on the side of Mt Tam
Gorgeous San Francisco Bay in the background

Have you ever sat on a real mountain-top with a cooler of wine and fab cheese instead of in front of the boob-tube and listened to Maria Von Trap belting out her famous Doe-a-Deer and Climb-Every-Mountain world famous tunes?

Well, now you can!

Welcome to the world famous, the renown, the 100th year of The Mountain Play, a spectacular outdoor musical extravaganza located virtually on top of the Bay Area’s 2,500 foot Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, California.

This is a bucket list item. Write it down and check it off! The link to the meaty FAQs of the play is below including the fact that it is hike-in-hike-out if you wish, but in the meantime, here are five, HOT TOP TIPS to make the day extra great:

Tip #1: Make a day of it. Get your families’ fannies and your friends’ fannies in your cars and get up there at the crack o’ 9am to get good seats when the gates open. Yes, that’s 5 hours before the play starts. Yup, FIVE hours. But you’re not stuck at an airport during a 5 hour, hair-pulling, mind-numbing delay during a snowstorm – you’re on the side of a mountain, surrounded by hiking trails and fresh air and a great group of friends. Laugh, breathe, connect, consume, hike, and do it all over again.

Tip #2: Gather a great group of friends to do it with you. ‘Nuff said. The more the merrier and it’s a venue that can hold almost 4,000 of your BFFs so you can invite even the in-laws or your estranged great uncle Bert!

Tip#3: Wear layers like you’ve never worn them before. We went on Sunday on a gorgeous, blue-bird day. On the way up in the morning, I was in my black Marmot parka. As we found our seats, I stripped down to my sleeveless tank. Got even hotter, so on with the dollops o’ sunscreen and cowboy hat. Hiked over the ridge, oh boy, the fog is coming in, back on goes my purple mid-weight fleece. Then over to the venue again for show time, back down to the tank. Half way through the show when the Von Trap kids are wearing curtains illegally and getting whistled at by their bewildered father, hmmmm, time for the parka again. Hike back to the car, down to the tank. Be prepared.

Tip #4: Pack snacky food and leave the big meal behind. Yes, bring lots of food and go wild with fanciness and divine picnic, orgasma flavors galore! Cheese, olives, baguette, fruit, wine, beer, and stuff for the kiddos. However, the gang is distracted by the vista and the adventure and no one is really that hungry for big, heavy food. Keep it more snacky snacky, yummy, yummy. Easy prep, easy eat!

Tip #5: When the two NFL linebackers come sit directly in front of you after you’ve been waiting for 5 hours and you now can not see the stage when the show starts and can only see two, massive, 4 foot shoulder spans with hats on their heads, laugh it off and enjoy the show! Again, ‘nuff said. We leaned a little to the left. Then we leaned a little to the right. It is all good. (And extremely unusual luck!)

And when the fun is all done and Maria and the Von Traps have finished climbing all their mountains from Austria all the way to a cross-country ski resort in Vermont, hike down the 7 miles to the town of Mill Valley, take the free shuttle bus or find your stashed car.

It’s an experience of a lifetime. An otherworldly view. And an amazing day with friends in the fresh air.

Bucket list, for sure.

Namaste & Three Cheers! –OM

P.S. It's been announced -- South Pacific in '14!

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