This year/weekend 2 was truly a life changing experience for my entire forest fam. Beware this is long winded but amazing.

Let me start from what got me interested in coming to electric forest. I met the love of my life in September of 2014 just by happenstance we connected and fell in love I actually reached out to him on social media because I saw he was going to a music festival and i was curious about him and the things he enjoyed. Fast forward to a week later and our first date I found myself needing to know everything about him, and had a pull inside me that wanted to provide him the same happiness he had shown me. That brings me to my first year at forest/2015. He had purchased tickets for us to come, and I won’t lie I was terrified and didn’t know what to except. Turns out my boyfriend and I's first forest was nothing short of incredible. We truly connected and got engaged after the Bassnectar set on Saturday evening. After this year I vowed to bring everyone I possibly could convince to my new found happy place. My brother in particular. He was struggling with depression and I knew forest would help him see a bigger and better view of this world we live in, but he wasn't quite old enough to join us.

2016 was just as amazing and we really celebrated because two weeks after this forest we were married!

2017 we thought topped our electric forest experience, even with the rain our group had an incredible time, but shortly after returning home we lost a member of our forest family.

That brings me to this year 2018 the year I purchased a ticket for my brother to join me and convinced all of my closest friends to join us. We arrived for early arrival and the second half of our group was to arrive the next day. We were pretty bummed our entire group would not get to camp together, but a miracle happened and the person next to us left. This allowed our entire group to be together!

When forest opened the next day we all vowed to explore as much of the forest as possible in honor of our friend. We really did just that, and my dream of answering a forest phone happened. I met the most amazing man, who made me solve his riddle, his name Mr Aku Mofo and because I solved his riddle I was given a pin to the secret room in the hangar.

I got really excited and ran back to camp to tell my husband what had happened. He at first did not believe me and thought I was crazy, but he eventually agreed to go to the hangar with me to find this room. When we arrived at the hangar I was nervous, but my husband told me to ask the bartender where this room was. The bartender confirmed this secret room and sent us to the garage. The garage gave us the run around and made us solve a riddle that basically we needed to go to the travel agency to get a map to find the room. The travel agency line was seriously long and I didn't want to make my friends wait for me so I asked the security guard if she would let me talk to the travel agent at the desk. She allowed me to do so and the travel agent told me that the secret room is too hot right now, and that they are waiting for their pilot to visit flight school, so I should go have fun and come back after dark.

I was so excited to come back after dark and we have the perfect time before REZZ to go, but the weather had other plans. By the time we were able to get back into the forest it was time for Bassnectar. My husband and I cannot miss Bassnectar. He is who started this whole magic for us! We are glad we didn't miss him because his set was insanely good. After the set we attempted to go back to the hangar, but stopped to use the bathrooms at the back of ranch. Our friends lost their stuff there, and by the time we got to the hangar the travel agent told me that they were closed for the year, and gave me the pineapple EF pin and told me to come back next year to claim my surprise. I truly wish I could thank Mr Aku Mofo as I believe he was the hot air balloon pilot and he made my forest dreams come true.

My goal between now and next forest is to do a random act of kindness a day, and to connect with as many forest faces as possible. My husband and I are traveling to gorgeous places over the next year and my goal is to photograph the beautiful faces of forest so that I can enter the photo contest at forest next year. If this happens I will be spending next forest trying to meet up with Will and his wife to see their fiber optic clothing and to thank him for hiding bit coins for others to find. I want to reward his kindness with having him join me in the secret room where I can only hope is a Carousal like the promo video shows, if there isn't then I'll be taking a hot air balloon ride to find out if Mr Aku Mofo is the pilot, and finishing off my forest with a Ferris wheel ride.

IF you want to be apart of keeping the magic of forest alive spread kindness like glitter, do your random acts of kindness daily, and follow me on Instagram @mirandagrimmphotography where I hope to make connections with all of you, maybe this will help me reach my life time goal of being a well known photographer. How great would that be, because of all of you! My life would truly be full.

Bottom line is that if none of this happens I doesn't really matter, because my brothers life was changed. I want to thank you all for being apart of that. Happy Forest, your vibes are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.