What's so great about being 21 years old? You can buy a beer with lunch. You can hang out at bars and scam on girls. Vegas welcomes you with open arms, and life is perfect.

That is all bullshit. The beer at lunch makes you fat. The girls at the bars are used goods compared to the pristine, fresh-out-of-high-school girls you were hanging with a few years ago and Vegas is a soul-sucking money hole waiting for you to slip in.

The only thing that makes being 21 years old cooler than any other year is the first day. The drinks are on the house and your chances of getting laid (if you don't puke all over yourself) are higher than normal.

I didn't go to any bars on my 21st birthday. In fact, I didn't even use my ID. I was working on assignment for one of Humboldt County's most reputable weekly publications, checking out the scene at one of California's most notorious music festivals, Reggae on the River.

What a scene it was. By the time I took in the first rays of light on the dawn of my 21st year on earth, I had witnessed enough debauchery to make Wavy Gravy cry for help.

It was day two of the three-day festival and I was feeling like numero uno. Of course, by the looks of my campsite, you wouldn't be able to tell. Beer cans and our entire food supply was scattered around the two tents that my companions and I brought for shelter. A half-eaten watermelon with a hunting knife stuck in the middle of its juicy innards sat as the centerpiece to the mess. Jesus, it looked like a team of Chico frat boys had raided the place.

I did a cooler check. There were a couple of bargain-rack beers and a carton of milk bobbing around in the thawed ice. I ate a small bowl of cereal to help clear the cobwebs and chatted with my neighbors, who were starting the day with a brew and a smoke.

"Shit, it's your 21st birthday? You want a beer?" one of them said.

It was a microbrew, dripping with condensation and too tempting to resist. I took them up on their offer and did a time check. It was 9:30 a.m.

"You're gonna get fucked up," my friend said, laughing at my recklessness.

Yep.

Getting fucked up is what you do on your 21st birthday, right? It's the last hurrah of childhood and teenage invincibility clashing with the inevitable responsibility that comes with being a Man.

After you turn 21 years old, you must do something with your life. There are bills to be paid, pencils to be pushed, picket fences to be built and fortunes to be made. But the moment you turn 21 years old, none of that really matters. There is one objective: have fun and enjoy life.

For 20 years, the organizers of Reggae on the River have attempted to bring that objective to people of every age.

During the first week of August, 10,000 people flock to a small stretch of the Eel River, in the town of Piercy, to experience the event.

Painted fairies and human puppets that stand 10-feet tall intermingle with skinny dippers, merchants and everyday folk like you and me to create a human collage presented with irie reggae music.

The fact that I was hitting a major milestone in my life, right in the middle of it, made it even more irie.

After breakfast and brew, I gathered my senses and decide to venture into the world outside of the gated campground that my press credentials provided me.

I spent most of the day bumming around, conversing with people, swimming, listening to good tunes and enjoying life. Everywhere I went, the atmosphere buzzed with excitement. It wasn't excitement created by anticipation; it was excitement for being a part of the scene.

There is something exciting about escaping the conundrums and monotony of everyday life, and letting yourself go. It is a brief glimpse at freedom.

At Reggae on the River, you are free to wander naked. You are free to scream, just for the pure joy of screaming. And you are free to party all night long.

That is exactly what I did. I partied with friends and strangers. It didn't matter. I was on my own trip, enjoying life to its fullest.

I squeezed every second out of my 21st birthday and I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up, not because I wanted to "get fucked up," but because you only turn 21 just once and after that, it's all downhill.