A burners' reunion

They came from San Francisco, the Bay Area, California and beyond.

Just barely a month after the end of Burning Man 2005, thousands of so-called "burners" hit the streets of San Francisco on Sunday for a day of art, dancing, costumes and general celebration of the spirit and energy that dominate Nevada's Black Rock Desert late each summer.

The annual "Decompression" took place in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. And except for the lack of extreme desert conditions, many on hand said the event felt like the real thing.

That's partly due to the fact that many of the art projects that were at Burning Man this year made reappearances at Decompression. Among them were Lindsay Lawlor's mechanical giraffe known as the "Rave Raff," the Flaming Lotus Girls' Angel of the Apocalypse, and Andrew Johnstone's Virtual Playa, which mixes the Microsoft Flight Simulator engine and 3D models of Burning Man art projects in a high-tech digital representation of the event.

The only downside: Now that Decompression has come and gone, burners must get used to the idea of waiting until Burning Man throws another party next summer.