Pennsic 39
Behold! I have survived Pennsic! Not only that, but i survived the process of scrubbing a weeks worth of dust and iron off of me without taking my skin off too XD
For those not living in the Other century, Pennsic War is the single largest SCA event i know of. It is two weeks of camping and medieval goodness, attracting anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 people. The 'camp site' is a stretch of several terrains nearly a mile long and a quarter-mile wide, recognized by the state of Pennsylvania as its own town (for two weeks at anyrate) and having its own Mayor, a post office, a bank, and a basic water/electric/sewage utility infrastructure. "SCA Pennsic" is even labeled on Google maps. The long black wiggly-bit just above the labeling is the Fort, a giant castle wall and towers permanently erected on the grounds for Pennsic battles.
So anyway, we went for the second week of the event.
This is my Pennsic journal/recap.
Saturday: Get to site after 9 hour drive.
Try to find Troll (where you check in and pay your site fees)
Try to find designated camping area, i.e. Midlands' Encampment i.e. "N22." Discover none of the sections are marked, really, but at least the roads are.
Try to find place to put pavilion up. There are four of us sharing a giant oval pavilion, which is actually quite roomy for four people who know how to pack their stuff properly, but, that means you need enough moderately even ground to fit a giant oval pavilion on to. And then a pop-tent for armor and cooler and such, and then a shade fly, because it will be hot, and we will need shade.
Having eventually succeeded at this, we cross the battlefield to the Thieves of Hearts camp, by which I mean, the Pirate party, accept libations, and discover the where-abouts of other Shire folk, and thus of our bedding, which they had transported for us. Yay! I have a sleeping bag for the night, and shall not freeze.
Sunday: Hot. and Humid. About the time I am finally conscious enough to be contemplating the class listing, there is a cookie-castle building class occurring. Oh well. Mostly i wander, and explore the food court, where things are remarkably less expensive than expected, and there is a great deal more fruit and vegetable shaped items than hoped for. I wander a bit with a Chinese concubine, meet a baron, and get lost in a bookshop. I am too lazy to find the archery range.
Monday: Hot. and Humid. I succeed at making it to a noon class on Persian buttons. I now have a use for all those blasted wooden beads i never use! Viking Feast Gear class is canceled. My quasi-period shoes bite it, and i am left in sneakers.
There is a brief sojourn back to the Real World in search of fresh water, Subway, and more interesting boozes than what has been about. The boozes are not as successful as the rest.
Mom and i go merchanting, and I receive my "official" graduation gift: a $200 longbow with a beautiful rose-wood inlay. It is left-handed. I am now officially a left-handed archer. We also discover some very pretty rocks.
The Midlands Encampment has a shower! And a water heater to boot. The local water is, shall we say, unfiltered. I exchange salt for iron.
Tuesday: Hot. and Humid. I take breakfast over a class on buttons, but manage to make it to Viking Wire Weaving I. I am a quick study, but my result is somewhat...loose. Not so much a chain as a funny looking bit of wire. Shrug an continue on.
Walked to the archery range. Heard later someone describe the walk as "when you reach Ohio you are /almost/ there." It is the farthest west point of the grounds. Managed to improve from not hitting the target at all to hitting about half the time. Huzzah! Shot for the war point but only landed one point out of a possible 6.
My shoulder hurts.
Wednesday: There is a class on viking shoes which aught to help me know what to look for in new period-looking shoes! Except that, i discover, it is a class on how to /make/ viking shoes. Armed with a suddenly greater understanding of leather work, i go shopping durring that evening's Midnight Madness shopping event, and wind up with the shoes out of the bargain bin, which need the top button holes moved in about an inch. Go me.
Other shopping event purchases include some books on Anglo-Saxon history and Celtic art, some trim for making yet-more-garb, and a stuffed dragon. ^ .^
Wednesday Night: It rains. A lot. We discover where the tent is and is not leaking. Mom doesn't sleep much. I am more inclined to drown. Our shade fly survives the wind, only to be crushed by the weight of the water its trying to hold back. We discover the wreckage in the morning, duct tape it back together, and dub it the Zombie for the remainder of the event.
Thursday: Humid. And Hot later on. There is much hauling of heavy things in the morning to get mom down to Artisan's Row, where she is one of four two instructors doing demos on Soaps and Lotions and Medieval Herbaries. Attend a class on telling Real Gemstones from Fake Gemstones, which has an incredibly bad start but evolves itself into some useful information. Ask me sometime about the difference between a "real" pearl and a "real natural" pearl. Viking Wire Weaving II turns out to be well worth the $13 as the teacher is a bit better at teaching, the hand out is Amazing, and the kit has everything i need to keep working on the thing in camp well after the class is over.
The Middle Kingdom (of which our shire is a part, barely) holds its Great Court in the evening. Court is much much more interesting when you are close enough to see and hear, a point which we achieved about half-way through. The Pointy Hats invite the populace to their Royal Encampment for foods and libations. The libations being uninteresting to me, the highlight of the evening were the still-nearly-frozen cold and creamy lady fingers and cream puffs free for the noshing. We made our escape relatively early.
Friday: Cool and very breezy. Damn it. We are all lured into false hope by the morning's over cast, and wind up sunburned instead.
Archery first this time, before it gets too hot to stand in the sun. And i am smart enough this time to catch a bus to the range. My shooting is improving, but i take one round of practice too many, and when i go to shoot the first of two rounds of war point, I catch myself hard with the bowstring. Lovely purple color, that bruise. First round i land 4 our of 6 arrows for points. Second round i only get 3 on the target at all, but 2 of them count. All in all i'm pleased to have done anything at all, and spend the rest of the afternoon sitting about with wire and books. In the evening we socialize with Grey Fox, a house hold which is technically closer to home geographically but which is beholden to the Kingdom of Northshield instead. Much fun is had. A good last night.
Saturday: A/C ed.
Pack up and shove off, singing Farewell to Pennsic. Mundane clothes! Bob Evans for brunch! and when we get home: SHOWERS!
For those not living in the Other century, Pennsic War is the single largest SCA event i know of. It is two weeks of camping and medieval goodness, attracting anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 people. The 'camp site' is a stretch of several terrains nearly a mile long and a quarter-mile wide, recognized by the state of Pennsylvania as its own town (for two weeks at anyrate) and having its own Mayor, a post office, a bank, and a basic water/electric/sewage utility infrastructure. "SCA Pennsic" is even labeled on Google maps. The long black wiggly-bit just above the labeling is the Fort, a giant castle wall and towers permanently erected on the grounds for Pennsic battles.
So anyway, we went for the second week of the event.
This is my Pennsic journal/recap.
Saturday: Get to site after 9 hour drive.
Try to find Troll (where you check in and pay your site fees)
Try to find designated camping area, i.e. Midlands' Encampment i.e. "N22." Discover none of the sections are marked, really, but at least the roads are.
Try to find place to put pavilion up. There are four of us sharing a giant oval pavilion, which is actually quite roomy for four people who know how to pack their stuff properly, but, that means you need enough moderately even ground to fit a giant oval pavilion on to. And then a pop-tent for armor and cooler and such, and then a shade fly, because it will be hot, and we will need shade.
Having eventually succeeded at this, we cross the battlefield to the Thieves of Hearts camp, by which I mean, the Pirate party, accept libations, and discover the where-abouts of other Shire folk, and thus of our bedding, which they had transported for us. Yay! I have a sleeping bag for the night, and shall not freeze.
Sunday: Hot. and Humid. About the time I am finally conscious enough to be contemplating the class listing, there is a cookie-castle building class occurring. Oh well. Mostly i wander, and explore the food court, where things are remarkably less expensive than expected, and there is a great deal more fruit and vegetable shaped items than hoped for. I wander a bit with a Chinese concubine, meet a baron, and get lost in a bookshop. I am too lazy to find the archery range.
Monday: Hot. and Humid. I succeed at making it to a noon class on Persian buttons. I now have a use for all those blasted wooden beads i never use! Viking Feast Gear class is canceled. My quasi-period shoes bite it, and i am left in sneakers.
There is a brief sojourn back to the Real World in search of fresh water, Subway, and more interesting boozes than what has been about. The boozes are not as successful as the rest.
Mom and i go merchanting, and I receive my "official" graduation gift: a $200 longbow with a beautiful rose-wood inlay. It is left-handed. I am now officially a left-handed archer. We also discover some very pretty rocks.
The Midlands Encampment has a shower! And a water heater to boot. The local water is, shall we say, unfiltered. I exchange salt for iron.
Tuesday: Hot. and Humid. I take breakfast over a class on buttons, but manage to make it to Viking Wire Weaving I. I am a quick study, but my result is somewhat...loose. Not so much a chain as a funny looking bit of wire. Shrug an continue on.
Walked to the archery range. Heard later someone describe the walk as "when you reach Ohio you are /almost/ there." It is the farthest west point of the grounds. Managed to improve from not hitting the target at all to hitting about half the time. Huzzah! Shot for the war point but only landed one point out of a possible 6.
My shoulder hurts.
Wednesday: There is a class on viking shoes which aught to help me know what to look for in new period-looking shoes! Except that, i discover, it is a class on how to /make/ viking shoes. Armed with a suddenly greater understanding of leather work, i go shopping durring that evening's Midnight Madness shopping event, and wind up with the shoes out of the bargain bin, which need the top button holes moved in about an inch. Go me.
Other shopping event purchases include some books on Anglo-Saxon history and Celtic art, some trim for making yet-more-garb, and a stuffed dragon. ^ .^
Wednesday Night: It rains. A lot. We discover where the tent is and is not leaking. Mom doesn't sleep much. I am more inclined to drown. Our shade fly survives the wind, only to be crushed by the weight of the water its trying to hold back. We discover the wreckage in the morning, duct tape it back together, and dub it the Zombie for the remainder of the event.
Thursday: Humid. And Hot later on. There is much hauling of heavy things in the morning to get mom down to Artisan's Row, where she is one of four two instructors doing demos on Soaps and Lotions and Medieval Herbaries. Attend a class on telling Real Gemstones from Fake Gemstones, which has an incredibly bad start but evolves itself into some useful information. Ask me sometime about the difference between a "real" pearl and a "real natural" pearl. Viking Wire Weaving II turns out to be well worth the $13 as the teacher is a bit better at teaching, the hand out is Amazing, and the kit has everything i need to keep working on the thing in camp well after the class is over.
The Middle Kingdom (of which our shire is a part, barely) holds its Great Court in the evening. Court is much much more interesting when you are close enough to see and hear, a point which we achieved about half-way through. The Pointy Hats invite the populace to their Royal Encampment for foods and libations. The libations being uninteresting to me, the highlight of the evening were the still-nearly-frozen cold and creamy lady fingers and cream puffs free for the noshing. We made our escape relatively early.
Friday: Cool and very breezy. Damn it. We are all lured into false hope by the morning's over cast, and wind up sunburned instead.
Archery first this time, before it gets too hot to stand in the sun. And i am smart enough this time to catch a bus to the range. My shooting is improving, but i take one round of practice too many, and when i go to shoot the first of two rounds of war point, I catch myself hard with the bowstring. Lovely purple color, that bruise. First round i land 4 our of 6 arrows for points. Second round i only get 3 on the target at all, but 2 of them count. All in all i'm pleased to have done anything at all, and spend the rest of the afternoon sitting about with wire and books. In the evening we socialize with Grey Fox, a house hold which is technically closer to home geographically but which is beholden to the Kingdom of Northshield instead. Much fun is had. A good last night.
Saturday: A/C ed.
Pack up and shove off, singing Farewell to Pennsic. Mundane clothes! Bob Evans for brunch! and when we get home: SHOWERS!