Maryland Renaissance Festival 2007
nightwolfwriter and I took the daughter unit to the Renfest today. The weekend is Octoberfest, and she's supposed to get extra credit in her German class for being exposed to things German so today seemed like a good day to go.
Seemed being the operative word there. ;-)
We got on the road around 12:45. We arrived at the Renfest about 2:45. And no, our having to stop to fill up the car didn't have a lot to do with it.
Long story short, traffic was intense. I wasn't worried at first because there's a series of stoplights right after exiting from the main highway onto the smaller local road which can snarl things up. Now I will admit the lights didn't help matters, but there was just that many people. There was just a huge line of cars. I'm telling you, I thought very seriously about just throwing in the towel right there and trying again another weekend. The trouble was the extra credit of course, but even worse, I'd invited mollymorrison and sorerutenshi up from Virginia to go to the Renfest with us. *headdesk*
Once there it was better, but hot. mollymorrison and sorerutenshi had eaten before coming up and my family hadn't had lunch yet so we essentially scattered and didn't see a lot of each other. Too bad, but they had to leave early and didn't really have time to hang around and wait for us. I hope they had a good time.
nightwolfwriter, the daughter unit and I hung around the Renfest until about 6:30 pm. That was about as late as we could stay since the place closed at 7:00 pm. We looked around and bought a few things. My daughter in particular made out like a bandit. Christmas came early for her as well. She loves the puppets made by Midsummer Knight's Dream. She has a couple of their Bosom Buddy cat puppets which are about the smallest (and cheapest) puppets offered, but has been wanting one of the larger models for several years. I guess by now it's more than just a passing fancy and at 14 she should be able to take care of it, so I let her get one. Thank God they were on sale! ;-)
nightwolfwriter also found something on sale. He's pieced together a nice cavalier outfit for himself, but he's had his eye on the woolen cloaks sold by Travel Clothing by Half Moon. It just so happened they had a cloak on sale (which doesn't happen a lot) that matched the green in his tunic and boots. So yeah, I figured he was due. Like the daughter unit, he's gone by and admired their wares every year for the past several years. ;-) Me? Well, I wasn't going to buy anything but then I saw the Crawling Cat ear cuff at Marty Magic. I bought a Dragon ear cuff from them several years ago, but it isn't something I can wear out or to work if I don't want to field "Wish, what the heck is that thing on your ear?" questions all day. The cat I bought came with some dangle mouse earrings, so it should be better for day-to-day wear. We'll see.
I also amused myself with taking pictures of random people on my iPhone and e-mailing them to them. Don't ask. It was fun at the time. Have to admit, that thing has the best camera I've ever had in a cell phone.
Anyway, that's what me and my bunch were up to today. Hope everyone had a great Saturday!
Seemed being the operative word there. ;-)
We got on the road around 12:45. We arrived at the Renfest about 2:45. And no, our having to stop to fill up the car didn't have a lot to do with it.
Long story short, traffic was intense. I wasn't worried at first because there's a series of stoplights right after exiting from the main highway onto the smaller local road which can snarl things up. Now I will admit the lights didn't help matters, but there was just that many people. There was just a huge line of cars. I'm telling you, I thought very seriously about just throwing in the towel right there and trying again another weekend. The trouble was the extra credit of course, but even worse, I'd invited mollymorrison and sorerutenshi up from Virginia to go to the Renfest with us. *headdesk*
Once there it was better, but hot. mollymorrison and sorerutenshi had eaten before coming up and my family hadn't had lunch yet so we essentially scattered and didn't see a lot of each other. Too bad, but they had to leave early and didn't really have time to hang around and wait for us. I hope they had a good time.
nightwolfwriter, the daughter unit and I hung around the Renfest until about 6:30 pm. That was about as late as we could stay since the place closed at 7:00 pm. We looked around and bought a few things. My daughter in particular made out like a bandit. Christmas came early for her as well. She loves the puppets made by Midsummer Knight's Dream. She has a couple of their Bosom Buddy cat puppets which are about the smallest (and cheapest) puppets offered, but has been wanting one of the larger models for several years. I guess by now it's more than just a passing fancy and at 14 she should be able to take care of it, so I let her get one. Thank God they were on sale! ;-)
nightwolfwriter also found something on sale. He's pieced together a nice cavalier outfit for himself, but he's had his eye on the woolen cloaks sold by Travel Clothing by Half Moon. It just so happened they had a cloak on sale (which doesn't happen a lot) that matched the green in his tunic and boots. So yeah, I figured he was due. Like the daughter unit, he's gone by and admired their wares every year for the past several years. ;-) Me? Well, I wasn't going to buy anything but then I saw the Crawling Cat ear cuff at Marty Magic. I bought a Dragon ear cuff from them several years ago, but it isn't something I can wear out or to work if I don't want to field "Wish, what the heck is that thing on your ear?" questions all day. The cat I bought came with some dangle mouse earrings, so it should be better for day-to-day wear. We'll see.
I also amused myself with taking pictures of random people on my iPhone and e-mailing them to them. Don't ask. It was fun at the time. Have to admit, that thing has the best camera I've ever had in a cell phone.
Anyway, that's what me and my bunch were up to today. Hope everyone had a great Saturday!