Well, we've been back to Pennsic...
...and now we're home. Well, technically we've gotten as far back as Bonnie's parents' place. I still have to get back to New Jersey later today.
It was pretty much what I expected based on my pre-leaving post. Everybody in camp had their own thing that they do, and the things that they do together from long years of sharing the experience, that we're just not part of. But I was expecting that, so it didn't get me down like it might have when I was younger and had less realistic hopes.
So we were two days later than expected getting into camp (arriving Sunday instead of Friday) due to the need to sew vast quantities of garb before heading out. We managed to get in on Sunday with just enough light to set up the tent and unload. Then we made a town run, got back to camp, and dropped into bed around 1 am.
I fought on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (the River, Gate, Field, and Woods Battles), giving Helm's Deep a miss on Friday because the "personal protection" portion of my armor was chafing me like mad. Kinda regret missing that one, though - it looked like a lot of fun, and if they do it next year I'll definitely get in on it.
We went to the Gypsy/Pirate mixer, and I spent most of an evening at the Three Skulls party which was a pretty good time. That was it for partying for me, though - as I said, I'm terrible at trying to fit in at parties on my own, and was never really given an opportunity to join friends at any others (well, except for the Iron Lance party on Friday night, but Bonnie and I had to give that a miss due to having other plans).
We also got to see a hilarious production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing" on Friday night put on by the Known World Players. That was a lot of fun, and unfortunately the last really fun moment of Pennsic for us due to, well... stupid reasons, imo.
Saturday was just kind of a lazy day spent in shopping and hanging around the encampment for me, and by then I was ready to go home. We ended up packing up as the sun went down Saturday, and driving through the night to get back to the in-laws'.
It was pretty much what I expected based on my pre-leaving post. Everybody in camp had their own thing that they do, and the things that they do together from long years of sharing the experience, that we're just not part of. But I was expecting that, so it didn't get me down like it might have when I was younger and had less realistic hopes.
So we were two days later than expected getting into camp (arriving Sunday instead of Friday) due to the need to sew vast quantities of garb before heading out. We managed to get in on Sunday with just enough light to set up the tent and unload. Then we made a town run, got back to camp, and dropped into bed around 1 am.
I fought on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (the River, Gate, Field, and Woods Battles), giving Helm's Deep a miss on Friday because the "personal protection" portion of my armor was chafing me like mad. Kinda regret missing that one, though - it looked like a lot of fun, and if they do it next year I'll definitely get in on it.
We went to the Gypsy/Pirate mixer, and I spent most of an evening at the Three Skulls party which was a pretty good time. That was it for partying for me, though - as I said, I'm terrible at trying to fit in at parties on my own, and was never really given an opportunity to join friends at any others (well, except for the Iron Lance party on Friday night, but Bonnie and I had to give that a miss due to having other plans).
We also got to see a hilarious production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing" on Friday night put on by the Known World Players. That was a lot of fun, and unfortunately the last really fun moment of Pennsic for us due to, well... stupid reasons, imo.
Saturday was just kind of a lazy day spent in shopping and hanging around the encampment for me, and by then I was ready to go home. We ended up packing up as the sun went down Saturday, and driving through the night to get back to the in-laws'.