Monday, October 5, 2009

Ren Festing

Wow. This past weekend boyfriend and I and two of our friends sojourned to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and it...was...awesome. If I happened to have been a bigger nerd in high school, the Maryland Ren Fest would have been my yearly safe haven. Teaming with bully-fodder of all kinds, it was like this magical hole in the space/time continuum that allowed for the oft sought paradox of "normal" and nerdy. A mingling of present day and past fantasy. An all encompassing exhibition of the conveniences of sturdy footwear and hand sanitizer against the stark backdrop of wool clothing and hand forged arrows. And a really cute guy that spoke Gaelic and taught me a swear about some guy named Cromwell.

Enough of that. But it really was fun. My friend and I immediately set to the task of acquiring the perfect state of tipsy on the real life mead (which was shockingly tasty, especially mixed with hard cider). Being quite practiced in the matter, we were able to meet our goal and then moved on to trying on metal head ware, watching an archery match, cheering for the jousters, and devouring a turkey leg or two. What more could you want out of your renaissance festival?

As a side note, I'm watching a news segment right now where DC Mayor Adrian Fenty just spent 4 MILLION DOLLARS building the biggest bike station in the United States. Thats right, "What is a bike station" is the correct response. This, amidst near violent protests over hundreds of teachers being laid off in the DC public school system due to lack of funding. Way to budget, team America.

So in conclusion, next year we have already decided that we are going to DRESS UP for the Ren Fest (hopefully I'll have forgotten this by next year), and I'm hoping to be an elf...pointy ears and all. Please, no swirlies.

2 comments:

Ashley said...

I want to be a Ren-Fest nerd too! Actually that sounds like a lot of fun... especially the metal headwear. Maybe I can convince Chris to go as a giant and I can be a troll. I'm very trollish. Do trolls attend Ren-Fest? Now that I think of it, trolls aren't really renasiance... they are more Grimm Brothers... oh well. FAIL.

Sara said...

TURKEY LEG. The only reason I have ever considered going to a ren fest. But really, I'd rather eat one in FrontierLand at Disney. So glad you had fun, though. :)