BEDA 7: RENN FAIRE!

My skin is so hot right now.

I don't get sunburned very often, but when it does happen, it happens badly. I spent all weekend at the Renaissance Faire (which was a total and complete blast) but the last few hours there today completely destroyed me. I have weird tan-lines between my sunburns in the shape of off the shoulder Renaissance blouses and a leather purse strap across my chest. Dumbest souvenir ever.

But anyway! I got up (relatively) early yesterday and packed up the car with Liz and Ariana. We put on our Medieval best and headed out for the "Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire". It's about 40 minutes away, and let me tell you, 40 minutes in a car wearing a tightly laced bodice is an adventure. Bodices were not intended for use on car rides; that much is clear.

We got to the faire-grounds and ditched our car in the camping area before heading over to the festival itself. None of our other friends were there yet, so we spent the next hour or two picking out an outfit for Ariana, as she didn't actually own any medieval garb yet. I suckered myself into buying a new short sleeved red chemise that matches my gold and black costume pieces better (and gives me more of a pirate look) and a sturdy leather belt (to hold all my accessories, since my old one had been breaking).

After our shopping adventures, we met up with Eia, our friends Gabe, Nick and Justin, as well as the whole crew of guys we met at LAST year's Renaissance Faire. It was funny to have planned to come together this year, since last year we ended up camping right next to each other on mere accident (and then becoming friends). So anyway, we found Tyler, Ted, Trevor, AJ and Jeremy wandering around decked in furs and holding chalices, just as we would have expected to find them.

I'm going to be honest... since it was the Renaissance Fair, most of the rest of the day was spent eating, drinking, and wandering around the fairgrounds looking for people who were having parties we could crash. We spent a good deal of time at our own campsite, but headed to another tent called "Paisley Glen" later in the evening where wenches and pirates were making mixed drinks, and of course had our (now annual) trip to Ye Old Tavern Bar where we downed spiced mead and erupted into raucous singing with little regard to those around us.

The evening ended with a moderately drunken scramble to get everyone situated into tents (though for some reason we had a 12 person tent that only 2 people ended up sleeping in while at least 4 people slept in their cars) as well as the horribly stumbly trips to the port-a-potty in the dark (naturally the worst part of the renaissance weekend). Seriously. Using a port-a-potty is bad enough, but when you can't actually see anything you're doing? Worst. Luckily we had these glowstick bracelets that helped a tiny bit... just the tiniest bit.

Anyway, we all woke up the next morning groggy, covered in dew, and in rumpled half put together versions of the previous day's outfits. Tyler had this dinky little grill he used to make us a potato/peppers/onion/egg scramble for breakfast (that only took about an hour to make, which was hilarious). While he cooked, we laughed at ourselves and the state of our campsite (I wish I had a picture to show you -- not only were there red solo cups and empty bottles EVERYWHERE, the wreckage was period appropriately decorated with nerf battle axes and a few various swords sticking out of the ground, claiming the territory as our own). It was seriously the funniest aftermath of a nerdy party I've ever seen.

The faire opened again at ten so we did our best to make ourselves look decent without showering, laced ourselves back into our outfits, and set out for the fairegrounds. Today was a very low-key day at the faire, which was nice. We stopped by the tavern (where we found a curly blonde wig one of us had lost the night before, propped up on the head of a dragon that decorated the bar - which was hilarious) and stood awhile by the misters they had against the back wall. It was hot today. Much hotter than Saturday.

I kept cycling between "this mist feels amazing", "wait, I'm actually soaking wet right now," and "how did I dry that fast, I'm hot again". Eventually we decided to get some food (I got an ear of corn and a chocolate/banana crepe) and watched a bit of the Queen's Pike and Rifle. Once we got bored of that we just found a shady bit of hay to sit on and watched the faire-goers stroll by in their outfits, enjoying the slight breeze and chatting with each other. There was this guy dressed as a.. I'm not even sure what. A goat man or something? But he literally spent the whole weekend just creeping around in a creepy manner walking all goat-like and staring at people, and my friends yelled at me when he locked eyes with me from across the field and waggled his fingers in this totally weirdo way -- and I waved back. Haha. Whatever! The goat man cracked me up!

Mid-afternoon we headed back over to the camp to pack up our tent and think about heading home. This was the point of the day that I'm sure we all got terribly sunburned, as I could feel the rays beating down and we transported stuff to the cars, tore down the tent, and said our goodbyes. Weirdest tanlines. Skin is so hot. Totally worth it.

Overall, this was another successful Renaissance Faire. I freaking love dressing up and being around other people who love this stuff too. I was telling my friends, Renn Faire is basically just a glorified weekend of playing dress-up, but I am totally okay with that. It also involves camping, eating, and spending time with good friends; three of my favorite pastimes.

So, I had a great weekend, I'm sad it's over, and I think I'm going to go put more aloe all over my body. :)

Flights taken: 17