At Christian's suggestion and only after making a fair amount of fun of him, we loaded up the kids and headed to the Louisiana Renaissance Festival yesterday. I am still trying to scratch my eyeballs to erase some of the images that were burned on my retinas. Suffice it to say, there were way too many women in corsets a few sizes too small prancing (well, lumbering actually) about the place and it was just a tad disturbing.
This was not my first Renaissance Fest experience. I went to one (again, with Christian - are you sensing a common thread here?) over 10 years ago and remember very little about it, save the giant turkey legs and vague recollections of birds of prey, mead, and cinnamon roasted nuts. The Louisiana Renaissance Fest is situated on about 12 or so acres of land, so there is plenty of room to roam around and, even with a good sized crowd, it is comfortable. There are about 5 different stages set up featuring old-timey plays, puppet shows, magic (there was lots of magic going on - I guess because people did magic all the time back then?), roving bands of lute players, drum circles (I still have not figured out why there was a drum circle), jugglers, glass blowing demonstrations, living history demonstrations, rudimentary rides, jousting matches, birds of prey demonstrations, ponies, goats, face painting, hair braiding, and a ton of children's games along the lines of throwing darts, knocking down bowling pins, etc...There were endless food and drink options, none of which were memorable - Luz and James were thrilled to eat chicken tenders and fries followed by cotton candy. The highlight for me was a soft pretzel and cinnamon cashews.
I have to say, I was a naysayer going into it, but I had a decent time. Sure, I got really grossed out by all of the carnie types running the show, the matted hair and dirty fingernails from the people working the food stations was nauseating, and I did not love ducking every few minutes when low-flying hawks and falcons seemed to be close enough to relieve themselves on my head, but Luz and James had a great time, which made it totally worthwhile.
Lady Lucy the Lovely:
3 comments:
Lady Lucy the Lovely rides ponies? LIVE ponies!? I remember when getting on a stationary horse on a small-scale carousel was out of the question for her. I am so proud to see her embracing pony rides! Maybe she will grow up to be an animal aficionado like yours truly...
Reading this reminded me about the time I went to the Texas Renaissance Fair when I was about 10. I loved the birds of prey, but was freaked out when I was invited to come on stage (inspite of the fact, I didn't raise my hand. I was asked to blow on this trumpet type thing that the nasty carney type had been playing. I wouldnt' do it.
i remember my happy childhood when i was seeing this photos
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