Maryland Renaissance Festival

I got to attend the Maryland Renaissance Festival today. Initially, things didn't look good. When I woke up, it was raining outside but luckily it stopped by 8 a.m.

I very much like the Maryland festival because I think they do a really good job i.e. excellent facilities, excellent acts, excellent shops and a good range of food for sale. There is something to please all ages and groups at the festival.

I also had something of a shopping list. I wanted to buy a doublet and some type of Renaissance pants so I could look the part of a Lord. I also wanted to buy a pair of leather gauntlets/gloves so I could look the part when I play the Executioner at Medieval Times. For the doublet and pants, I went to the Moresca shop. I've been very pleased with them with the cloak and shirt I bought from them. After checking what they had, I found a doublet that I thought looked all right. I got a shock when I laced the dang thing up. Suck in that gut! Yes, I now what a women feels like when she wears one of those bustier thingamajiggys. I definitely need to start doing some situps so I lose some of my gut. Pants wise, I didn't fair so well and ended up buying a pair of black breeches. They said they would be a bit baggy and I felt ya ya ok. Big mistake, I should've tried them on there. When I got home, I got another surprise. They weren't kidding when they said BAGGY. They're something fit for a clown. I'm definitely going to take them back and try to find something better.

After buying my doublet and breeches, I went in search of my leather gloves. I tried a couple places before arriving at Potomac Leather. I'd bought a leather pouch with strap from them before and well pleased with it. I needed the pouch as the black sweat pants I was wearing with my costume didn't have pockets so I needed something to carry my camera, keys and wallet in. The pouch did the trick.

I told one of the shops salespeople what I wanted and he quickly found it. It turned out they had a really nice pair of black leather gauntlet/gloves. I could've gotten ones with studs on them but I thought that was a bit too much. I also wanted to be able to wear the gloves with my Lord costume so I went with the plain ones. After that, it was time to check out the festival.

I got to see part of the Fight School act which was nice. It's a really nice act. My only complaint is they've been doing the same act for the last two years. Time for some new material guys! I got to watch a comic fake swallowing a very LONG balloon. He then faked popping it inside himself by swallowing a dagger. Yuck! I also took some photos which I plan to post here once I get them developed. Sadly, I didn't get to see the Medieval Baebes. I found out their first performance wasn't until 2:30 and I had to leave by 1:30 as I had to work at Medieval Times today. Damn! After shooting the rest of the roll of film I had in the camera, I decided to have one of those scrumptious smoked turkey legs.

I had no problems finding one of the stands and forked up the four dollars for one. It was as good as ever. It was also fun to munch on it barring having to pull out some of the ? quills maybe, I don't know what you'd call them. Anyway, barring that, it was great to eat one. I also found a stand selling root beer floats. I thought that sounded good so I paid two dollars and got half a glass of root beer and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I wasn't impressed.

Lastly, I listened to a group playing brass instruments. I don't know what they were called but they were very good. Some music sounds wonderful when it's played by brass ensembles. The music these fine musicians played was great. It was a nice finish to my visit.

I plan to go back again. I still have to try to find some decent pants that I can wear in costume with my full length riding boots. I also like being able to wear a cloak and not having people spaz out. I think cloaks are cool and it's neat to watch my cloak flutter as the wind hits it. I also like to wear a costume at the festival. The costume is one of the main reasons I like my new job in sound and lighting at Medieval Times so much. It's a lot of fun to wear it. I'll make sure I post more in this blog when I go back. Cheers my lords and ladies!