Maryland Renaissance Festival

It’s that time of year again – Time for me to set aside my horse-ing so we can do something Dave enjoys.

The Maryland Renaissance Festival is the second largest in the country. It just started this last weekend and runs for the next 8 weekends. This past weekend had the theme of “Children’s Weekend”, but it seemed to contain an average number of children to me. They will be there for all the other weekends too, you can’t avoid them.

We (Dave, our friend, and I) got there as soon as it opened and managed to avoid all the crowds. There was no line to get in the parking lot, and no line for delicious breakfast crepes, although I did have to wait for them to be made. I guess it would have been asking too much for them to already know my order before I got there.

We went to the wine lane, and I got a cup of the most delicious riesling. I meant to get the name of it so I could buy lots of bottles of it later, but I failed to get it. Now it will be a life quest to get the name of it. I did figure out that the primary wine supplier is Linganore Wines, but I don’t see a riesling listed on their site. But I must know for sure so I will be heading there for a wine tasting.

The friend who conveniently turned away from the camera and I stand on a romantic bridge. I suppose technically it should have been Dave and me on the romantic bridge, but it wasn’t until afterward we saw the hearts, we thought it was just a random bridge. 

We stopped to watch the shows, including this very impressive display.

I’ve always dreamed of hanging upside suspended from trees like a bat.

I wonder if I’m too old to learn this. I took gymnastics as a kid, that should count for something! I looked it up and introductory lessons are only $15, so I feel like I have to at least try it out. It looks fun, and that woman was super fit. I can’t even climb a rope and she scaled those silks like a monkey. I like the idea of having fun and being super fit. It seems like a win-win.

She must also have amazing stamina because she does this performance three times a day on both Saturday and Sunday.

We watched Wheel of Death again, which is always entertaining.

 Ichabod is very funny and puts on a good show, as evidenced by the huge crowd he draws.

We also did archery. I thought I’d have a huge advantage because I have a bow and arrows at home, and manage to hit the target. I wondered why I was paying for archery when I could do it free at home, but I did secretly want to show off my archery skills.

There was no showing off. I was terrible. I probably should practice more. I think I hit the edge of the target one time, although in my defense, the feathers on the arrows were very frayed. I’m fairly positive that will contribute to missing the target.

Not me shooting the bow. She hit the target three times, and she doesn’t even have a bow and arrows at home.

After walking around for a while, we headed out. Unfortunately much of the “to do” there involves spending money, so not the best place to go if you’re trying not to spend money. Still fun though, and now Dave has it out of his system… Until next year!