Texas Renaissance Festival

Here's where I show you how much a dork I really am. I love the Renaissance Festival. Love it.

I love all the people that come out in costume {or barely anything at all}, I love the shows {which really have nothing to do with the renaissance}, and I love all of the food and handmade businesses. I usually go more than once each year, and I'm considering even going by myself the day after Thanksgiving just to go to all of the handmade shops by myself. They are so wonderful.

I went this past weekend, and here are a few of my favorite photos:

This centaur works for the festival, but it was Highland Fling weekend, so there were many kilts and tartan-dresses. There were also, of course, ladies, elves, and fairies, and a fair number of "belly dancers" {ahem, people wearing nothing but chainmail} and Catholic school girls {no, the skirt does not look like a kilt people}! Also, there was definitely a guy wear a plaid blanket around his waist tied with some rope. It didn't close all the way. And he definitely was being "traditional."

A wagon made to look like a pirate-ship. Why did I not have one of these as a kid?

The big swings. Love these.

Sound and the Fury. One of my favorite shows. They do vaudville-style shows and they're ridiculously bawdy {the name of one of their shows is Testicles and the Sack of Rome. I'll let you figure out where that goes}. The actors come out about 10 minutes prior to the show to scare away all the kids. Sometimes parents don't believe that the show "counts for 7th grade health class" {it doesn't, but boy could you learn some new vocabulary!} and you'll see them hurriedly and angrily rushing their kids out halfway through. Also, in this particular show a girl was definitely arrested. Oops.

Ded Bob is another favorite, even if I've seen him do the SAME thing 5 years in a row. He is arguably also not suitable for small ears, but his jokes are not as vocabulary-ridden as Sound and Fury, so you can easily distract kids.

This is my favorite shop. It's a glassblowers shop {of course, I lost her card so I don't know what her url is}. All of the globes and vases are handmade by a kick-ass woman. She offers demonstrations and I love to just watch her make things. So talented!

Does anyone have a RenFest by them? Do you go?