#6 Go to a renaissance fair

Today I finally went to a renaissance fair. Which I know seems like something I'd have done plenty of times by now but I've never actually gone to one before. I was lucky enough to get my buddy Nat to tag along. You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to get anyone to commit to going along for the ride. I'd done a little bit of research on this one before finding the one that I wanted to go to. Turns out that one of the biggest and best was less than an hour away. This faire had everything I was looking to experience. Knight battles, jousting,weapons, fire juggling, magic, giant turkey legs and a bunch of people who are passionate about it, running the show.

For the most part it was kind of like a giant street fair with people peddling their goods but everything  had that old timey feel to it. There were tons of people in costumes and most of the vendors would make it fun by staying in character. A lot of them you could tell this was their passion; homemade goods and trinkets, art, leather, glasswork, jewelry some pretty cool things. Mostly it's the same stuff you'd find at any street fair except for one main difference. There were games with weapons! I mean how often do you get to shoot a bow and arrow? Or chuck a throwing axe at a large stump? Unless you just happen to have that stuff lying around your place and you also have tons of property where else are you going to do stuff like this? I shot arrows and I was terrible. I think maybe 3 of the 5 hit the bag with the target. None of which got anywhere near the target itself. Now my axe throwing was a different story. 3 of the 4 axes stuck one of which hit the bullseye and got me into the axe throwing competition. But thats later in the story.

After wandering around for a while we lucked out and ran up on the jousting tournament just in time. Also by happenstance we were sitting in the Queen's section. It's not everyday you get to experience pretend royalty. The knight's games were awesome. You had jousting games of accuracy, they had knights battling it out with these elaborate choreographed fights. Great stage presence that had me entertained for a hour in a half. The jousting itself was a little bit of a disappointment, as they only nicked themselves rather than go full bore knock each other off their horses. But I get it, nobody wants anyone to get hurt. Everyone needs to be safe to have a good time. I just think it would have been really cool to see someone get blasted off a horse.

Afterwards my other main goal was to eat a giant Fred Flintstone sized turkey leg. Which really ended up being a bad decision. I'm glad I tried it but woof that thing was a monster. Worst part of all it wasn't really enjoyable either. It was fatty, huge and tasted like ham. Plus it kept breaking off into lengthy pieces of gristle. It also didn't help that a group of ladies decided to sit with us while I'm trying to eat this mammoth meal with my hands...embarrassing.

After my meal we went to one of the beer gardens to watch a cannon show and partake in some adult humor. Again just like the knights battle the cannon show was a spectacle to see. Four miniature cannons that let off one of the biggest booms you could think of. The adult section was still a little too meager for my liking but there were some corny songs. I'd prefer more raunchy to cheesy but to each there own. A little more wandering around with some time to kill before the big axe throwing tournament until we did a big circle ending up back there.

For the tournament they had a children's round and an adult round. Point system worked like this: You get 6 shots 1 per target. 1 point to stick your axe in the stump. 3 points if you hit the bullseye and 5 points if you cut the string they laid across it. There was this one little kid that owned it! 2 strings cut 1 bullseye and another 1 stuck. For the adults it was a little more tricky. To pass onto the point system round you had to cut the string. I'm happy to say on my 5th shot I advanced to the finals. Only 5 of us out of at least 13 made it. From that point on I choked and wound up with a huge goose egg for my final score. Leaving me in 5th place. 

Overall it was a fun time and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. If anyone is interested I'd recommend it. Next weekend Aug 15th & 16th is their last running weekend. It's really only a shot drive out of Seattle.   http://www.washingtonfaire.com 

Things I learned today:

I never wear enough or any sunscreen 

Pirates were once called Privateers and were authorized by the Queen to steal goods from other ships

Sometimes more isn't a better idea - in this case a Queen sized turkey leg would have been enough

Competition is all in good fun - you'll never know you were better than 8 other people unless you try out 

Don't be afraid to invite you friends to join you, even if they might laugh. The ones who do end up going will have a great time together regardless and form memories the others missed out on