Our Renaissance Festival Weekend

Lindsey and I went to the 2006 Texas Renaissance Festival over the past weekend. In the last eight or nine years, I think I've only missed the festival twice: in 2004 and 2005. Now that we are back in Lafayette, such an easy drive to Plantersville, Tx, I think we're going to take up going every year again. We drove out there on Friday night and stayed in a hotel (alas, a cheap one this year seeing as we are still reeling after our recent home purchase).

Pictures after the jump.


On Saturday morning we arrived at the front gate:



And we were greeted as usual by the Beefeaters:



The first thing we found out when we walked in was that they were completely sold out of programs, which meant it was not going to be a very organized day. As we walked in though, we saw a band playing:



Lindsey wanted to watch them for a while because there was a harpist in the group and she loves the harp:



Then we began just wandering around the fair grounds at our leisure. We looked in a few of the shops:



And we checked out all of the cool and sometimes not so cool costumes people were wearing:



Peacock feathers for wings! How cool!



















I enjoyed walking around the grounds to check out some of the cool sculptures and various styles of buildings. I just love being there. Here are some of the things to be seen along the garden path in Sherwood Forest:













Once we left the garden path we came to the petting zoo area, and the elephant and camel rides. Of course we stayed there for a while to watch the elephants. Lindsey and I love elephants:







After that I started to get hungry, and it just so happened that we were near a turkey leg booth:



So I sat down and enjoyed a nice thick turkey leg:



PWNED!!!!!



If you haven't had one of these turkey legs, you do not know what you're missing. There was no meat left to spare when I was done.

In the middle of the grounds, there are several really nice gardens which Lindsey always loves. There is a rose garden, a water garden, and several traditional flower gardens. I like the gardens too, particularly the statues:













We wandered around the gardens for quite some time and then walked through a few more shops, which led us to the German area of the grounds. At this point Lindsey got hungry and I got thirsty.

This daiquiri was infinitely excellent:



This hot potato salad however, was very boring:


But it wasn't bad. Lindsey wasn't able to finish it, and so I did. Very peppery, but also pretty tasty.

We wandered around for a while longer, eventually sitting for a while to watch a belly-dancer and a band:











Also watching the performance were a very handsome young King and Queen:



And that pretty much sums up our day at the festival. After the performance we visited a few more shops because Lindsey wanted to find the booth that sold homemade soap, which she did find by the way. Then we stopped at the cafe for coffee and gingerbread. By the time we finished that, the sun was beginning to set and the day's festivities coming to a close until next year...

Full photo set can be viewed here.