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Vacation Days 9-11
Jun. 6th, 2005 04:51 pmJune 4, 2005
Day 9 - trip to Atlanta.
Leave at half past dawn from Houston hotel, and get to Dallas half-hour early despite a little bad traffic (after 4 hours of driving). Turn in rental car (very easy) and take shuttle to airport. Again, very easy, no real lines to get boarding pass or to go through security. Got lunch (little personal pizzas) and played a couple hands of Magic while waiting for the plane.
Plane trip started late due to inclement weather, and the trip had a few bumps, but nothing major. Snoozing and reading were the primary flight activities. Landed in Atlanta at 7pm (Eastern Time), got the rental car (Ford Taurus), and drove to the hotel (Holiday Inn Express again). Passed the Atlanta Six Flags on the way. Also stopped for dinner at a little fish place – fresh fish, but really slow service.
June 5 - Day 10
Georgia Ren Fest Day 1
( long description of the day )
Some notes on the site and attractions:
The site is well laid out, easy to get from here to there in a few minutes, despite the generally large size of the place. Very attractive site, with well-kept buildings of interesting and unique designs. The site is of rolling hills, with a generous scattering of trees throughout providing much-needed shade. The entrance features a very nice pond/garden with sculptures of anthropomorphic frogs. Food was bountiful in good variety and at reasonable prices (esp. with the package we got). Sodas were in ice cold 20oz bottles for $2.50. Beer was a little pricey but not outrageous. Lots of rides for kids and adults, including various barrel swings, a twirling ride, pony ride. Very nice petting zoo (goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, potbellied pigs, horse, and even a highland cow (well, heifer). Lots of crafts, though nothing really stood out as unique compared to other faires though I did like the dinosaur eggs (geodes) and some very nice work. A few games and rides for the adults. They had a near-to-life-size jousting horse figure which patrons could sit on for pictures (for a price). One art shop featured framed reproductions of fantasy art (Waterhouse, etc.). They had a very nice print of "The Funeral of a Viking" by Dicksee. A very nice sword shop was housed in the aft half of a washed up ship. Very cool but a little crowded. There is a little wedding area near one stage. I think this is a bad idea. Just imagine "do you take this man to be your husband?" "what, I couldn't hear you over the crowd next door!" "I said, do you take this man…" "what?" There was a wedding going on while we were watching the Tortuga Twins. I can't even imagine… though at least the show we saw had a wedding march included (while the wedding area was being used).
Also, large number of hexagonal picnic tables with shade umbrellas. Programs were big and colorful, easy to read, with stage schedule on the same pages as the map (though the music throughout the village mentioned on the web site was not included in the schedule). The program also lists food and crafts, with all new items highlighted, and demonstration crafts tagged (and there were a lot of demos available). Unfortunately, actors are not given credit in the program, and the intro to the day is brief and vague ("welcome to 15th century England" is most of it). They also had a (very popular) misting bridge over the drainage area. The signposts (which were fairly frequent) pointed to stages, privies and drinks rather than being roadsigns.
Kids Stuff
The free kids' area was very thorough: swing set (with slide and mini-climbing wall), free craft area, right next to the petting zoo. They also had a Mother Goose (complete with live geese) just inside the front gate. Kids games/rides were throughout the site and seemed to be somewhat integrated to the site.
Notes on the characters:
King Richard and Eleanor of Aquitaine were the ruling monarchs for this 15th century fair. A Robin Hood storyline infused the village. A couple of street scenes during the day set up the plot: the Sheriff plans to eliminate the whole village, and Robin plans to stop him. The scene prepares for the Combat Chess game later in the day, in which Robin and the Sheriff will battle it out. We encountered a few characters on the street but it was rare. When we did, they were fairly unspecific greetings though we did see a big bit with 2 ladies getting love letters from the same duke. Very friendly though.
Notes on the day: Very hot and humid. Lots of sweating, sitting in shade, drinking Sprite.
On the way back to the hotel, lots more construction traffic. Sigh. Stopped at a local mall to check the movie listings (next showing of anything was 9:35, too late for us), so we got dinner at the food court, checked out Borders, then went to Krogers (major grocery chain) to get aloe gel for our sunburned necks and faces (since we were in too much of a hurry to sunblock in the morning … d'oh). Also got a few snacks for the plane ride home on Tuesday. Unfortunately, realized too late that the aloe gel also has menthol which I got to quickly wash off due to my allergies (menthol becomes mint-like when absorbed).
June 6, 2005 - Day 11
We saw the first part of the Robin Hood Story and it was cute (I loved the puppy). We caught the end of the Hack and Slash show (which Java has never had a chance to see) and stayed to watch the Zucchini brothers (juggling some weird stuff but good humor). Music wise I heard some of Melody Baird, some of the Lost Boys (Ren Rock and Roll except they are doing modern songs with period instruments but very well and have a strong following). One of the groups was Three Quarter Ale and I bought a CD. Nice voices and good interaction with each other and the crowd.
We saw a little of the Washing Well Wenches (fabulous costumes but the show didn't appeal to us ... we are not into harassing the audience). One of the highlights was the auction at the ship, every day at 4:00 they raffle off some swords and auction some stuff and put on a pretty good show ("Who Trusts The Pirate?" "Who will give me $15 for the next item ... then you find out what the item is). We caught the Condor show (beautiful bird) and the end of Dexter Tripp's Firewalk show (very cool ... well warm actually) and I ended up doing Privy Duty by pointing out (when I needed to use them) that some were available.
Day 9 - trip to Atlanta.
Leave at half past dawn from Houston hotel, and get to Dallas half-hour early despite a little bad traffic (after 4 hours of driving). Turn in rental car (very easy) and take shuttle to airport. Again, very easy, no real lines to get boarding pass or to go through security. Got lunch (little personal pizzas) and played a couple hands of Magic while waiting for the plane.
Plane trip started late due to inclement weather, and the trip had a few bumps, but nothing major. Snoozing and reading were the primary flight activities. Landed in Atlanta at 7pm (Eastern Time), got the rental car (Ford Taurus), and drove to the hotel (Holiday Inn Express again). Passed the Atlanta Six Flags on the way. Also stopped for dinner at a little fish place – fresh fish, but really slow service.
June 5 - Day 10
Georgia Ren Fest Day 1
( long description of the day )
Some notes on the site and attractions:
The site is well laid out, easy to get from here to there in a few minutes, despite the generally large size of the place. Very attractive site, with well-kept buildings of interesting and unique designs. The site is of rolling hills, with a generous scattering of trees throughout providing much-needed shade. The entrance features a very nice pond/garden with sculptures of anthropomorphic frogs. Food was bountiful in good variety and at reasonable prices (esp. with the package we got). Sodas were in ice cold 20oz bottles for $2.50. Beer was a little pricey but not outrageous. Lots of rides for kids and adults, including various barrel swings, a twirling ride, pony ride. Very nice petting zoo (goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, potbellied pigs, horse, and even a highland cow (well, heifer). Lots of crafts, though nothing really stood out as unique compared to other faires though I did like the dinosaur eggs (geodes) and some very nice work. A few games and rides for the adults. They had a near-to-life-size jousting horse figure which patrons could sit on for pictures (for a price). One art shop featured framed reproductions of fantasy art (Waterhouse, etc.). They had a very nice print of "The Funeral of a Viking" by Dicksee. A very nice sword shop was housed in the aft half of a washed up ship. Very cool but a little crowded. There is a little wedding area near one stage. I think this is a bad idea. Just imagine "do you take this man to be your husband?" "what, I couldn't hear you over the crowd next door!" "I said, do you take this man…" "what?" There was a wedding going on while we were watching the Tortuga Twins. I can't even imagine… though at least the show we saw had a wedding march included (while the wedding area was being used).
Also, large number of hexagonal picnic tables with shade umbrellas. Programs were big and colorful, easy to read, with stage schedule on the same pages as the map (though the music throughout the village mentioned on the web site was not included in the schedule). The program also lists food and crafts, with all new items highlighted, and demonstration crafts tagged (and there were a lot of demos available). Unfortunately, actors are not given credit in the program, and the intro to the day is brief and vague ("welcome to 15th century England" is most of it). They also had a (very popular) misting bridge over the drainage area. The signposts (which were fairly frequent) pointed to stages, privies and drinks rather than being roadsigns.
Kids Stuff
The free kids' area was very thorough: swing set (with slide and mini-climbing wall), free craft area, right next to the petting zoo. They also had a Mother Goose (complete with live geese) just inside the front gate. Kids games/rides were throughout the site and seemed to be somewhat integrated to the site.
Notes on the characters:
King Richard and Eleanor of Aquitaine were the ruling monarchs for this 15th century fair. A Robin Hood storyline infused the village. A couple of street scenes during the day set up the plot: the Sheriff plans to eliminate the whole village, and Robin plans to stop him. The scene prepares for the Combat Chess game later in the day, in which Robin and the Sheriff will battle it out. We encountered a few characters on the street but it was rare. When we did, they were fairly unspecific greetings though we did see a big bit with 2 ladies getting love letters from the same duke. Very friendly though.
Notes on the day: Very hot and humid. Lots of sweating, sitting in shade, drinking Sprite.
On the way back to the hotel, lots more construction traffic. Sigh. Stopped at a local mall to check the movie listings (next showing of anything was 9:35, too late for us), so we got dinner at the food court, checked out Borders, then went to Krogers (major grocery chain) to get aloe gel for our sunburned necks and faces (since we were in too much of a hurry to sunblock in the morning … d'oh). Also got a few snacks for the plane ride home on Tuesday. Unfortunately, realized too late that the aloe gel also has menthol which I got to quickly wash off due to my allergies (menthol becomes mint-like when absorbed).
June 6, 2005 - Day 11
We saw the first part of the Robin Hood Story and it was cute (I loved the puppy). We caught the end of the Hack and Slash show (which Java has never had a chance to see) and stayed to watch the Zucchini brothers (juggling some weird stuff but good humor). Music wise I heard some of Melody Baird, some of the Lost Boys (Ren Rock and Roll except they are doing modern songs with period instruments but very well and have a strong following). One of the groups was Three Quarter Ale and I bought a CD. Nice voices and good interaction with each other and the crowd.
We saw a little of the Washing Well Wenches (fabulous costumes but the show didn't appeal to us ... we are not into harassing the audience). One of the highlights was the auction at the ship, every day at 4:00 they raffle off some swords and auction some stuff and put on a pretty good show ("Who Trusts The Pirate?" "Who will give me $15 for the next item ... then you find out what the item is). We caught the Condor show (beautiful bird) and the end of Dexter Tripp's Firewalk show (very cool ... well warm actually) and I ended up doing Privy Duty by pointing out (when I needed to use them) that some were available.