A Trip Back in Time...

A few weeks ago some friends of ours invited us to go to Colorado's annual Renaissance Festival. When I told my husband this, he said, "What?! It's going to be full of weird people dressed in costumes- like a Star Wars convention, only dorkier!!" I thought he was just being crabby because he had to miss his Fantasy Football draft to go, but you know what? He was totally right!! It was way cheesy, but that only means it was right up my alley!



I knew that it was going to be a ridiculously fun day when I saw these (and proceeded to make my husband and friends stick their heads in every single one of them for a picture)!

And this was before we even entered the actual park! Once we did enter, the fun really began!

My husband was absolutely right. This place was just full of people totally decked out in medieval gear. Weird, fun, crazy people! There were just people scattered everywhere, and they never got out of character! It got to where it was hard to tell which people worked for the festival, and which people were just citizens that got WAY into this whole thing!

Within minutes of entering the park, I got my first medieval insult! There are these pretzel vendors that carry around these crazy racks of pretzels- they are seriously, like four feet tall, and there are just rows and rows of bread pretzels. Needless to say, I was somewhat intrigued when the first vendor walked by. I guess it was pretty obvious that I was interested, because the guy looked at me, and he didn't miss a beat. He said to me, accent and all, "Ma'am, stop staring at my rack!" This got me, and several people within ear-shot, cracking up. Everyone there was jolly and jovial, and just looking to have a lot of fun!

Speaking of insults, one of the best things there was this "insult game". In case you can't tell, that is a tomato in my husband's hand. And yes, he is throwing that tomato at a person. But before you worry about anger issues and violent tendencies, let me tell you- the guy totally deserved it! He was throwing insults at my poor hubby that are too graphic for me to even mention here! Hey- for five bucks, what self-respecting male wouldn't throw tomatoes at some poor, sarcastic clown? (By the way- because of where I was standing to take this shot, I had tomato slop all over me for the rest of the day.)

Doesn't he look like he is just asking for it?

Not all of the games were violent, tomato-in-the-face games. They also had other man-must-prove-himself sort of games. Take this one for example: your classic test of strenth game:
What carnival would be complete without all the men swinging an overgrown hammer at a lever that tells them how strong they are? For the record, here's where my husband scored:

But, the first swing must have really taken it out of him, because here is where he scored the second time around:

But don't let him take ALL the credit. He's not the only one that paid two dollars to play a game! I was brave and tried my own luck, too! I don't need a man to win me a prize! As a matter of fact, I was rather impressive at the hit-the-frog-into-the-bucket game!

As a matter of fact, I was so good that I won this fantastic prize:

A plastic fly! Can you see how thrilled I was when I learned what I had won?

Aaron played this game twice, and I played it once, so I figure this little plastic fly cost us $6.00! And we only had to pull money out of "Ye Old ATM" once! Now how's that for budgeting?!! Dave Ramsey- eat your heart out!

The day wasn't just all about games and fabulous prizes, either! There were several shows there as well. There were hypnotists, acrobats, comedians, and dancers. The best show we went to was called "The Washing Well Winches." They were absolutely hysterical. Their entire show was based on flirting with all the men in the audience and making them do embarassing things for their significant others. It was hilarious! One poor guy had to run out into the square, put on a pair of HUGE tighty whities, and at the top of his lungs yell, "When I wear my man pants, I can do anything!" All to earn his wife a pink rose! It was close to the funniest show I have ever seen! I was laughing so hard, I only managed to get one picture:

This poor man doesn't know it yet, but he is about to wear that entire bucket of water- all because he criticized the cleanliness of their laundry!

And what renaissance day would be complete without a good old fashioned joust?

Okay, so maybe the day was totally cheesy, but it was super fun. We played some fun games, ate some great food (nothing like a turkey leg and steamed asparagus to fill you up), saw some incredible creatures,

and spent time with friends. These are our good friends Stephanie and Junior (you make recognize Steph as one of my bridesmaids), and their beautiful daughter Madelyn.

And the most important thing is we spent time with each other.

Overall we had a great time, and we would do it again in a heartbeat! We thoroughly enjoyed our breif trip back in time!

Until next year... Fare Thee Well- Good Journey!