Texas Renaissance Festival 2011
Oct. 27th, 2011 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astillarThis post was written two weeks ago, but I've been lousy at updating. Let me get this out of the way so that I can start getting caught up.
I arrived at TRF early Friday morning. Courtney would be arriving in the afternoon and everyone else later in the evening. I set myself to setting up our tents. It’s a dull chore to set up camp by oneself and I could’ve arrived later, but this was the best way to insure we had a good campsite. It took me till around 2 pm to get everything laid out. My rehearsals of setting up the Man Cave at home helped make this erection easy, though the tent still fought me a bit.
Courtney arrived around 5 pm and we went into town to buy groceries. I hadn’t planned on cooking myself, since I was shafted with a large grocery bill a couple years ago. So we just bought enough for the two of us. Magnolia was a solid traffic jam due to the influx of TRF campers. It was dark by the time we got back. The campgrounds were darker than normal due to a burn ban instituted because of the recent wildfires. The absence of cheery campfires was striking. While other campsites were in complete darkness we at least had my lantern to work under. Courtney and I cooked up steak and potatoes and ate them in the comfort of the Man Cave. A simple meal with simple comforts, but it sure tasted damn good and I was happy to be there with my gal. And we also squeezed in some naughty time too, seeing as how we wouldn't have much privacy once our friends started arriving. I gotta say, despite my years of camping experience, that was one thing I'd yet to do in the great outdoors. ;)
Eventually Jenny and Beauty arrived and we helped them to get settled in. Then the four of us moved into the Man Cave to drink and talk. Jenny had been adamant about not trying to flout the burn ban, even though I think we could’ve gotten away with it inside the Man Cave, so we settled for the lantern instead. Courtney and Beauty didn’t drink, the latter because she was on a restrictive medical diet.
Cat and Kevin arrived sometime after midnight. I’d drunken all of my malt liquor by then so I wasn’t much help to them while they were setting up their tent. I wanted to keep the funtimes going but we had to see to this first. By the time that was done, my buzz had waned and it was time for bed.
We changed into costumes once we woke up Saturday morning. There wasn’t any reason to hurry about it as we still had to wait for Stephanie & Josh to arrive from their nearby hotel. Since I’d spent all my free time last week working on the Man Cave I didn’t have a new costume this year. I wore Skittles again even though that costume is really showing its age at this point. Courtney wore a fairy costume which had a simple toga-like dress made from sheer material. The way she had her skirt split, there was a remote possibility of her ass showing, though I re-assured her that her modesty was intact. (The thought of her accessible tush was always in the back of my thoughts though and I throughout the day I often sneaked a squeeze in when I could get away with it.) We got into the Festival around noon, much later than normal. As always, we spent our money solely on food and drink. I spent more than last year, though it was more about food than booze this time around. I think having Courtney there helped me be more responsible. She overheated early in the day due to the heavy wig she was wearing. I was grumpy when our friends had to leave the two of us behind so that she could recover. Thankfully though, Courtney recovered quickly and we were able to rejoin our group after 20-30 minutes. That turned out to be the only hiccup of the day.
We watched a few shows and offended a few families in the elephant garden. Stephanie & Josh left for camp late in the afternoon. I was feeling tired too by that point, mostly due to the heat and sun. Courtney and I were next to retire shortly before dusk. We found Stephanie and Josh passed out in their tent. I was tempted to do the same but our other friends arrived almost as soon as I’d changed out of costume. We all re-convened in the Man Cave. I didn’t drink since I was out of booze and didn’t feel like drinking the hard stuff. That night we had FOURTEEN people in the Man Cave, which was designed for 8, 10 max. The Man Cave may not have been much to look at, but I was pleased with my work. Although it was cold outside, everyone was warm and comfortable inside. Courtney was seated on my left, drinking her whiskey and semi-arguing with Kevin on my right. Between the two of them I couldn’t really hear any of the other conversations going on in the tent. It was too noisy and confusing for me to really participate anyways. I was quiescent as a result. Eventually I began to doze off and Courtney chided me to go to bed in our tent. That’s all the encouragement I needed.
Sunday morning Courtney and I cooked up a bit of breakfast while the others ate a cold meal. Kelly and David soon packed up and left, followed by Stephanie & Josh and finally Jenny & Beauty. Cat & Kevin were planning to go back into the fair. Although I’d never gone to the Festival on a Sunday, we did have tickets to it and Courtney said she wanted to so we joined them.
This time around we concentrated on shopping, with less emphasis on the booze. We still ate a helluva lot of food though. And we moved slower too, we all had varying levels of hang-over. It was a relaxing alternative to the day before. My own sluggish consumerism was roused by watching Cat shop. I’ve been wanting a pair of leather boots to go with my costumes for quite a while, but that impulse was tempered by the $500/pair price tag. I settled for a pair of hand-sculpted mugs for Courtney and myself. Next year I’ll have a tankard worthy of the event. While shopping and browsing we came up with a loose theme for next year’s Festival that I’m excited about.
We returned to a largely deserted campground around 6 pm. Cat and Kevin were all packed up and they soon left. It took Courtney and I another hour to pack the remainder into my truck. We were both reluctant to end what had been an awesome weekend but as dusk was falling we went our separate ways.
Photos
I arrived at TRF early Friday morning. Courtney would be arriving in the afternoon and everyone else later in the evening. I set myself to setting up our tents. It’s a dull chore to set up camp by oneself and I could’ve arrived later, but this was the best way to insure we had a good campsite. It took me till around 2 pm to get everything laid out. My rehearsals of setting up the Man Cave at home helped make this erection easy, though the tent still fought me a bit.
Courtney arrived around 5 pm and we went into town to buy groceries. I hadn’t planned on cooking myself, since I was shafted with a large grocery bill a couple years ago. So we just bought enough for the two of us. Magnolia was a solid traffic jam due to the influx of TRF campers. It was dark by the time we got back. The campgrounds were darker than normal due to a burn ban instituted because of the recent wildfires. The absence of cheery campfires was striking. While other campsites were in complete darkness we at least had my lantern to work under. Courtney and I cooked up steak and potatoes and ate them in the comfort of the Man Cave. A simple meal with simple comforts, but it sure tasted damn good and I was happy to be there with my gal. And we also squeezed in some naughty time too, seeing as how we wouldn't have much privacy once our friends started arriving. I gotta say, despite my years of camping experience, that was one thing I'd yet to do in the great outdoors. ;)
Eventually Jenny and Beauty arrived and we helped them to get settled in. Then the four of us moved into the Man Cave to drink and talk. Jenny had been adamant about not trying to flout the burn ban, even though I think we could’ve gotten away with it inside the Man Cave, so we settled for the lantern instead. Courtney and Beauty didn’t drink, the latter because she was on a restrictive medical diet.
Cat and Kevin arrived sometime after midnight. I’d drunken all of my malt liquor by then so I wasn’t much help to them while they were setting up their tent. I wanted to keep the funtimes going but we had to see to this first. By the time that was done, my buzz had waned and it was time for bed.
We changed into costumes once we woke up Saturday morning. There wasn’t any reason to hurry about it as we still had to wait for Stephanie & Josh to arrive from their nearby hotel. Since I’d spent all my free time last week working on the Man Cave I didn’t have a new costume this year. I wore Skittles again even though that costume is really showing its age at this point. Courtney wore a fairy costume which had a simple toga-like dress made from sheer material. The way she had her skirt split, there was a remote possibility of her ass showing, though I re-assured her that her modesty was intact. (The thought of her accessible tush was always in the back of my thoughts though and I throughout the day I often sneaked a squeeze in when I could get away with it.) We got into the Festival around noon, much later than normal. As always, we spent our money solely on food and drink. I spent more than last year, though it was more about food than booze this time around. I think having Courtney there helped me be more responsible. She overheated early in the day due to the heavy wig she was wearing. I was grumpy when our friends had to leave the two of us behind so that she could recover. Thankfully though, Courtney recovered quickly and we were able to rejoin our group after 20-30 minutes. That turned out to be the only hiccup of the day.
We watched a few shows and offended a few families in the elephant garden. Stephanie & Josh left for camp late in the afternoon. I was feeling tired too by that point, mostly due to the heat and sun. Courtney and I were next to retire shortly before dusk. We found Stephanie and Josh passed out in their tent. I was tempted to do the same but our other friends arrived almost as soon as I’d changed out of costume. We all re-convened in the Man Cave. I didn’t drink since I was out of booze and didn’t feel like drinking the hard stuff. That night we had FOURTEEN people in the Man Cave, which was designed for 8, 10 max. The Man Cave may not have been much to look at, but I was pleased with my work. Although it was cold outside, everyone was warm and comfortable inside. Courtney was seated on my left, drinking her whiskey and semi-arguing with Kevin on my right. Between the two of them I couldn’t really hear any of the other conversations going on in the tent. It was too noisy and confusing for me to really participate anyways. I was quiescent as a result. Eventually I began to doze off and Courtney chided me to go to bed in our tent. That’s all the encouragement I needed.
Sunday morning Courtney and I cooked up a bit of breakfast while the others ate a cold meal. Kelly and David soon packed up and left, followed by Stephanie & Josh and finally Jenny & Beauty. Cat & Kevin were planning to go back into the fair. Although I’d never gone to the Festival on a Sunday, we did have tickets to it and Courtney said she wanted to so we joined them.
This time around we concentrated on shopping, with less emphasis on the booze. We still ate a helluva lot of food though. And we moved slower too, we all had varying levels of hang-over. It was a relaxing alternative to the day before. My own sluggish consumerism was roused by watching Cat shop. I’ve been wanting a pair of leather boots to go with my costumes for quite a while, but that impulse was tempered by the $500/pair price tag. I settled for a pair of hand-sculpted mugs for Courtney and myself. Next year I’ll have a tankard worthy of the event. While shopping and browsing we came up with a loose theme for next year’s Festival that I’m excited about.
We returned to a largely deserted campground around 6 pm. Cat and Kevin were all packed up and they soon left. It took Courtney and I another hour to pack the remainder into my truck. We were both reluctant to end what had been an awesome weekend but as dusk was falling we went our separate ways.
Photos
