Scarborough Renaissance Festival: Part Three

When my sister first mentioned that there was a Renaissance fair(e) near her, I looked it up online and immediately knew that we had to go. One of the first things that sold me was the Mythical Monster Museum: "This walk through attraction is filled with all manner of monsters, from tiny fairies to mighty dragons. See the equipment and weapons used to slay and capture monsters!"

The fact that admission was only $3/person further sealed the deal. It appealed to my sister's love of monsters and mythical creatures, in addition to my love of all things ridiculous and it didn't disappoint on either front.

It was surprisingly packed and thorough for how small of a space it occupied and we spent a good amount of time going from room to room. Each mythical creature had a description and illustration on parchment, accompanying a specimen of some sort—we saw a unicorn skull, a siren skeleton, the tentacle of a kraken, a house elf that looked very much like a certain Harry Potter elf, a few gnomes, a Gru ("Sometimes, they kill people"), a yeti, various trolls, some werewolves and one horned, bearded creature that looked unnervingly like John Travolta (John Troll-volta was one of my best jokes of the day).

We joked as we walked through the museum about how disappointed we were that none of the specimens were real—but I guess any museum lucky enough to secure a real troll or vampire specimen would charge a lot more than $3 and probably wouldn't be located in a Renaissance fair(e) in the middle of Waxahachie, Texas.

Scarborough Renaissance Festival: Part Two

Probably my favorite part about my first Renaissance Fair(e) experience was the incredible amount of hand-painted signage that covered every inch of the fair grounds. I'm a total sucker for hand-painted signs and there were so many good ones that I was constantly overwhelmed.

The directional signs were especially epic and we relied on them quite a few times since we cheaped out on buying the program that contained an actual map. The first sign we encountered upon entering the grounds let me know immediately that we were in for an entire day of fun—with things like falconry, a joust and living chess it was hard to pick what to do first.

The amazing food signs were definitely my favorite. Pretty much any type of food you wanted was available at the fair—sausage, chicken and even macaroni all came on a stick, including the slight variation, Steak on a Stake. Bonus points to the signs that included illustrations of the food, like the delicious-looking turkey legs, Medieval-Texan jalapeño and the unfortunately-named pork pocket.

There were so many great shops at the fair and each one had a unique sign. I love anything to do with magic, so the wand shop, fortune teller, mystic stones and apothecary signs were all favorites. The Fantasy Latex Ears were very intriguing and very expensive, although to be fair(e) I'm not really up on the current market-price of Elf Ears.

After being bummed out about missing the last turtle races for the day (buy the program, kids) my sister and I cheered up when we spotted the "Mawster of Turtles" sign and we couldn't stop saying it outloud in our best formal medieval accent (that's totally a thing) for the rest of my trip.

Part One

Scarborough Renaissance Festival: Part One

When I visited my sister in Texas recently, we decided to go to the Scarborough Renaissance Festival, which is about an hour away from where she lives. Neither of us had ever been to a Renaissance fair(e) before, nor are we the type of people that would be particularly interested in participating in such events, but we were super excited to go.

We went mainly for the cultural observation of it all—and maybe partly so we could walk around gnawing on a turkey leg, day-drinking, yelling out things like "Huzzah!" and adding an extra "e" onto any word we felt like. We ended up doing all of those things and so much more—the fair covered 35 acres and even though we stayed until it closed for the night we still didn't see everything.

We missed the turtle races, the live chess and a few other shows because we never did cave and buy a map (by the end of the day we agreed that it probably would have been worth the $2.95), but we did see a joust, met some mermaids, watched half of a falconry show, rode an elephant (Hi Jean!), ate lunch and dinner (and dessert), drank some mead and still found ourselves surprised when it was closing time.

Magic wands, flower crowns, velvet-and-leather-everything, horns, furs, jewelry, pewter figurines and pretty much anything else you can think of was available at the fair. We didn't buy much but we could have browsed for days, imagining ourselves in chain mail, lace-up-boots and floor-length sleeves.

The turkey leg was everything we wanted it to be and more, and by the end of the night I was still carrying it around, photographing it in front of various Renaissance Fair staples—"Here's my turkey leg in front of the sign that says turkey legs!"—so very much worth the price of admission.

World's Fair Dinosaurs

I spent last weekend in Texas visiting my sister, brother-in-law and niece and on Sunday we took a trip to Dinosaur Valley State Park. My sister had been telling me about the park for a while, mainly because they have two of the fiberglass dinosaurs from the Sinclair Oil "Dinoland" exhibit at the 1964/65 World's Fair (held in Queens). It would be an understatement to say that I'm interested in all things World's Fair-related—and I'm especially obsessed with visiting pieces and buildings that had once been a part of the fair (see previous posts about the World's Fair here).

The Dinoland exhibit included nine life-sized dinosaurs in total, all of which were barged down the Hudson River on their way to Queens—what I wouldn't give to be able to watch that happen. Dinosaur Valley State Park has the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Apatosaurus, the latter being the dino featured prominently in the Sinclair Oil logo.

It was so amazing to finally meet these two cool dudes in person after hearing about them for so long, and they were even better than I expected. They were really large and intricate, but felt surprisingly light when we touched them (if touching is allowed... if not, then they just looked really light).

I do think it's funny that I had to go all the way to Glenn Rose, Texas to see another piece of a World's Fair that took place in New York. After the fair, the dinosaurs went on tour—including an appearance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade—and then they all went in various directions. I now have an unbearable urge to go visit all the others—except the Ornitholestes, which was apparently stolen. Although it disappoints the completionist in me, anyone who manages to successfully steal a life-size dinosaur probably deserves to keep it.

And if these photos of me and my sister and niece are any indication, we learned that I'm probably the last person you would want with you during a sudden dinosaur attack.

Texas / Ohio

I'm finally back in New York after a whirlwind two weekends. On Easter I visited my sister, brother-in-law and niece in Texas, and two days later I went to Ohio to visit family, friends and former co-workers. I had a great time in both exotic locales, but I legit teared up when I touched down at LaGuardia because there's nothing like back-to-back trips to the south and mid-west to make me appreciate the fact that I get to call New York "home" even more than I usually do.

While in Texas I hung out with my incredibly smart, hilarious, beautiful and sweet 11-year-old niece — we dyed Easter eggs and I found myself being jealous of every single brilliant egg she made and wondering how I could be so lucky to be related to such cool people.

We even made like proper Texans and ventured to a bluebonnet "field" to take photos, because I think it's against the law not to — the people taking selfies and dragging around props were completely fascinating. We saw empty frames (to stick your head through, of course), lots of matching denim and even a tiny pink Cadillac because nothing says "wildflower field" like a motorized plastic model of a classic car. The people watching definitely trumped the actual bluebonnets themselves, although they were pretty and the closest I'll probably come to an actual flower field until I can make my way over to Holland for their tulips.

On Monday my sister took me to Denton, Texas which is a super cute town with a great candy shop, vintage shops with wonderful signs and a great used book store that I would probably still be browsing if I hadn't had to catch a flight back to New York the next day.

Two days after getting back to New York, I headed back to LaGuardia, this time on my way to Ohio. On Friday I spent all day at my former place of employment, 427 Design, making cookies and helping them get ready for their annual open house party. I wasn't going to let a silly thing like "moving to New York" let me miss the best party in my hometown.

The theme for their 8th-annual open house was 8-bit and I made some very simple "pixel" cookies in New York, packed them in my carry-on bag and iced them in Ohio. It was a great way to see all of my very favorite Ohioans at once, and I hope I'm always able to return for future open houses.

It was also wonderful seeing my dad, uncle and grandparents and I even spent some time in my old bedroom, which my dad has turned into an office while preserving all of my angsty-teenagery hand-painted wall quotes and the crazy color scheme.

This was the first time I had been back to Ohio just to visit since I moved to New York — no moving or packing up all of my possessions, insanely teary goodbyes or cats on eight-hour car rides to complicate matters, and it was nice and blissfully stress-free. My home town may always be in Ohio, but it was equally nice to return to New York, because — to cheesily quote my favorite movie of all-time — there's no place like home.