A space to post my thoughts and musings about anything. This includes but is not limited to community, politics, current events, relationships, LGBTQ+ issues, favorite things, and stuff that would make your dead relatives blush. I am not afraid to go there, as some can attest.

August 23, 2010

Pennsic Fun

Since last Saturday I have been camped out up in Pennsylvania for Pennsic XXXIX. After a few years of hearing about it, I finally made my way up to experience one. At the very least it would mean a week of camping, and I do love to camp.


So I rode up with LB and got to camp in the later afternoon. I would immediately learn that this was going to be way different from my usual camping.  My usual camping consists of having a tent, my stove, and whatever food and supplies I dragged up with me.  I take care of things as I go along because I'm pretty much on my own.  This time I would be in an actual camp where we had a kitchen and even a camp shower set up.  I have to say that instant hot water heaters are definitely a godsend.

I got to meet a lot of cool people over that week, and as I joked, I was camping with some crazy folks and I fit right in with them.  There were nights of playing Apples to Apples and the winner of each round had to do a jello shot, there was handing out our "doom-corn" to unsuspecting passers by; and of course, there were random visits from folks at other camps who wanted to drag us away.  Hell, there was one night where two women showed up looking for me, and I missed that only because I had turned in early that evening, and my camp mates didn't necessarily know that, nor did they make it their business.  I still would like to know who those women were and what they wanted with me.

The parties themselves were interesting, usually crowds of folks going and getting their drink on when they could.  Vlad's camp had trouble with their sound system the night they did the slave auction (yes it can get that realistic at Pennsic) so we ended up losing interest.

During the day, if I wasn't in camp just hanging out, I ended up spending my time up going through the merchant areas and finding new garb and other items.  I got a few things to go with the garb that I already had, plus cool gifts for both my mom and for CW.  I also got this really bitchin hat that I can't wait to wear to Renn Faire this year.

Luckily the weather stayed good for the most part.  There was one day where it was so hot that one couldn't even be bothered to walk down to the swimming hole.  The most movement we did was to move around to stay in the shade.  Later that night it would rain for a few hours.  I dodged any major water issues, except for some water getting between my ground tarp and tent, so I did have to pull stuff out and take the tent off the tarp to let the floor dry.

I did get to see some of the battles while up there, they were cool to watch.  The most fun thing I did watch while topside was a concert put on by Turku, which was a Turkish rock band.  There were no lyrics with their music, but there were occasional fire dancers.  I got some great pictures of the dancers and such before my battery croaked that night.

Ultimately Pennsic was a good way to take a week and disconnect from the rest of the world, meet new people, and just unwind.  Since next year is Pennsic 40, it's going to be huge, and I am likely to be there.  Now that I have done this run, I have a much better idea of what to take with me for next year, and plus I don't need so much garb.  It should be fun.

2 comments:

  1. That's awesome! I just came back from Pennsic myself! Where were you camped? Which group?

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  2. I was camped down in the valley at Maison de Lune

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