Crazies and food = favorite Fall activity

One of my very favorite Fall traditions is our local Rennaissance festival.  I've heard it's one of the best in the country.  Luckily for me, it's literally 20 seconds from my church which means traffic is super fun on Sundays in the Fall!  Just kidding.  Well, not really.  Traffic really is quite awful, but I'll trade that for being so close to all the Ren Fest magic.

I usually wait and go when the weather cools down and the leaves are just starting to turn and float down to the ground.  After doing the festival in the rain (no thanks) and the heat (again, no way), I've learned that the cool days of October are prime for enjoyment.

The cooler weather doesn't deter anyone from dressing up in their Renaissance best.  There are a host of all sorts of crazies with strangest costumes I've ever seen.  It's highly entertaining and addicting.  People watching is the best part of the Ren Fest.

Okay, more like food and people watching.  Both are portrayed quite well in this shot.  I like to grab my food and then sit and stare at people walking by.  And there are so many delightful treats that it's an easy thing to do all day.

You could eat at a different stand for a whole week and not eat the same thing twice.  After this place has been open for an hour or two, the lines are crazy long and people are shoving food into their faces every where you turn.  And it's good food too.  Delish.

And the shows...some of the best live entertainment I've ever seen.  All the show are included in the admission price, so you can just plan out your schedule and squeeze in as many shows as you can between your people watching and eating.  There are a few favorites that I always make sure to see.  Like this guy in the photo above.  This is his second year here and is now a favorite of mine.  Hilarious.  I laugh so hard my stomach hurts.

This troupe has been at the festival for almost 15 years.  They do Shakespeare mixed with improv.  It's magic.  I see them at least twice each year.

The Bro decided to do the Wall Challenge this year and was super close to ringing that bell.  He's quite the climber now, living in those crazy Utah mountains.

The festival is always the most fun when you can share it with people you love.  It was so much fun to have The Bro back with me this year.  We went for the first time together about 7 years ago.  A favorite tradition of ours until he moved away.  Thankfully, he was back this year while it was still going on.  And we had sweet M with us too.  Such a fun fall tradition.  Magic, food, crazy people.  What more could you want?!

Do you have Rennaissance Festival in your state?
What's it like?

Tourist in your town city

When The Bro was in town last month, I wanted to make sure we had lots of options for fun things to do.  I had seen a discount for Segway tours on Living Social and immediately knew this would be something fun that we could do together.  Not because we needed to see DC again.  No, we've done that a bazillion times.  But we could see DC while riding Segways.  Yes, that was the secret ingredient.

The day we ended up choosing wasn't the most spectacular weather-wise, but we made the best of it.  The rain and drizzle held off for most of the day.  It wasn't too chilly either.  We zipped all over that city.  White House.  Washington Monument.  Lincoln Memorial. Capital.  And a host of other fun places.  All of which we had seen before, but again not on a Segway.

It's funny how you create a scene when you are in a Segway Tour.  People were taking pictures of us instead of the monuments not to mention stopping and staring.  I have to admit that I've done the same thing when I see groups go by in the city.  It's just a strange contraption and they zip along so fast.

It was all kinds of fun and we both would do it again in a heart beat.  Segways are really easy to operate. Very easy to get comfortable with.  And it really was a fun way to see lots of the city especially one that is so spread out and requires hours of walking.

The whole time all I could think of was Gob yelling "Michael!" as he zipped around.  How can you not?

There you have it.  Segway tours = thumbs way up.  Even if you seen the city so many times you can't count.  It's fun being a tourist in your own city sometimes.

***We did the 3 hour tour through City Segway Tours in DC.  The tour guides were great at making sure that you knew what you were doing before you headed out into the city streets.  The tour part was fine.  Not very detailed, but if you are more interested in seeing lots of sights instead of knowing lots of facts, this is the way to go.  We saw almost all of the "big" spots in DC in just 3 hours which is impossible if you are walking.  It's pricey, but you can always find coupons and deals if you know ahead of time.  We got our tour for half price.  

photo talk

For those of you who don't have smartphones or use Instagram, they now have a profile for their users for the rest of the online world.

I have a page (used name: cottage_girl) where you can see all my crazy photos.

It's been my blog replacement for the last few months that I have been "internet deprived" at home.

Bits and pieces of my everyday life.

And at the moment, I'm in the middle of a photo challenge with my friend who is a legit photographer, not just a "play at photography" person like me.

Plus, I'm two months away from finishing my first 365 project.

One photo every day for one year.  (I started in the middle of January when I got my iphone)

It has been one of the most fun/challenging projects I've done in years.

Oh, and I did a "photo-a-day" project this summer too that I just printed into a Blurb book.

This year will be completely documented in iphone photos.  And you know what?  I'm totally okay with that.  I've taken more photos than I have ever taken.  EVER.  And the record of the memories is more important than DSLR quality photos.  I'm totally loving my year of iphone photography!

Fingers crossed

I'm working on our Internet issues here at the Cottage.

What does that mean?

Well, basically there is a chance that I will be able to figure out some major computer technical jargon/hardware installation and get the Internet to work at our house.

That will also mean that I will be back to a normal posting schedule which will be so wonderful because I have a huge backlog of posts building up in my brain.

Exciting on so many levels.

You'll get to hear all my crazy ramblings and the 5,000 stories I haven't been able to tell in this space.

I'm still on Instagram. @cottage_girl. In 2 months I will finish my 365. A whole years worth of photos. And one of the most challenging and fun things I've ever done photography-wise.

There you have it.

Fingers crossed...I'll see you again soon.