I slept about 9 hours last night. The kids shouting woke me up; I did not wake up on my own as usual. I woke up feeling groggy and sleepy. Physically, my right lower back and hip feel fine. My throat feels better. However, my sinuses still feel a little stuffy. I got up and drank some tea, surfed the InterNet, and practiced Yoga. Then we hopped in the car to visit the Hillsboro, Oregon Renaissance Festival. I really enjoyed the costumes and accents at this Renaissance Festival; the people who put on this event do a fantastic job looking, and even sometimes speaking, the part. I finally started to wake up.
Just before we entered the festival, Steve met a local guy named Bill who had an extra ticket, so I got in free. Bill is a really nice guy. He noticed my camera (Fuji GA645Zi), which I briefly told him about. Bill told me that he has a LEICA M3, which is an awesome camera.
After entering the Festival, a lady dressed in Festival garb approached us. She was playing the local pamphleteer, which she told us about. Jackie and Steve and the kids got way ahead of me, so I sadly cut our conversation short. Bill said goodbye, and I caught up with Jackie and crew. We listened to a harp player, and I wished that I had bought a couple of her CDs.
After listening to the lady harp player, we walked over to the Chess playing Monk. John got a hankering to play Chess, so we watched John play Chess with "the Monk". The Monk offered John some advice on playing Chess and still checkmated poor John. I suspect that "the Monk" was a match for Steve at Chess, but Steve did tno choose to play him. Maybe next year...
After John's epic Chess match with "the Monk", we moved on to Archery. Just the kids wanted to shoot arrows, so we adults watched the kids in action. John did well at archery, getting 1 Bull's Eye. James and Sophia have potential for improvement. I guess that means we will be back at this activity next year...
After archery we moved on to Knife Throwing. Jackie joined the kids for this sport. Steve and I wisely stood on the sidelines a comfortable distance away from them. The head of this event instructed Jackie and the kids on how to throw the knives. They all had room for improvement :-) Fortunately, they did not hit anybody, including themselves! I think that we can pass on this event next year.
After the Knife throwing adventure/fiasco, Jackie and the boys tried Ax Throwing, while Steve took Sophia to the manual Merry-Go-Round. I did not watch Jackie and the boys, but I suspect that they had potential for improvement with this sport as well. The manual Merry-Go-Round was charming, although I am sure a lot of work for the people operating it.
Next, Steve and the kids tried Star Throwing at the Chinese Dragon. Steve and the boys got several stars to stick, with John doing the best of all. John is quite the athlete.
Then Jackie and the kids did the dreaded shopping thing. The kids went crazy about some wooden swords and shields. After the shopping adventure, Jackie and Steve got some food for the kids and themselves. John and Jackie got Steak on a Stick. James and Sophia got Sausage on a Stick. Sophia then decided that she was not hungry, so James and John ate most of Sophia's Sausage. Steve got a Hummus Sandwich. Jackie bought a HOLY GRAIL ALE, which was just a regular beer with no IPA. Ooh, aah...
John, Sophia, and I walked by a tomato throwing contest, where you throw tomatoes at an annoying guy sitting behind a wall with his head sticking out. The annoying guy insulted my camera, so I paid for John and Sophia to throw tomatoes at him. John nailed the guy with his last tomato. Good work John!
Then Jackie and Sophia went shopping, while Steve, James, John, and I watched a Samurai display by a female Samurai. At 1 point the lady Samurai invited children to participate, so John volunteered and performed admirably. The lady Samurai awarded John a white Samurai headband after his performance, and John was totally stoked. He wore his headband for hte rest of our visit to the Festival.
After the Samurai display ended we walked over to the Jousting Contest, where Jackie and Sophia joined us. Lots of fun and audience participation; I really enjoyed it. The "knights" were all characters, hamming it up for the audience. They were also all very good horse riders. I felt surprised that the "knights" broke so many jousting poles during the contest; maybe that was planned. Otherwise, these jousting contests are pretty expensive for those "knights". After a "good" knight blindsided the villain, we left. Jackie and Steve bought the kids their swords and shields, and we departed the Festival.
On the way home we missed the exit for BED BATH & BEYOND, where Jackie wanted to shop. So Jackie missed a shopping opportunity, although Steve and I were strangely okay with that :-) We drove straight to lunch at the SOUTHLAND Whiskey Kitchen Restaurant. I enjoyed the food; it tasted delicious. However, I made the mistake of getting Jalapeño Sausage with my Gumbo, which upset my stomach big time for the rest of the afternoon and night. On the plus side, the restaurant offered an incredibly smooth Scotch blend. I also ate 1 ½ salads, Shrimp Hush Puppies, and the aforementioned Gumbo loaded with Sausage. The food tasted fantastic.
After lunch, Jackie and I walked back to their house. We stopped at several clothing and home supply shops along the way. Then Jackie found a coffee and espresso shop across the street, where we proceeded to learn more than I ever wanted to know about Espresso machines and grinding your own coffee. I felt seriously bored, while Jackie was fascinated. After an interminably long time (for me), we finally said goodbye and left. The new walked through WORLD MARKET next door looking for small trash cans and sink stoppers and found none of the above.
After all of that aerobic shopping, we began our ascent up the hill from Burnside Road. At this point my stomach started bloating and feeling unhappy. When we got inside the house I immediately took some PEPTO-BISMOL®. I took the maximum recommended dosage over a 24 hour period of PEPTO-BISMOL®, and I still suffered. I lay in bed pretty much from 07:30PM on through the night feeling completely miserable. Never again for Jalapeno Peppers for me. And such was my Sunday.
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