Well, I got back from the big bear Renaissance fair yesterday. I got home about 8 p.m. having left the fair at 5:35 p.m. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. Very relaxing, lots of fresh air, some fun with some good friends, and very little stress.

All right, Friday evening I put Hades in the kennel. This was the smart thing to do so I wouldn't have to worry about him while I was gone for two days. When Hades heard me rattle the cage in preparation for bringing him to the kennel, he ran and hid behind furniture. Of course that didn't stop me and I scooped him up qnd threw him in a cage and drove over to the kennel.

Saturday morning I left my place at 7 a.m. and drove up to big bear. I already knew that route 330 was closed due to construction so I took Route 38. It was an easy trip up the mountain. Very little traffic and I maintained a good speed all the way up. I love the trip up to big bear as it's very scenic and a great way for me to relax. The fair opened at 10 a.m., so I left at seven in order to leave plenty of time to get there. I expected to arrive about an hour early, but actuakky got there about 9:35 a.m., which was later than I expected.

When I arrived in the parking lot of the fair, I was surprised to find how many people were there. I made my way down to the fair entrance, and waited while they worked through the usual first-day jitters. There was some mixup, and there was a slight delay while they ran around trying to figure out what to do. Nonetheless the fair opened only a few minutes after 10 a.m. and I wandered inside.

I noticed the fair had quite a few vendors missing, at least when compared to last year. I later found out that because of Route 330 being closed, a number of vendors couldn't make it. I'm not exactly sure why that was, but that's the explanation I got.

I also noticed that the jousting arena didn't have the bleachers like last year. I later found that this is because the horses couldn't make it to the joust. This was apparently because of some kind of insurance snafu. So instead of having a joust, the Imperial Knights put on a series of swordfights through the day. It was actually quite entertaining and I enjoyed myself a lot.

The first day I stayed from when the fair opened at 10 a.m. through when it closed at 6 p.m. The first act was the belles of bedlam, with a wonderful performance as always. One of the cool things about being to Renaissance fair early is that the audience is very thin. This meant that the belles were performing to an audience of three or four people, at least when the performance started, and by the time it ended they had about a dozen people (including a few animals).

I saw the Poxy Boggards for the first time. I like their show, I think I'll catch it again. I also saw the Merry wives of Windsor and a number of other shows. All of them were pretty good, although I noticed some voice straining due to the thin air.

I had reserved a room about 10 minutes from the fair. I went over to my room and I was surprised at how nice it was. It actually had a Jacuzzi and was quite large. i ate some dinner and spent most of the rest of the night organizing the pictures I'd taken during the day. In case you're wondering on that first day at the 2803 pictures. That's a new record for me for a single day.

I'd read there was a meteor shower due to happen that evening. I set my alarm clock to wake me up at 2 a.m., But when the alarm went off I decided it was crazy to get up that early and missed the meteor shower.

I checked out of my hotel room at 7 a.m. and spent the next 2 1/2 hours driving around the lake exploring big bear. It's asked a very scenic place, a nice place for a drive. It was very relaxing.

I spent the rest of the day from 10 a.m. until about 5:35 p.m. enjoyig myself at the big bear Renaissance fair. This day I definitely noticed the strain and everybody's voices. Apparently the thin air and at the hectic schedule was having an effect.

There was one incident with the bawdy juggler; there's a part of the show where he juggled some bowling pins and tells a lady in the audience he is going to juggle under her legs as she lifts them up or something to that effect. In every other show I've been at, the lady just looks at him with a blank look. But in this case the lady lifted her legs and you could hear the crack as her hip dislocated. I didn't see this myself, but Adam (the bawdy juggler) told me all about it. He was quite traumatized, stopped that particular show and missed the next one.

The belly dancers at the Renaissance fair were excellent. I got quite a few pictures and some videos of them dancing. In fact, I was asked to use their camcorder to record their dance in front of the Queen. They did quite well.

I'm still putting together the pictures for the site. Give me a day or two and they'll be uploaded.