This morning I got up at 2am and left my place at 3am to begin the long drive to Florence, Arizona. The drive started off well, until the freeway came to a complete stop because of a huge pileup on the 101. I jumped off the freeway after doing some nifty manuevers, then jumped back on a few blocks later. A few miles further onwards, on the 10 this time, there was another pileup blocking the freeway. Sigh. I was off to a slow start.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. There was a beautiful sunrise, and I stopped briefly at the Joshua Tree National Park turnoff to snap a few photos, then continued into Arizona.

I arrived at the festival at 10:15am (which I later realized was actually 11:15am since I crossed a time zone). The parking for this faire is simply awesome. First of all, it's free, which is unusual for any faire, and that's a big plus in my mind. Second, the lot is huge and well managed. I was immediately impressed.

I parked, got out and wandered into the faire, after purchasing a ticket, of course. This is a permanent faire, similar to Bristol, with real structures, real statues and real rides.

I have to admit, the Arizona faire is beautiful. It's incredible, the amount of work and effort put into the buildings and decorations. It's right up there with Bristol, as far as the scenary goes.

I wandered around the entire day, just looking at things, watching the various shows, and snapping pictures. I ran into a few friends from California faires, but otherwise saw only a few faces that I recognized. It was kind of strange, actually, because even at Bristol I recognized quite a few people, but at this faire I didn't know many people at all.

Just for the heck of it, I had my palm read. It was spookie how much this lady seemed to know based upon looking at my hands...

The Arizona festival is huge, larger than the Irwindale faire and possibly as large as Bristol. I made three circuits of the place and saw just about everything, I think, although I did miss the joust.

I ran into Thomas Wood, Pyrojuggler, on the way out. I've seen him at various faires all over California, and it was nice to see a familar face, even if it was just as I was leaving. He's got a great act, and I wish I'd seen him perform at Arizona.

I met a lady named Amy Wachtel. She was playing a jester, and was very friendly and playful. I liked her immediately and hope to see her again at a faire in the future.

I saw three different belly dancing troupes, and all were good.

Overall, this faire is well worth the trip. It is quite different than any of the California faires that I've attended; the permanent structures definitely add to the flavor of the event. There was quite a bit of street performing, a huge number of stages packed throughout the day with acts, and an astonishing variety of shops and boothes.

When I'm at a faire, I usually try and search out the courts and the nobility, as they present some excellent photo opportunities. I did spot some nobility here and there, but I noticed they were no where near as prevalent as those at either Irwindale or Casa de Fruta.

Also, as I noticed with the Bristol faire, I didn't see any significant guild activities, and there was a complete lack of parades. Again, I am used to seeing parades and guilds at faires, and I purposely search them out as they present many wonderful photo shots.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable day at a very good faire.