We are, quite admittedly, ginormous nerds. We both grew up devouring sci-fi and fantasy novels while dreaming of the day when we, too, could govern a fiefdom and/or live on an intergalactical spaceship! Sadly, neither of those are currently viable options (yet… we still hold out hope), so we have to find other ways to satisfy our innate geekiness.

And thus I present to you: Renaissance Festivals!

Where else can you see jousting knights or pirates gleefully firing cannons? At a Renaissance Faire almost everyone is dressed up as a courtesan or elf or swashbuckling rogue, so you’re free to enter a fantasy land of imagination and enchantment.

Seriously. Jousting knights. JOUSTING. KNIGHTS. How legit is that?

The big event was a tournament in which knights competed at four main tasks:

1. Spearing a small block of wood while riding at full speed
2. Using your spear to hook three small rings while galloping
3. Beating the crap out of your opponent with a wooden stick
4. Knocking your opponent off his horse with your lance (or at least de-lancing him)

Okay, apparently the point of the third competition wasn’t really just to clobber your opponent. Like usual, I had no idea what the hell was going on (it seems I missed the announcer’s explanation) so I seriously thought they were just hitting each other with sticks! But I used my powerful skills of deduction to figure out that they were actually trying to knock off the little piece of wood stuck behind their opponent’s helmet.

Ooooooh. Well that certainly seems a lot more civilized.

There were also pirates! So many pirates: pirates with guns and pirates with cannons and inebriated pirates that gave us their band’s myspace page (seriously: http://www.myspace.com/spelledmoon). There was also a pirate ship and a very convincing Capt. Jack Sparrow, along with a wicked sword fight. It was all deliciously scoundrelly (that’s totally a word, I looked it up).

The giant trebuchet flinging hunks of stone into the bay was a little worrisome (watch out, unsuspecting sailboats!), but we laugh in the face of danger so we cheered them on. We also cheered on the glass blowers and harpist, but they didn’t seem to appreciate our appreciation nearly as much. Strange…

It was a wonderful afternoon, and we had a great time indulging our inner children for a few hours. Renaissance Festivals travel all over the United States, so keep your eyes open and check one out next time they’re in your area! 🙂