Sherwood Forest Faire

This is my second renaissance fair to attend but this time we went decked out for the occasion. And oh what fun in the middle of nowhere near McDade, Texas.
We met Alice and her family there. We used to go rv'ing together and hadn't seen each other in six years. It was a good visit. It was pretty cool to have our own photographer along. Oh, I guess Leon took this one.

One of the highlights of the faire is the jousting. It is supposedly not theatrical but done for real.

There were many other activities taking place, food to be had, and people to watch.



The purpose of our visit was Sarah's wedding and what a lovely one it was. It took place at the stone of the seven sisters with a reception following. They arrived by horse drawn carriage.


Sarah and Brad donned their renaissance regalia during the reception. Don't they look fabulous?

Some of us however felt the need to me in period dress for the entire day!

And some of our best friends did not even recognize us!

This was a fun-filled, fantastic day and the perfect ending to our twelve days in Texas. We returned home in time for the World's Shortest St Patrick's Day Parade but after the 8 1/2 hour ride and the chilly weather we opted out. Bo Derek and John Corbett would have to carry on without us.

Many more pics are on Facebook so come on over and in the meanwhile we will be hanging out at the dead end of the street.

Am I dreaming?

We always find a spot at the Elks Lodge when in Austin. The parking lot is not large and is quite sloped except for along the top portion. There is no electricity provided and they accept our donation. We were fortunate to get a spot there as there is only room for three rv's on the level portion.



We have a room with a view for sure. We look north at the Austin skyline and are about a mile from downtown. We just ride the bikes two blocks down the steep hill and cross over to the park and bike trail. A wonderful breeze blows from the south as we gaze across the greenbelt.



This year we had the place to ourselves at first and then a 41' toy hauler pulled in. This was to be the shuttle service for the crews that worked much of SXSW doing the lighting or whatever needed to be done. Each afternoon about 90 workers would arrive donning their black crew t-shirts and would be shuttled to their assignments for the evening. At midnight they would be brought back to their cars and leave. The guys running the operation seemed nice and offered to shuttle us anywhere we needed to go. However, we ate so much while there that we needed to bike or walk!



One night at midnight I heard "if you come back up this hill we will put a f@$&ing 9 mm bullet in your head!". Nope! I quickly realized I wasn't dreaming. I woke Leon and he looked out to see three guys running around in the woods with pistols in hand. They kept yelling down the hill daring the tramps to come back up. Little did we know that about 250 homeless people live along the greenbelt at the bottom of the ravine. Some had realized the trailer was there and were trying to pry open their bays where some very expensive lighting was stored. You might know, Leon had accidentally left ours open and they wanted nothing we had.

At first we were a little worried and then I decided we had all the protection that we needed and a gunfight probably wouldn't happen because the hoboes probably didn't have guns. Afterall, we are in Texas. I felt well protected and slept quite well. It is amazing how well you sleep after lots of hiking and biking!

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

We enjoy using the reciprocal program that is part of our Garvan Gardens' membership when we travel. We decided to check on Lady Bird's wildflowers on a warm, sunny Austin day.




The large rock buildings that surround the courtyard as we entered were impressive. I also liked the wind sculptures that lazily twirled in the breeze.





We started on the woodland trail and then ventured on another trail in an open field where Leon stopped to investigate a small cave. I bet he did not stop to think about snakes, but he sure wished he had brought his hat to walk in the sun.



We were disappointed in the number of wildflowers we saw. There were some Indian Blankets and Bluebonnets blooming but we saw more flowers on South Congress.






We started down some more trails to find them closed. There are some real possibilities here and hopefully it is beautiful in the summer. Perhaps we were just too early in the year. I left wishing we had revisited Zilker Gardens instead.

Day tripping

I gave an old RVing friend, who lives about an hour from Austin, a call and how fun it was to meet for lunch. Alice and I had travelled to many of the same get togethers over the years but I haven't seen her in six years.



She used to live in Austin so we found ourselves down by the river with cameras in hand. Photography is one of her favorite pastimes. She knew of this good spot to get a view of the Austin skyline,



It was strange that she chose to eat at Shady Grove because we had been there the previous night with Kelly, Finn, and Sean. While we were eating the first night a van pulled up in the parking lot and serenaded us with live music.

Finn likes to clap and got some practice here.



The weather was beautiful while we were in Austin and lots of folks were out enjoying spring break on the Colorado River.



Alice strolled around Shady Grove looking for the perfect picture of the day but this is the one I chose.



When we drove thru the park with Alice we learned that we were a week late for the kite festival. Many of the kites did not leave with their owners.

SXSW

Again we find ourselves in Austin during south by southwest, not exactly by design, but it just happened. So again we wandered over to enjoy the weirdness. One of these days we will catch a ride. Only $10 each but we need the walk. It was only four miles from where we were camped at the Elks to the far side of the festival in 6th Street and back.



We did stop at one point in the Driskill Hotel for a break.





Odd is the order of the day so we just walked and gawked.















The music portion of South by Southwest is all about discovery for many bands. They are on most street corners along 6th, which is blocked to traffic, and anyone can play. Just beat on some buckets and you might make some wine money.







Wherever a band, or a magician, happens to be a crowd quickly gathers.









And as is the case in Austin, bicycles are everywhere weaving thru the crowds.



The free concert at Auditorium Shores entertained us on our last night in Austin. Not realizing how much and what scrumptious looking food the vendors would have, we biked over to Chuys for some Tex-Mex first, we were not disappointed. Then on down the lakeside trail we went.






There were shops, games for kids, the Texas lottery games, plenty of bike racks, food and more food, and hours of music. We listened to most of it after we got back to the Elks.



Goodnight, Austin.