kites, kites, everywhere kites

Another catch-up post...

One of the first nice days of the spring neatly coincided with an event I'd been looking forward to having nice weather for. The Smithsonian Kite Festival happened the same weekend the cherry blossoms first popped out. There was no excuse not to head to the Mall to take it all in, so that's what we did.

The Kite festival had actual competitive kite builders and kite fliers, but the competition's relatively tiny space was hemmed in by thousands of amateurs who had flocked to the Mall for the chance to show off their own kite-flying skills, or at least felt compelled to buy a cheap plastic kite to add to the critical mass. There were plenty of bargain-bin kites, but there were also plenty of intricately-designed models to draw the eye.

For example, there was a dragon kite with 88 hand-made individual kites making up the tail. There were sport kites that seemed to fly free of their strings. And there were odd-shaped kites, such as the Panda bear that couldn't quite get up off the ground. (He was a sad panda.)

After a while we wandered south to check out the iconic cherry blossoms. What we found, mostly, was a ton of tourists lining the paths seven-deep to get photos and trample the cherry trees. Snapping a few obligatory pics was enough for us.

Back to the Mall, where the fest was wrapping up. Then the remainder of the day was spent enjoying the sunshine.

Renaissance Faire

the joust
Originally uploaded by slack13

This weekend Kirsten and I decided to head out to Maryland and take in the wonders of Maryland's Renaissance Fair.

I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be a decent way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Kind of like a big county fair with a more interesting premise and fewer carnival rides. Also the largest collection of cleavage about to burst out of its constraints ever seen.

The jousting exhibitions held our interest for a time (it's got to hurt being hit by a stick while wearing metal armor and riding a running horse) but most of the afternoon was spent simply wandering the grounds of the festival, which are crowded with vendors.

There are the obligatory food and drink stands (the beer was thankfully not overpriced - $4 for a Sam Adams) where I had to purchase a large turkey leg to carry while we wandered. There were many different artisans, displaying wares from leather drinking mugs to hand-blown glass to medieval-style clothing to intricate jewelry. The people-watching, however, was the real attraction. Apparently many people see the RennFest as a convenient excuse to dress in whatever costume is close at hand.

The costumes spread across quite the chronological range. There were people dressed in the style of several different periods of the legendary English countryside, as well as some costumes that were only barely relevant: black leather goth outfits, raver fairies complete with wings and glitter makeup, even one Jedi knight complete with lightsaber (a different long, long ago and far, far away).

Females appeared to be far more likely to be costumed, and the costumes were all designed to show off the cleavage. Some of them followed up with lots of cloth the rest of the way to the ground, some followed with almost nothing. Just like Halloween, but with a more specific theme.