Renaissance Fair

This week was a busy one, Mitchell's been busy at work with some radiation experiments and together we've been out and about.

On Wednesday I met Mitchell on campus for the monthly meet and greet with the international department and then in the evening we went shopping for costumes for the weekend. We went to the Goodwill in Riverside and managed to put together two outfits with what we found there. 

On Thursday I had some time, so I took myself on a picnic at Whitewater Preserve. I drove towards the desert into the oasis. There was a large picnic area with shady trees and a man made series of deep ponds with trees lining them and bright blue dragonflies skipping about. 

I took a trail down to the canyon overlook. There was a small stream to follow with some wildflowers dotted about which I had to cross a couple of times. On the other side, there was the main river which was filled with raging water. The end of the trail was actually closed because there was too much water in it to make it safe to cross further up. Luckily, I wasn't going that far. I was just going up to see the view from the hillside.

There were so many wildflowers on this hillside, the entire trail was covered with yellow blooms. I could see the snow capped mountain in the background and when I got to the top I could look down and see the river below. 

I made my way back and ate my lunch in the shady picnic area. After I'd eaten, I set off in the other direction to get closer to the river. I passed a wading pool, a sign for the pacific crest trail and then on to the river. 

It was very fast and you could go right down to the edge. There were a few people paddling or crossing, and I carried on the trail to get a different view. It was a lovely day out and worth another visit if we want a good picnic spot. 

On Friday, the biosciences department held "Brain Day" where they have stalls for school kids to come and visit and learn about brain science. Mitchell had a spot, and I came to see him and see his stall which was cute.

Saturday was the renaissance fair! We put our costumes on and drove out to the Santa Fe recreation area where it was being held. It was already busy at 9:30, half an hour before it opened. We found our friends Max and Lorraine and went inside! Almost everyone was dressed up, and it was fun to see the range of costumes, from just an amazon bought corset to full wizard gear complete with fur capes and boots. 

There were so many stalls to see. Lots were selling corsets and other items of old fashioned clothing, others were selling soap or honey, or drinking horns or chainmail. There were stalls where you could do archery or axe throwing and a whole field for food. There was roasted nuts, turkey legs, baked potatoes, and less authentic items like poke bowls and brownies. 

I got a honey cake

They also had entertainment going at several stages all throughout the day. The first one we caught was a Shakespeare performance. It was a selection of pieces from various plays and for one of them they needed a stand in, and they picked me! I had to stand up on the stage while they performed a rant at me. 

The next performance we saw was a joust! They did some training runs, and then raced towards each other. The rider on our side of the arena was very funny with the crowd, and when one of the horses started to poop they used that as the basis for their ongoing insults. Our side won and it was very fun to watch. They were going to joust twice more that day and we decided we wanted to try and see it again. 

After the joust we went back to the food field and got a baked potato and a soup bread bowl for lunch. We watched the whips and fire show and a circus show while we ate and met up with everybody we'd come with. 

We then looked at the second half of the stalls and tried to see the last joust of the day. Unfortunately, this was a lot busier than the one in the morning and we could only stand in the corner to see. This one was called joust to the death and the jousting ended with a sword fight with fake blood spurts and one final champion left standing. 

After the joust, Lorraine found a good photo spot and we took some cute photos in the evening light. After that, we'd seen pretty much everything and decided to call it a day. 

The next day, we were up relatively early again, and headed out to a park in Irvine. Great Park has lots of pitches for football, American football, softball and tennis. But it also has a large orange hot air balloon which is free to go up in. Although, when we got there, the gate to the balloon was closed and when we went inside to the visitor centre they said it wasn't running that day because of the weather (it was a little cloudy). But at least we'll be able to try again on a day when the visibility is better. 

Instead of the balloon, we went to the adjoining farmers market where we got a breakfast burrito and a crepe and then sat on the grass to eat and people watch. We sat for a while, and then went to and see the little teaching farm. They had lots of flowers for bees, and were growing things like celery and bananas. 

It was a nice day, but a shame about the balloon. In the evening, we met a friend who lives in the area for dinner at a vegan restaurant run by the local cult. 

A busy week, and more to come!

Love,

Emily and Mitchell

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