Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire

Loyal readers will know how much I love the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie, Texas, so imagine how excited I was while looking for something to do this weekend when I came across the Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire!

As usual, our plans for an early start fell by the wayside, and by the time we left, it was just about Rayan's naptime.

He was able to nap during the hour-long drive to Gig Harbor, southwest of Seattle, where we stopped at the small Tacoma-Narrows Airport to watch the small planes and helicopters as we enjoyed yummy fish and chips in the Narrows Landing restaurant with a view of the runway. After lunch, we headed across town to the Faire. Layth and Maya had fond memories of chasing bunnies in the petting zoo at Scarborough Faire, so their main goal was to find bunnies. We encouraged them to keep an eye out for bunnies, though once we saw how very small this Faire was in comparison, we didn't hold out much hope. Imagine our surprise, then, when Maya spotted the biggest bunny ever crossing a bridge ahead of us!

Notice those muddy knees ... it rained lightly off and on throughout the afternoon, and we lost count of the number of times Maya slipped in the mud as she ran up and down the slopes of the fairground. By the time we got back to the car, she was covered in mud!

The thing I was most excited about at the Faire was the fact that The Rogues were going to be there. They were the one act I knew from Scarborough Faire, and had, in fact, been one of my favorite performances there this year. I posted a few clips of them on YouTube, which you can find by clicking here. When it was finally time for their show, it felt like seeing old friends, and made me homesick for Texas for the first time. Don't misunderstand - I miss my family like crazy, but I don't really miss Texas itself very often. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to squeeze in a visit to Scarborough Faire once a year when we go back for the Mina and Layla Butterfly Festival.


Look who else was enjoying The Rogues ... it's Hairy Potter! :-)


K took Layth and Maya to the games tent after a few minutes of chasing them up and down the bleachers, but once the games and The Rogues were done, there wasn't much left to do. We headed over to the Tides Tavern to pick up some of their prize-winning clam chowder and admire their picturesque view of the harbor.



We then drove up to Bremerton to catch a ferry back to Seattle. We were just a tad too late to watch the sunset from the ferry, but we had a great view of the city lights as we sailed in. It was a great day!