Renaissance Festival

Jenn and I recently attended the 16th annual Carolina Renaissance Festival. We forgot our camera though, so I had to borrow this photo from their website. We went on the weekend of the Gambrinus Cup, which is presented to the best home brewed beer. Unfortunately, it was raining, but cleared up around noon and we had a great time. Drank some beer, ate a turkey leg, watched lots of impressive acrobat/comedy shows, and of course, rooted for our knight in the jousting tournament. Our knight, unfortunately, was killed on accident by his friend. It was disappointing. We didn't get to sample the home brewed beer unfortunately because by the time we went to that area, there was only a half hour remaining. It was a lot of fun though.

Camping Trip

The weekend of October 1st, Jenn and I went camping in the McDowell Nature Preserve in Mecklenberg County (about 15 minutes from Belmont). The first night was a little nuts as we set up camp and then went to pay for the site only to discover that someone else had reserved the site and the ranger neglected to put up the reserved sign. So we picked up the tent, carried it to a neighboring site and began to relax. As soon as the sun went down, we brought out our rechargeable lantern only to discover we had not charged it. So it was a fun night using a tiny light from Jenn's keychain to find our way around camp. (Luckily there was power outlet at the site so we were able to charge the lantern for the following night).
We slept well despite Leo's need to growl at every little sound. The next day we took some long hikes and even did some fishing. I caught a lot of little guys, but Jenn wasn't so lucky so she spent the time wading (apparently illegally) with Leo.

We love camping and this trip did not disappoint. Pizza sandwiches over the fire, hiking through the woods, s'mores, board games, and enjoying each other's company without movies or TV shows. Hopefully next year we will have enough time to take a few more of these trips.