The Pennsic Beer Garden will live forever in my heart
Warning: this is going to be a long post. If you aren't interested in the detail: I had a terrific time, I'm home safe and sound, and I feel more relaxed, focused, and energized than I have in over a year.
Details follow.
First, I have to give some background on pennsic for this to make any sense, so here goes: A group that does medieval recreation started this "war" 35 years ago (the sca). It has been held in the same place for the past 30 of those years. During that time, it has grown into much much more than this group ever imagined, not to mention the group has grown as well. Now, folks come from all over the world. And not just from this one group, but from numerous other groups that do battle recreation of a similar style. and also just folks that just want to come and party with 12,000 or so other folks. It a cross between a ren faire and woodstock, but better organized than either.
Hub was on staff this year, so we stayed with the head of security & his group, over from Australia. They were terrific! We had a total blast camping with them. They were a fun bunch who fought hard and played harder. It was the most relaxed, fun-loving group of folks I could hope to spend 2 weeks with. We set our chairs up in a circle out under a tree, and every afternoon after battle we sat around in the "beer garden", snacking, having a cold beer, & visiting. It was the most fun, relaxed, vacation I've ever had.
The thing I hated most of all in the military was spending 2 years or so sharing all of your life - work, home, and play, with your close friends, only to move away. We don't generally share that much of ourselves with anyone other than our spouse, so those relationships are extremely tight. That was the way I felt leaving this past weekend. We are already going to start tightening our budget to get our finances to where we can pay our new found friends a visit in a couple of years.
I can't wait until next year. It will be a new group of folks, but I know we've fallen in with a great bunch.
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1 comment:
Nice to have you back. Sounds like a wonderful vacation, I would love to do something like that (my wife only if we can bring a travel home). Some of my closest friends were ones I met in the military. In most cases the circle changed when I changed duty stations. We at least have one couple who have remained in contact - they have even been over to visit. Australia - that is my dream destination - go for it!
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