We headed out to Pennsylvania last Saturday morning… arriving in Mannheim, PA late Saturday night… stayed in one of the crappiest hotels i think we’ve ever stayed in. That night, my sister, brother-in-law and I went to a small pub called ‘Farmer’s Hope’, where i had 5 shots of Patron Silver (mmmm… nectar) and sat listening to ‘Barrel of Wolves’. Fun stuff. By the time I was done, I forgot entirely how crappy our hotel room was.

The next morning, after dropping Güenther off at a local kennel, we skipped (ok… maybe not) over to the festivities for breakfast. The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire is a lot different from the one we have here in Franklin / Murfreesboro Tennessee… first of all, it is pretty much a permanent fixture, with several buildings dedicated to preserving the charm of 1500s Europe. The renfest we have here locally is pretty much just a ‘tent city’ with a single solitary castle actually belonging to one of the locals. Second, the food is not just carnival food… it’s really good stuff. Third, the talent far surpassed anything we’ve seen at the local renfest. Third, people really do get into it!

After a day of archery contests, jousting, beer, acrobats, grape stomping, beer, swords, herbs, beer, costumes, a bloody butcher bint with a blade and a duck? belly dancers, trebuche, and beer… (did i mention that they had beer?) … we were pretty tired, but still managed our way over to the Lancaster Brewery for some steak, salmon and you guessed it… more beer! By the way… Lancaster Brewery’s ‘Strawberry Wheat’ is pretty good if you like fruity weat beers… but the Ocktoberfest tasted more like a pale ale. Both beers were really watered down, and the steak wasn’t the greatest either. Melissa enjoyed the salmon though, and her sister and brother-in-law seemed to like the burgers they got.

We left Harrisburg at about 9pm, and got into Olyphant at about 12:30am Monday morning, where we stayed with Melissa’s brother. What a day!