Neonjade

Between weather and writing, my sorry self hadn’t been outside in a week, so once the skies cleared on Sunday morning, Dave busted me out to seek some fun in the sun.

First, we headed to Florence, Alabama to check out their Renaissance Festival, since I had never been. The festival takes place in Wilson Park, downtown Florence. There are no fences surrounding the festivities, so you can wander back and forth to the businesses and museums surrounding the park. Many were participating with special sales and exhibits, like the theater playhouse that was selling off a lot of their costumes and props and the Shoals Artists’ Guild that had a special display of members’ paintings.

The pictures seen here were taken with an iPhone because it fit in my jeans pocket. Please forgive the quality.

The Renaissance Festival itself was small when compared to the faires of Atlanta, GA, or even Bell Buckle, TN, but it had a nice variety of vendors and shows for its size. It’s also the only one I’ve been to that doesn’t charge an admission fee.

The wandering troupes and most of the shows that we caught bits and pieces of weren’t the most professional I’ve seen, but they compensated for any faux pas with pure goodwill and enthusiasm. Overall, these guys were pretty darn fun.

The Faire vendors were the ones who took it up a notch, though, injecting much more into the atmosphere than the usual token “M’Lord and M’Lady.” They were also the nicest bunch that I’ve had the opportunity to interact with in a long time. Whether they added to the scene like the troll guarding his collection of skulls, or they left it to their displays to provide the comedy, the vendor efforts added greatly to the experience. Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop!

Yeah, I realize Larry, Moe and Curly weren’t yucking it up back in the Middle Ages any more than Leonardo D’Vinci would have used the steampunk goggles that we delightedly discovered as renaissance sunglasses. Then again, sticklers for historical detail should probably refrain from every Ren Faire I’ve ever attended! Renaissance Festivals serve the same purpose now that their basis events served way back when: to entertain while taking your money. Judging from the smiling, munching, costumed and bag toting crowds we wandered through, the Florence Renaissance Festival fits the bill just fine.

After walking a few laps in hopes of locating the North Alabama NaNoWriMo tent and failing – the information tent had no maps and no clue where anything was, the only real negative of the day – we meandered off to continue our wandering elsewhere.

Next stop was a roadside picnic area we noticed off of Waterloo Road/County Road 14. Amenities included a pavilion, picnic tables and barbecue stations next to a running stream off of the river that flowed around a little island. The restroom was locked, which was a bit of a bummer, but we found some trails on the east side of the open areas that made the stop more productive than it would have been.

We followed one that looped around with the water about half way and stopped, passing a neat old stone stair structure that had been cut into a wall of rock and a runoff reservoir a bit further down. Past where the trail ends, you can see the skeleton of an old metal structure sticking out. Dave’s guess was that there used to be a mill in that location, which also explains both the stairs and the loop of stream.

Lots of small critters, either scurrying about through the leaves or, like the turtles, lying about on rocks, entertained us on our short walk. A lady cardinal was even nice enough to escort us back out, perching a few yards ahead of us on the trail until we caught up a bit, and then flying to find a new one.

Our last stop before heading home out of Florence was the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa. Dave wanted to show me “the tower,” an elevated restaurant on Cox Creek Parkway that he had admired back when he lived in the area. The new hotel complex was a bit of a surprise for him. The thing is huge, and, yes, the picture is a mashup of four that I took to be able to show the entire hotel in one. The architecture is what leaves you scratching your head, though. They built the hotel to reach out and surround the tower and the contrasting styles of this pairing are just the beginning. Across the street from this shot stands a modern one story brick building that houses the Florence Chamber of Commerce and a string of covered walkways that lead to the convention center. The overall mishmash effect is rather mind boggling. Great way to end our day trip! Well, I guess the end was actually the stop at Catfish Cabin for tasty fish and hush puppies, but this was definitely the last “photo moment.”

For those interested in attending future Renaissance Festivals in Florence, Alabama, it’s a yearly event that occurs every fourth weekend of October.