!2nd annual Sterling, NY Ren Fest meet-up
We will again be having a meet-up of MeiLin Miranda readers at the Sterling, NY Renaissance Festival in August.
This year we're expanding to include other weblit! Lyn Thorne Alder, author of Addergoole will be there, along with Karen Wehrstein (Philosopher in Arms) and Shirley Meier (Eclipse Court), authors of the print-published-now-weblit Fifth Millennium series. Rumor says there's two or three other authors considering it as well, so if you know any other weblit authors in eastern Canada/US that you want to meet, bug them to join us, too 
More commentary: http://www.meilinmiranda.com/node/1151#comment-38445
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Very cool
Count Scrapper and I in. We'd plan to show up Friday night, leave late Sunday, and stay at cabins in an RV park in Oswego where we had a good experience last year. Anyone else interested in staying there or splitting a cabin should speak up so we can see if we can get a block reservation--and reservations might fill up (they don't have *that* many cabins). Rates are $50-70 for "Wow that's a rustic cabin but I have a roof and a bed" to $180 which is 4 double beds and somewhat nicer. But most of them have a fire ring out back - it's a more elegant form of camping.
Do you have an address or a
Do you have an address or a website for the RV park, V? Or at least do you remember how far of a drive from the actual Ren Fest it was? For reference's sake.
10 miles, 20-25 minutes
http://www.sunsetrvpark.net/
Totally
interested. I live at school exclusively now, so I don't have to go on vacation when I wasn't planning on it anymore (I think...my parents still pay tuition, so they may have some power still). I'd need some sort of transportation out, if there's any way to make that happen. I can't say for sure that I'm going, but at this point I'd say I'm 90% sure.
transport
for just you? and from where?
Just me!
And from Boston. Or the Boston metro area, so anywhere the commuter rail can get to, which is a sizable amount of places.
bug V & scrapper
I believe V (& scrapper) hail from that neck of the woods. You might try asking them about a ride.
If I do...
end up going, I would be more than happy to give you a ride, but I can't commit to that yet, because of the possibility for a bachelor party. I will definitely let you know as soon as I find out, though.
Hey V
I haven't asked Shirley but I suspect she might be interested in going in on one of these. I know I am. More later.
Um - that Cheez-It is me
Karen
I may....
be throwing a bachelorette party that weekend, but if I am not I think maybe I'll come. I've never been to a Renaissance anything, and I would be excited about the opportunity, for both that, and to meet people. We shall see.
as always
I will be there in spirit. Or via webcam if you guys want to do that again this year. It was fun!
I *seethe*
Barring some sort of windfall or sudden continental drift, I can't be there.
I *seethe* with jealousy. There must be photos taken!
Um, get an Icelandic volcano
Um, get an Icelandic volcano eruption to push you closer?
I'll make sure some sorta photos happen.
I shall fly on wings of ash
I shall fly on wings of ash and dust!
Are there... ren faires in
Are there... ren faires in the UK? I sort of thought they were universal (ish) until a friend of mine here commented on how weird she thought they were. But it could be an eastern/western europe thing, not an old world/new world one...
Why play at history when you have your own?
^^
I know there are...
... all kinds of medieval spectacles in at least the UK, France and Germany, although I don't know how similar they are to an American ren faire.
Yay!
Will very likely be there (have to check with the friend I brought with me last time), but probably not in garb. Corset is too big now and I am too lazy to adjust it.
Also, will discuss the possibility of sharing a cabin, but I don't know if that will fly.
I won't be in garb, either.
I won't be in garb, either. But hey - your old clothes are now too big? That's usually a good problem =)
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do as far as when I show up and when I leave. Um, seeing as how I'm sorta organizing this, I guess I should stayover the night if a lot of other people are, huh?
Also
then we can all have a fantastic MLM slumber party
It is...
But I would still like to go in garb
And yeah, I lost about 30 lbs.
I assume everyone getting together outside the faire would make a web cam meetup easier.
Just reserved a cabin
at http://www.sunsetrvpark.net/
They said they have a number of charcoal grills that they move from cabin to cabin, or if one of the locals wants to bring a gas grill in their pickup that's fine too. I wouldn't mind getting together and grilling Saturday evening. My recommendation is at least a "deluxe" cabin since that buys you hot water and a shower, but premium doesn't buy you all that much more.
They're still pretty wide open for that weekend (Cabin #16 and one single-bed deluxe are booked) but I don't know how fast they'll fill up -- that IS the last weekend of the Ren Faire, and the Wine Lover's weekend, too.
Looking forward to it -- should be even more fun than last year
Especially since
Cap isn't going to have food poisoning this year. Right? Right?
Right
Also, she's met us now and has some appreciation of just how crazy we are, so p'raps we aren't quite so intimidating too
Pfft.
You haven't seen my crazy yet.
Looking forward to it
And really, it was more a "lull her into a false sense of security" kind of thing.
Or was I just scouting y'all
Or was I just scouting y'all out, so I'd know what weaponry to bring this year? ;-D
Speaking of lulling, did that hammock ever work out for you? Lounging in one of those hammocks while enjoying a few grapes was one of the highlights of last year's trip (and not just because those grapes and one soft preztel were about the only things I ate in a 36 hour period).
Food poisoning is forbidden this year =P But just in case, I suggest that we take a group photo or three at the beginning instead of waiting til the end of the day. We'll still have to deal with the sucktacular cell reception, after all.
Heck yeah
I was just enjoying it this evening while I swung back and forth on my recently-screened-in-porch and read a book while drinking a beer. It's been great as the weather has warmed up into "pretty warm, not quite sweltering"...I never realized how much chairs cramp your airflow until I started using the hammock. I highly recommend them
sigh
August 15th is smack dab in the middle of block leave, and DH and I will be in Florida.
Doh!
Well, get with Capriox early next year to plan RFIII. Twice is enough to form a trend -- now we'll all be grumpy if it doesn't continue
Clarification -- the meetup trend, not the "missing the meetup" trend
Oh, garbage. =( Well, like V
Oh, garbage. =(
Well, like V said, I'm hoping to keep this event (or at least some sort of NYS meetup) going, so we will get you to one eventually!!
ETA: 90% certain I'll be dragging my husband along this year, after all!
Which day?
For those of us not over nighting there. We're going on Sunday, because apparently my friend and her BF's anniversary (of what, I have no idea) is that friday. I hope I don't miss you guys, but if you're planning on going Saturday, we will probably not see you.
My plan
highly informal, was to do most of the "hanging out" on Saturday and then the Faire on Sunday, with the caveat that any photo ops should be taken care of early, so that people can split whenever they need to for driving home. If you're going Sunday that reenforces the idea.
I will definitely be there
I will definitely be there Saturday afternoon. I'd like to stay overnight, but I'm still working on getting someone to feed calves for me that day, so I can't commit to that yet. Hopefully I'll know by tomorrow.
I will be at the meetup both days
I finally got someone to cover calf chores for me on Sunday, so now I can officially say I'll be there the whole weekend! YAY! Also, husband type got the weekend off, too, so he's coming with me. Please be gentle with him, he's a complete weblit-newb.
So yeah, my plan is essentially the same as V's now: show up Saturday (hopefully not too late to make reservations at that same campground), hangout, and then Ren Fest on Sunday. I might want to leave a bit early on Sunday so I can get home to the farm to make sure there's no problems. By early, I mean sometime around 2pm.
Not sure yet when I'll arrive Saturday. V, what's your ETA at the campground? I see that they don't allow check-in before 2pm for the cabins, so I guess that's the absolute earliest I'd be there.
Friday night, actually
They do allow late checkins, if you arrange it in advance, so Scrapper and I are driving after work Friday and rolling in probably around midnight. We'll be there all day, which means we'll have at least one cabin's backyard (grass, picnic table) worth of space for hanging out if people arrive early Saturday. Hmm...we should probably do something about contact info for various people. I don't have a weblit.us account so I haven't talked to any of those folks about where or how to meet.
I'm inclined to look for some place very near Oswego with a water view (park, etc) where we could all just hang out. Shirley Meier of Eclipse Court is a strong "probable" right now for attending, and she's trained/worked as a professional masseuse. She's not free, but lying in the shade watching the water and listening to writers do various readings (I think there was talk about this on weblit.us but I don't know if it went anywhere) while getting a massage would be a very nice vacation.
Breitbeck Park, perhaps? There's also some spots along the river or possibly the SUNY campus.
Meals...probably just pack or find a nearby restaurant for breakfasts/lunches. But for Saturday night -- Cap, do you by chance have 1) a pickup and 2) a gas grill? We could just do burgers and dogs for dinner, or better yet - I would *love* to meet some of your goats. I bet they're delicious. I'm also sure that the other diners would chip in to compensate you for the meat, if some is available. How is it best consumed? Steaks, burgers, only fancy Davikesque stuff with mint sauce? For dessert, I figured smores and mountain pies -- the cabins have a fire ring.
I believe the campground has a charcoal grill or two if we line it up in advance, so that's an option too.
need cell phone #s for RenFest meetup attendees
I've already sold all of this year's kids, so no cabrito for this year =P
I'm certainly game for grilling out, though. I can bring some fresh-from-the-field salt potatoes up with me if someone else wants to pick up the burgers/dogs. I don't have a gas grill, but I can bring charcoal. I'll also bring the milk for the smores
Raigne, V, I have your cell phone numbers from last year still. Anyone else joining us, please email me your name & number so we can find each other!
My number is the same.
I still have both of yours too, actually.
And I am ecstatic that it's mostly Sunday. I was going to be bummed if it wasn't. My friend Sam(girl who came with me last year)'s mother and her mother's housemate will also be coming with us, if he can find someone to watch his son for the day. Kid gets really stressed out in unfamiliar surroundings, I guess.
Food wise...
there is also the possibility of mountain pies or hobo pies as some people call them. If not familiar with them, you take two slices of bread, butter the outsides of them and then put whatever toppings you want inside. My favorite is pizza ones, so a little sauce, lotsa cheese, you got it. Or you can do apples and cinnamon, etc, etc. Then you just clamp the pie iron shut and throw it over the coals and you end up with a nice gooey pocket of goodness! Yum....
I've got two pie irons, and they are very quick to make. Just an option, but one of my favorite things camping.
Yum. Hmm, we don't have any
Yum. Hmm, we don't have any vegetarians joining us Saturday, do we? I don't think so...
I'm gluten-intolerant, but...
...I'm only going to be there on video feed!
are we going to do a video meetup this year?
because that was fun.
question for V included
Hmm... that was at the ComicCon meetup, wasn't it? The Ren Fest site itself doesn't have internet that I know of. Their cellphone reception sure is crappy as hell - not surprising given how rural the area is.
Hey, V, was there any internet service available at the Sunset campground last year? If not, we can make the 5 minute drive into Oswego and check out these possible (free!) wifi spots: http://www.superpages.com/cities/mtg/wifi/ny/oswego/ and http://www.riversendbookstore.com/.
So really, we just need someone with a webcam-equipped wifi-friendly laptop. Alas, I can't help out there. Anyone else?
Not that I know of
We didn't bring anything to check it, and they don't mention it on their site.
Karen Wehrstein has a laptop with a built-in webcam that Shirley says has wifi, and they said they're bringing it, so we can probably mooch off of that. If anyone else has one, bring it -- we can tie in more people that way (if others are curious)
I mentioned it on twitter,
I mentioned it on twitter, and yes, there are others who are curious! Darn, now I really gotta try to make it happen.
...I'm really bad at remembering the first rule about volunteering...
I have
A wifi enabled netbook with a webcam on it, but we'll be heading out Sunday morning, so it may not be useful to you, depending on when we do it.
ETA: It has a built in stereo microphone which MeiLin says works well, also
weblit meetup video
For lack of better alternatives, shall we try for skype around 8:30pm EST? That time is very tentative, not sure when we'll find a hotspot exactly.
I sent cap my phone numbers..
...as a d on Twitter. Hope she got them. I'll do my best to remember to be on Skype!
2nd annual meetup follow-up
The run-on sentence recap: we met up successfully, had a nice time at eating & hanging out at the campground, succeeded in video chatting with Meilin, Clare KR Miller, and one of Lynthornealder's readers (note: oovoo.com is a good, free video chat program), introduced Karen Wehrstein & Shirley Meier to s'mores (they had never had one before =O), met up successfully with everyone else on Sunday, and had a good-but-slightly-rainy time at the Ren Fest. Yay!
Pictures did happen. Karen and V have them; hopefully they will get posted in a day or two.
And I got to ride a camel =)
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