Three Days Never Enough

Saturday was hot, but not unbearable. Which was nice because a friend of mine and I spent the day at the Virginia Renaissance Festival (yes, Virginia, you have a Renaissance festival). I have gone only once before, a few years ago, and it was a far cry from the Maryland faire I know and love. I was expecting this year's to be much the same, except they appear to be under new management and are sporting a new, possibly permanent, location at the Lake Anna Winery (really close to the North Anna Nuclear Power Station).

The merchants were still set up in tents (unlike the permanent structures in Crownsville) but there was quite a variety of them. We didn't take in any shows or try to follow the storyline because there was so much shopping to do. It was a larger site than I expected, but still not on the scale of the MD festival. I was pleasantly surprised and would be willing to return next year. It was also great to spend the day with my friend, and look at all the neat stuff, and chat with all the people we knew from MD. Next time, I'll drink more water, since I managed to get a crippling migraine that prevented me from joining another friend for a movie in the evening.

I saw X-Men 3 on Sunday. If you're a die-hard, the-comic-is-how-it-is kind of X-fan, don't bother (but you already know that from the previous 2 movies). Taken as it's own, unrelated-to-the-comics story, it was pretty good. I'm not a die-hard X-Men comic fan, but I know enough to know they changed quite a bit to fit their purpose. There was a little girl behind me who was crying because of what they changed and how she didn't like it.

Yesterday was hotter than Saturday. But, we packed up our kayaks and hit Jug Bay anyway. My aunt who is visiting from Utah rented one and was able to join us (yay!), and Fox with his new kayak. We wanted to take my aunt down Mattaponi Creek (remind me to tell you a Mattaponi story from Saturday), but the rental launch site is on the other end of the bay from the landing we usually use. We did it anyway, but only got about halfway down the creek before stopping at the observation tower for lunch and heading back. It was a good thing though, because going back up the bay was exhaustive! My aunt did really well, Fox did pretty good in his brand-new, exactly-like-mine Hobie. We were out there for a good four hours (about 1030 to 1430ish), with an hour or so lunch break. Not to bad for such a hot day. Afterwards, my parents and I were treated to a nice, protein filled dinner at Red Robin by my aunt. Not a bad end to a holiday weekend. Let the kayaking begin!

And before I go, about Mattaponi. :) I went to Mattaponi Elementary School, which is not very far from Mattaponi Creek (ni, in this case, is more like the 'ni' in knight than the 'ny' in pony, by the way). I always knew it was a Native American name, it was once described to me that it means 'where the waters meet,' named for a place where four rivers (the Mat, the Ta, the Po, and the Ni) come together. I also knew that Mattaponi people still live along the Mattaponi River in Virginia. I'm not sure if their territory once extended to the creek (that's a long way) but that's not important, really. While we were driving to the VA Renaissance Faire, we crossed the Ni. Once I realized it, I consulted the map and noticed we would also be crossing the Po, and if we went south enough, we would cross Ta and Mat (I'm not sure about Ta, we definitely did not cross Mat). Further consultation of the map showed Mat and Ta converging to become Matta (simple :) and later joining a bit downriver of where Po and Ni had already come together. The collective four rivers was, you guessed it, Mattaponi River. Get a Virginia map, look it up. It's pretty cool when you find confirmation that something you've known all along is true. I would like to be closer to Mattaponi River so I could kayak it, but I've also heard that parts are rapids. It's just as well!