![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Warriors and Warlords 2025
Jul. 14th, 2025 09:41 amWe all managed to get out of the house (fully loaded both vehicles cause Becca and Rob were leaving to SC from the war). We stopped off in Canton to get Taco johns for lunch (nom nom) and then the easy drive to Wisconsin. What was weir was the GPS took us on back roads to I-90. It meandered between SD and Iowa and then back to SD before doing the last 7 miles was a straight north county road that had 3 states from SD, IA and dumped us out in Minnesota just before the interstate. That was fun. And honestly it super quick but a bit of a meander through pretty country. We had a pitstop in Albert Lea MN and then onto site. We were setup next to Authentic Camp and that was nice We got the french bells setup and the boys got their modern tents setup but it was warm and buggy and we were hungry and realized we had forgotten the bug spray and lanterns and the food truck only took cash. So we divided and conquered to get food and things. Becca and I got tablecloths (also forgotten) and lanterns, and a few more small things and were back in came with rain coming down. My cell service at site was abysmal. But the rain wasn't too bad but I still worried. The port-potties were the best I've ever used. they had solar powered night and motion lights and were clean and new and better than the flushies at the bath house.
We got to bed late and the kids were zonked. Had drinks while it rained but everything was a soaking with things ending about 1am or so. I slept okay and then we got up in the AM, I made breakfast and we all kinda lazed about. I did get dressed and meandered to see Mel on the field and Benton had missed the kids archery for the day. Did a bit a meandering around the merchants and I ended up buying a mug and a foldable stool from Du Puy. I love their work and they are great merchants and we needed another place to put a butt since we don't have household benches here and I don't want folks standing when they can have a spot or a place to put your drink. When I showed mel he was like "nice, I like their stuff" so all good. It rained quite a bit in the evening but we had drinks and friends and hung out under the canopies. Folks were a bit surprised I was mixing drinks with a good bar. I have skillz. though we did run out of limes and lemons cause becca only heard "pack a few oranges and limes" versus "pack a few oranges, and the limes/lemons" the comma matters. But Samii was awesome and got us more on his trip to Aldi early Saturday AM. The rain stopped overnight and again, no damage, no wind nothing like last year. The temps were great and not hot.
Mel and Becca and Rob hit the field for fun times. Becca did an early tourney, Rob and Mel a later one. Benton fought and won the Kittens versus Lava tourney for the youth combat.
The stove had been finicky when I was making breakfast and I've had it 25 years with like 10 years in storage. So after shopping and a shower and hitting up the fiber guild it would not light no mater what I did. Mel tried and we figured out the pressure pump mechanism died. So we pivoted and got dinner to walk into court with from the food truck. Luckily Becca and Rob were not sitting with the Northshield B&Bs so we just hung out in court watching stuff and ate our dinners. I may have made my drink mostly gin...ooops but it was a nice court and we then got to help hand out gift baskets to the cousins and heirs. They had forgotten to bring up Rob and Becca. It was okay and then we chatted with a bunch of folks and helped clean up the hall. I met a friend of Clint and Jenn (Cathal and Genevieve) who is also a Jennifer. And a Knight from Midrealm who did the toy box run. We then got back to camp to pick up drinks and head to the torchlight/equestrian tourney where the Wisconsin Air Force was mighty (mosquitos) so it was a run back to douse ourselves in bugspray and return. We had a nice time and there were pom poms. Mel and Becca and I chatted with a cool tablet weaver and we all had a nice time and then it was back for mixed drinks for way into the night. I finally called it and changed into pjs. Becca had just had mel make her a drink and even he was done. Lol. Needless to say we all had hangovers in the morning and had to get up and not have coffee due to broken stove. So we packed up and we re-tetrised the coolers to get it down to one and I found the canned cold brew and we were awesome. We got everything loaded and packed and hit the road to Denny's by 1140am. though we now have a note in the stuff for next year to "denny's is never the plan" cause last year we walked in and they were closed for a water leak, this year they were not taking folks cause they had only one cook. So we ended up at Perkins with the best waitress who was at first not tickled to have a 7 top with 3 kids and when we were polite and had simple orders without a lot of fuss and knew how to pass things around the large table and say please she was so happy. We also made the bussers job easy by stacking everything for easy retrieval. And then we all had pie after breakfast. While I was in the bathroom and Rob was paying we found out she had discounted our meal with a BOGO offer for locals. Wow. It pays to be nice.
We then said our goodbyes and headed home. :( More details, a random geology side quest, and pictures tomorrow. There were pretty things.
We got to bed late and the kids were zonked. Had drinks while it rained but everything was a soaking with things ending about 1am or so. I slept okay and then we got up in the AM, I made breakfast and we all kinda lazed about. I did get dressed and meandered to see Mel on the field and Benton had missed the kids archery for the day. Did a bit a meandering around the merchants and I ended up buying a mug and a foldable stool from Du Puy. I love their work and they are great merchants and we needed another place to put a butt since we don't have household benches here and I don't want folks standing when they can have a spot or a place to put your drink. When I showed mel he was like "nice, I like their stuff" so all good. It rained quite a bit in the evening but we had drinks and friends and hung out under the canopies. Folks were a bit surprised I was mixing drinks with a good bar. I have skillz. though we did run out of limes and lemons cause becca only heard "pack a few oranges and limes" versus "pack a few oranges, and the limes/lemons" the comma matters. But Samii was awesome and got us more on his trip to Aldi early Saturday AM. The rain stopped overnight and again, no damage, no wind nothing like last year. The temps were great and not hot.
Mel and Becca and Rob hit the field for fun times. Becca did an early tourney, Rob and Mel a later one. Benton fought and won the Kittens versus Lava tourney for the youth combat.
The stove had been finicky when I was making breakfast and I've had it 25 years with like 10 years in storage. So after shopping and a shower and hitting up the fiber guild it would not light no mater what I did. Mel tried and we figured out the pressure pump mechanism died. So we pivoted and got dinner to walk into court with from the food truck. Luckily Becca and Rob were not sitting with the Northshield B&Bs so we just hung out in court watching stuff and ate our dinners. I may have made my drink mostly gin...ooops but it was a nice court and we then got to help hand out gift baskets to the cousins and heirs. They had forgotten to bring up Rob and Becca. It was okay and then we chatted with a bunch of folks and helped clean up the hall. I met a friend of Clint and Jenn (Cathal and Genevieve) who is also a Jennifer. And a Knight from Midrealm who did the toy box run. We then got back to camp to pick up drinks and head to the torchlight/equestrian tourney where the Wisconsin Air Force was mighty (mosquitos) so it was a run back to douse ourselves in bugspray and return. We had a nice time and there were pom poms. Mel and Becca and I chatted with a cool tablet weaver and we all had a nice time and then it was back for mixed drinks for way into the night. I finally called it and changed into pjs. Becca had just had mel make her a drink and even he was done. Lol. Needless to say we all had hangovers in the morning and had to get up and not have coffee due to broken stove. So we packed up and we re-tetrised the coolers to get it down to one and I found the canned cold brew and we were awesome. We got everything loaded and packed and hit the road to Denny's by 1140am. though we now have a note in the stuff for next year to "denny's is never the plan" cause last year we walked in and they were closed for a water leak, this year they were not taking folks cause they had only one cook. So we ended up at Perkins with the best waitress who was at first not tickled to have a 7 top with 3 kids and when we were polite and had simple orders without a lot of fuss and knew how to pass things around the large table and say please she was so happy. We also made the bussers job easy by stacking everything for easy retrieval. And then we all had pie after breakfast. While I was in the bathroom and Rob was paying we found out she had discounted our meal with a BOGO offer for locals. Wow. It pays to be nice.
We then said our goodbyes and headed home. :( More details, a random geology side quest, and pictures tomorrow. There were pretty things.
