On a beautiful Fall day, I drove out to Mount Hope, Pennsylvania to visit a place I had only been to one time before…when I was in 7th grade.  Needless to say, much had changed since my first visit to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire.

Just next door from the Winery, the Faire is a step back in time, boasting cottage-looking shops, various foods on sticks, live music, street performers and traditional townspeople who interact with the visitors.

Sometimes, pedestrians are even lucky enough to see the Royal court walking around…otherwise you have to see them during the jousting competition or the human chess match.

And there are few things better than watching two friends engage in a duel to pop balloons off each other.

My favorite part is always the booths depicting “ye olde tyme” trades.  I had to see the candles being dipped and blacksmiths working steel over coal forges.  I even loved the shop selling nothing but products made from honey, (I scored some awesome face scrubs using honey dust that exfoliates the skin and leaves it feeling baby soft).  But, my #1 experience of the day was watching the glass blowing demonstrations.  I’ve always had a fascination with this type of art, so I signed up for a lesson to work with a Master…and I made a pumpkin!

The teacher was very good and had the instructions down to a science, which made the process easy to follow.  After about 20 minutes of commands and splitting the steps between us, I came out with my first project.

After snapping some photos, my pumpkin was packed away.  Glass needs to slowly cool in a controlled environment, or it will crack.  All the projects of the day were put into a heated container that would allow the pieces to cool in a uniformed manner for the next 24 hours.  At that point, the shop would package everything and sent the projects to the owners’ homes, but it was totally worth the wait.

There really is so much to see at the Faire.  I’m so glad it was better than I remembered…I’m sure I’ll be making a return trip!