our trip to the reniassance festival

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon, as I do when we take our little trips.
This trip took us to Holly Recreation Area. A nice large campground nestled in a heavy wooded setting.
We arrived late on Friday, got us all set up, and headed out about 6 miles for KFC for dinner.  Love their chicken! back at the mo-ho, we ate and watched the news. Then an after dinner walk, and some TV before turning in.
I awoke Saturday morning around 4 with my back in knots and aching so bad, I got up, fired up the heating pad, got a wet towel, and slept off and on in the recliner. It took about 4 hrs and 2 heating sessions for my back to feel better.
We headed off to the Michigan Renaissance Festival, which was just a few miles down the road from our campground.
It was a beautiful sunny day with temps reaching into the low 70's.

This place is enormous! They have a permanent   medieval village built here.
There were numerous stages scattered through out the grounds amongst many shops and eateries.
And a huge variety of entertainment.

Yes, that is actually a person made up as a plant to scare the little children.

All kinds of people come to the festival. Many also dress up in period wear. Here's one with a walker!

We took a break between shows to grab some lunch at one of the outdoor cafe's.

They even have a jousting field. I took a few more pics, and they can be seen here.
By early afternoon, I was exhausted. I think the not sleeping well has been taking toll on me, so we left and went back to the mo-ho for a nap. The traffic at this point coming to the festival was insane! The traffic was backed up over 2 1/2 miles! Almost to the campground! It was already after 2 and the festival closes at 7 pm.
Back at the campground, I dozed in the recliner for about an hour, while Craig sat outside and read the paper.
With my second wind, we had planned to go back to the festival, but when we left the campground at 3:30, the traffic was still backed up as far as earlier. We decide it wasn't worth the wait to get back in and besides, it was getting pretty crowded when we left. I can't imagine what it would be like at this point. So, we went into the town of Holly, for a light dinner at the Broadstreet Station where we had their tasty patty melts.
Back at the mo-ho, we went for a nice long walk through the many campground loops. The campground was maybe 1/3 full. Then we  watched our Spartans on TV, as the Irish completely dismantled them. What a sad game.  :-(  They looked pitiful.
I decided to try and sleep in the recliner, since I wasn't sleeping in any bed very good. Home or mo-ho.
I actually slept pretty good, waking up with just some tightness but no aching and knotting.
Sunday, we ventured out to Proud Lake Recreation Area a short drive south of our current campground to check it out as that was going to be one of our last trips this year. We hadn't stayed at that park before, but picked it, as it's the closest park to Detroit where we will be taking in the Titanic Exhibit.
It's not much of a campground, but will suffice. We took a scenic drive back to Holly. The area near proud lake has many lakes and we saw some amazing mansions! Some areas looked like we were in Beverly Hills!
Back near the campground, we stopped at a nice sports bar with outdoor seating for a little lunch. I of course had chicken wings and Craig had Nachos. I chose a lemon pepper rub for the wings. It was really good!
Back at the campground, we read the paper, and went for another walk. This time, the campground was maybe 10% full. But this was Sunday afternoon, and most people leave on Sunday. A few showed up Sunday afternoon, but not many.
I slept again in the recliner, and again awoke with just some stiffness that was easily cured with a session of the heating pad. I was thinking maybe by sleeping in the recliner, my back would loosen up and return to normal. We arrived back home in the mid morning. Another safe, uneventful trip.  :-)
Since the forecast was for one more nice day before very fall like temps arrived, I took full advantage and worked on downsizing another flower bed. I'll try to remember to take some pics. The other area I did is already starting to 'green up' as the seed has started to germinate.
Craig spent the afternoon with his usual bookwork and laundry. For dinner I cooked pork steaks on the grill, and Craig made a pasta salad.
I decided to try and sleep in  the bed, as i hoped the 2 days with no knotting and aching meant my back was doing better.
This morning.......
I awoke around 1:30 with my back starting to tighten up and starting to ache. Damn! It wasn't any better! So up I got and spent the rest of the night in the recliner, where I actually slept pretty good. But now, I've decided, this is it. I'm going to a doctor. There's something going on that is not apparently fixable with exercise, yoga, or chiropractor, as I'm just the same as I've been for the last nearly 3 weeks.
The crazy thing about all this is once I'm up, and do my moist heat, I'm good for the rest of the day. No aching, no pain, no discomfort. But there's something about lying horizontal, that's causing my back to knot up and ache, and I need to find out what. So as soon as my doctor's office opens up, I'm making an appointment.
And with that, time for my shower.