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Nancy and Steve Eggert of Dunedin in their 14th century finery and, below, Nancy and Jo Jacobs at a Thai temple in Tampa.
photos for Tropical Breeze courtesy Steve and Nancy Eggert
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To the Editor:
We want to thank you for tickets to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival that we received for renewing our subscription.
We went on April 5 with our good friends, Jo and Jake Jacobs from Seffner. Jo is my high school GF from the ’70s, who also was my photographer at our wedding.
Of course we donned our favorite 14th century duds. What’s the fun if you don’t dress up? Steve wore his golden yellow billowing pirate shirt, lightweight suede pants and boots. A black sash to hold the beer mug, sword, cutlass and money bag. To complete the outfit he wore a black hat with a red feather.
I wore a long purple strapless gown with a black petticoat underneath, gold chains that look like doubloons, very comfy high top sneakers (painted deep purple), a “Crown Royal” money bag and a headdress with various shades of purple ribbon and scarves that gave me an extra touch of royal elegance.
The food still was good, but we all agreed the huge turkey leg tasted like ham. It looked rare, kind of made you think it was under-cooked, but it wasn’t. When sampling the many choices of beer, have them fill up your mug, instead of the plastic cup, you get a bit more!
There were lots of performers and acts going on everywhere. Jameson the juggler juggled two pins (think bowling pins) and a wad of playdough, while attempting to make a dragon. Very amusing! He finished up his act balanced on a board (1"x12"x3'), on a pvc pipe on top of a bench, while juggling a large knife (16" long), a toy tiger on a stick, and an old shoe. AWESOME!
But the highlight of the day was a “ride” that we have always wanted to do. Other places charged $50-$65 per person, but here it was ONLY $5, yes, five dollars! You jump on a trampoline while strapped in, then get flung into the air with bungee/rubber bands.
Steve went first removing shoes, hat, chains, “weapons,” down to his bare feet. He bounced pretty high.
Meanwhile I was “undressing” taking off my goodies: headdress, belt, jewelry, shoes. Steve joking asked if I was wearing underwear? (Of course! Purple!)
Steve said it was A+++ . Next it was my turn and how very unladylike I looked in my long gown. It was a challenge gathering up all my full skirts to get suited up. To make yourself go higher, as you go up, you reach up and pull down hard on the rubber bands and you are flung higher into the sky. It was EXHILARATING! I yelled: “I want one in my backyard!” What a work out!
By the time you are done and stand on the trampoline, your legs are like jello. We both crawled off (actually I rolled off) with exuberant smiles on our faces! I forgot my camera, so Jo (as usual) did an outstanding job taking our pictures.
The next day, Jo and Jake took us to their favorite Thai eatery. It is on the grounds of a temple called Wat Mongkolratanaram in Palm River, on the outskirts of Tampa. It’s an open air market of Thai foods, only open on Sundays. Under a large roof you can see all the food being cooked and prepared. We had Pad Thai, spring rolls with a sweet and hot dipping sauce (A+), chicken Satay on a stick with peanut sauce and this strange concoction of coconut milk and scallions cooked in a hot cast iron pan poached in a bath of water, going round and around. I believe the money was used as a fund raiser for the temple. You had to ask which foods were mild, hot or burn-your-mouth-hot. With the Thai language all around, you would swear you were in Thailand. It was loads of fun and very educational. Thanks Jo and Jake!
And thank you Tropical Breeze! It was a STUPENDOUS day at the fair!
Nancy and Steve Eggert
Dunedin
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