Outlands Crown Tourney

...in which the fighters battle to determine who will be the next King and Queen of the Outlands for the next six months.

As is traditional, I paid basically no attention to the actual fighting part. There was too much else going on.

I wish my chair were this nice, but it's not, so Loiosh stole someone else's:

And was very comfortable the whole day.

Plus he got loves and quite a lot of roast beef from his various admirers.

Dwen and Bri show off their lovely Viking garb. Loving the bling.

Crown Tourney is usually held outside -- it's rare we find a big enough space inside where they can actually fight. Not a lot of damage to be done that the livestock hasn't already tried, though. The space was a little allergy-ey but otherwise worked very well, and it was much cooler inside than out in the sun.

I did catch a little of the fighting.

Some folks even camped inside. I wouldn't have been able to without having massive allergy problems, but most people were okay, and it really is kind've nice not having to worry about rain.

Eulasaid and David have a lovely camp:

It takes longer to set up and break down than I'd want to take, but for them it's totally worth the time and effort. And it really, really looks awesome.

Plus I ended the day with some of the best foods ever.

Gold Camp Road

Last week it was hot. Heat makes me whiny, and we haven't got air conditioning, so...yeah, I was whiny. Fortunately driving up the hill is nearly always enough to make me feel better.

I poked around online to find somewhere new to go. Gold Camp Road looked interesting, and I've never been to Cripple Creek, so I thought I'd head up that way.

I stopped at a bunch of places on the way up -- really, anywhere that looked interesting. My first stop was kind've neat, but still low enough that it was warmer than I like. Loiosh thought it was too hot, too, and stayed in the shade.

This path really did look tempting, but I think it would've just taken me to the REALLY RICH neighborhood visible in the background. So we kept going.

This is a bit after the road turned to dirt. I have no idea what that road is down there, but I think I want to find out and drive it, too.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the whole outcropping -- I tried climbing it, but I'm way too out of practice, and the rock was too rough to go barefoot. So we just sort of scrambled around the lower bits for a while.

Further up there were rough-hewn tunnels -- apparently this used to be a railway right-of-way. A lot of this part was one lane wide, and the tunnels definitely were.

Since I've been pretty scared to go underground, even into tunnels, before, I thought I'd see how I'd do.

Closer...

Closer...

 

...I did walk through (and, of course, back) and it wasn't too bad. I think I've gotten over a lot of that fear. Of course, Loiosh helped.

Then things got exciting, as they will. Not only did it start absolutely pouring rain, it did so right where Gold Camp Road is closed.

...so much for Cripple Creek. Next time, I guess?

Loiosh got rather dampened.

MOM WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME UNDER THAT BUSH IT WAS NICE AND DRY THERE

Believe me, as hard as we were getting rained on, if I'd've fit, I'd've been under that bush with him.

We returned home to a letter from Autumn, my roommates' leashcat, who is...less than fond of my boy.

I think she'd've been happier if Gold Camp Road had been open the whole way and we'd been out for longer...but then again, so would I.

(On the other hand, given how haunted it apparently is...Tunnel 2 is the one I walked through. Really glad I didn't get groped!)