Overheard at . . . Camlann Medieval Village

“You are a traveler in our village, my Lady. You may wander as you like.”

Many years ago, in the age before TripAdvisor and Yelp, there lived a family who would hear of an interesting land and, lo, off they would journey to see what adventure they might find.

But, nowadays . . . we check every rating service we can find before we decide whether to embark on a trip. We listen to advice from K8tie123 and donho_14. We learn about the quality of the toilet paper in the restroom and the tone of voice the hostess uses while seating your party of five at a booth only big enough for three.

And then we begin to hem and haw.

“Well, maybe we should stick closer to home. That way if it isn’t good we haven’t wasted a lot of time.”

“The does cost seems sort of high. What if it is a big rip off?”

“Or… we might like it.”

We bite our lips and shrug. “Should we try it?”

Oh, I am so glad we did. And even then, as we pulled into the parking lot of the random historical re-enactment village off in the middle of the Washington countryside, we debated going in.

But, yay, thus we did enter. And behold… a grand adventure awaited us. With an archer who might teach us the fine art of archery, and a basket weaver who, yay, was still learning her craft, but spoke to us of her life as a serf of the feudal lord. We drank hearty of the ale and ate the days’ pottage. Our travels complete, we left, glad for our journey and eager to return again to this village borne before the age of reviews.

Camlann Medieval Village turned out to be our adventure although I suppose all real journeys begin with an adventurous spirit. Reviews can be helpful but I realized this weekend that whatever direction we go, if we wander with curiousity and an open mind, we will enjoy our journey. Here’s to your own, Journey Inspired by Love (of history.)