I recently traveled to the far reaches of the lower 48 over to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Being a very Victorian style seaport, Port Townsend is a special place 365 days of the year. But for one weekend in June each year, this seaport gets a special visit from airship captains, intrepid explorers, eclectic inventors, and a few time travelers who stop by for a bit.
What is steampunk you might ask? There is no short answer, and it's a little different for each person you ask. So my own definition is that it's a snap shot of the past, taking the excitement of the early scientific age, and making it functional and/or beautiful.
The people of steampunk are amazing! I find most of them to be highly intelligent with a large sense of humor. We steamers see the world a little differently. We like to play ...and we sure like to play with rules. Like gravity. Or reality.
(She put the "Bad" in badminton)
There was even a flying sailboat, the S.S. Victoria, which was prepared for any kracken attacks or plundering pirates. Thankfully the weekend was without incident, though they had some amazing stories to tell of their many travels.
Music in port was lively and exciting, especially the tunes which came from this beautiful contraption... It was a "Bagpipe Accordian", complete with a train whistle, slider whistle, and duck call. (Oh yeah, and a bubble blower, of course!)
It took all my might to convince this expeditionary not to hunt the camel...
A bike of my own invention.... I wanted to be able to enjoy my tea while traveling with my daughter. There was a sharp learning curve to learn how to steer it with the table...
But some were brave enough to try...
Double umbrella...
And there were a lot of time travelers too...
... a device to speed or slow down time...
and a portable time traveling device...
Plus some amazing outfits!
All in all, it was an amazing weekend of wonder and whimsy! There are only 363 more days until next year's Brass Screw Confederacy conglomeration, and I'll be counting them down one by one! Until then, I'll be riding into an unknown sunset, drinking my tea as I go!