i LOVE rhinebeck!

is it possible to be in love with a town? rhinebeck far exceeded all my expectations! the town is charming, and not crowded or commercial.

it did rain, and rain. wednesday on my way down to fort lauderdale tom and i were on the phone trying to decide whether or not to go, the weather channel was showing flooding in the rhinebeck area. called the chamber of commerce, the festival was not cancelled. called hope in new jersey, she said come, so we did ;-)



got into new york late thursday afternoon, our hotel, the delamater inn, is part of the beekman arms, the oldest continually operated inn in the united states, 1766. if you click on the delamater link, our room is the first photo.

friday, we went sightseeing in the rain. first stop, the vanderbilt mansion, spectacular grounds. then on to fdr's home and library in hyde park. south to the cia, it is huge!
back to rhinebeck and a late lunch at the coach house tavern, yum.

saturday morning, off to the fair! first stop, the tee-shirt booth. 2005's featured breed is the tunis. met up with hope and kevin, thank god tom and kevin hit it off right away. the neta (new england textile artists) meetup was at 10, i was kind of surprised there weren't more members there. got to meet sherry (also a ft member) and chris of woolybuns. sherry is on my right, chris on my left, i'm in the middle with the yellow rain slicker.


at 11, kevin decided to split, and tom also took the opportunity. he had a great time at the aerodrome, even though the weather stunk.

hope and i bummed around, and were having such a good time we forgot about the 1 o'clock blogger meetup. i am blaming it on the artichokes, which were well worth the long line ;-) met up with nilda, nathania, steph and jaya.


drooled over norm hall's wheels, did snag a tiger maple niddy noddy. hope fell in love with dave paul's hitchhiker wheel. i had a nice long chat with gil of robin wheels. his wee robin is adorable.









i got to hug linda diak of grafton fibers in person! she is fun and crazy, and a spinning wheel enabler extraordinaire :-)

tasted some excellent wine and cheese, hope bought some yummy maple cotton candy. we met up with adrienne and caryn, 2 of hope's friends from boston.

5 o'clock met back up with tom at the double O, had drinks and dinner with a huge bunch in the bar. the double O is right across from the entrance to the fairgrounds. amy of knitty.com joined us. the food was fabulous, but it was so loud, i could hardly hear anything. nilda's girls were angels :-)

sunday morning back to the fair! tom just dumped me off (yeah), he went back to the aerodrome, on to an antique car show in staatsburg, then to the mills mansion.
i bummed around by myself all morning, then met up with nathania and theresa of knitting the blues. .
had a yummy sausage with peppers and onions for lunch.




theresa made me eat one of her tastebudds chocolate truffles, omg, i had to go buy 2 dozen. i am now hiding them from dd....
ran into a bunch of bloggers at robin's wheels, kim of the woolen rabbit was giving spinning lessons.

the sheepies and cashmere goats were too cute, especially the twin lambs :-)







later on in the afternoon, i ran into a good basket/knitting friend, barbara, from miami of all things!

time to call tom, we drinks and dinner at the tap room of the beekman arms. met a bunch of local people at the bar, and exchanged #s with one couple, hopefully we'll see them next year!

monday morning, time to leave rhinebeck :-(


stopped by morehouse merino in milan, but they weren't open yet, we'll come back next year.
took the tour at west point, don't think it holds a candle to annapolis, but maybe that's the navy mom talking...




i'm making our reservation for 2006 soon! next installment, the haul ;-)