Not Another Post About Rhinebeck!

Yes, I went to Rhinebeck! My photos seem to differ from other people's photos, though. You'll see that as I get into this post.

We left on Friday, 10/19, at about 10:30 a.m. Around 11:45 a.m., not long after we left a service area on the Mass. Pike, our car started making a funny noise and felt a little jerky. ZMrK pulled over to the side of the Mass. Pike and discovered -- yes, we have a flat tire. On the side that faces traffic, naturally.

Have you ever been on the side of the road, changing a tire that faces traffic as trucks fly by you, while it's drizzling? I haven't either, but I witnessed my husband doing it. OMFG that was so scary. A State Trooper pulled up behind us with his lights on, which was a good thing because it at least slowed people down a little. I was still nearly crying because I was so afraid. But ZMrK was a man about it -- he got that donut on the car, and off we went to the next exit where we could go and get our tire fixed! The fix took 5 minutes and about $15, and the guys at the tire shop were pretty nice. I didn't get to see the damage, and I wish I had gotten a picture, but I guess there was quite a gash in the tire. From there we went to lunch at Subway, went to a Goodwill store where I found a faux-ocelot cape for $5 (and a couple of vintage sewing patterns for 20 cents each -- ladies, it's the Goodwill in Palmer, MA, not far from the Mass. Pike, if you're interested), and we visiting the pet store called "Animal House" in the same strip mall, where we saw this friendly little girl:



She's a painted turtle, which are abundant around here. You can tell the males from the females by the claws -- males have much longer claws. Her claws were pretty short, and I can't picture someone trimming them, so we're guessing she's a female. And yes, she was very friendly.

We checked in to our motel, The Skytop, sometime between 3:30 and 4:00. On a good day, the trip from our house takes about 3.5 hours, but this was obviously not a good day because (1) it was raining and (2) we got a flat and spent about an hour getting lunch/shopping/laughing at turtles.

A few things about the Skytop: it's fairly cheap, it's right on the edge of Catskill Park and is surrounded by lovely trees, it's a very servicable hotel with a manager who can be a bit of a grump, the "continental breakfast" consists of packaged pastries (like Otis Spunkmeyer muffins), coffee, orange juice, and two different kinds of cereal (Cheerios and Fruit Loops), and the attached Steakhouse is very, very pricey but has a brewery on the premises and the beer is awesome. MMMMM, beer.

Enough on that. We got dinner at a Mexican place in Kingston (which was pretty good but not awesome), went back to the Skytop, and decided to go to the Steakhouse to try some of that yummy beer (and see if I recognize anyone from their blogs). Instead, I got recognized!!!! Mama E approached me, and told me they were going to be knitting and drinking wine in her room after dinner. So, while ZMrK got some much-needed, "I've-been-white-knuckle-driving-all-day" rest, I went to a nice little impromptu stitch n bitch, which I stayed at until about 11.

The next morning was the Big Saturday at Rhinebeck. We got there with NO PROBLEMS whatsoever - well, after forgetting our directions and having to go back to the motel after our all-you-can-eat breakfast at the diner down the road, which, by the way, for $6.99 isn't really all that except for the coffee cake, which rocks my world. But we got to Rhinebeck without having to wait in traffic for 30 minutes, and got in right away.



(I'm cheating -- I took this picture on Sunday on the way to Rhinebeck. I also made sure to get Devil Ducky and his shadow in the picture.)

The gate we went in led us past some children's amusements, and a little zoo! There was a pen of little goats, with the vending machines of pellets that were a quarter a handful. At least the goats were inside, and you were outside, and you didn't have to worry about them jumping all over you, breaking your amber ring and nearly pulling off your tank top (did I ever tell you about my honeymoon?), but ZMrK did manage to get bitten:



I guess it's more accurate to say the goat sucked on his finger and managed to scrape a back tooth over ZMrK's cuticle, causing him to bleed. He went to first aid to put some antiseptic on it, and they made him fill out an accident report and he had to narc on the goat! He didn't really want to do it, and I don't know what good it did because they didn't remove Sucky the Goat from the pen, but they did make him narc on the goat.

It's probably a good thing ZMrK couldn't get closer to this guy:



The gator wasn't terribly large -- maybe 4-5 feet long, and I'm kidding when I imply that ZMrK would put his hand in there to be bitten. He wouldn't. I have held a gator that size before, but it's mouth was taped up. If I can find the picture of that, I'll show you.

So, yes, there were a bunch of cute animals there. Besides the goats and gator, there were kangaroos:




(This is a joey and we did get to pet him.)

Lemurs:



(The eyes remind me of Ken. The eyes, and the expectant "you have food for me, right?" facial expression.)

and tortoises:




There was a goat whose photo came out looking like Jim Halpern on "The Office":



And a turtles whose photo looks like Tobey on "The Office":



There were many other reptiles, too:





You know, things you wouldn't expect to see at a Fiber Fest!

There were, however, fiber bearing animals galore, all over the fest:






There was also a Haunted House for the kiddies, which provided me with a few cool photos:








I think I'll do another post of just my swag, but I leave you with must be the Official Tree of Rhinebeck, which has been in almost every set of photos I've seen!