Had a GREAT time at TRF this past weekend.  I hit the ground runnin' on Friday afternoon, had some drama with the bus not wanting to pick me up after work (he almost drove by! I had to chase him around the corner! I was mad!!), got home and just couldn't get everything packed and done quickly enough. And I couldn't seem to assemble a fairy costume from what I had on hand, which is ridiculous considering all the dang garb I have. I just felt kinda frazzled. But eventually we got on the road. We spent Friday night with S&M who are incredibly gracious and wonderful hosts.  I made scotch eggs at their house, they fed us and gave us hot toddies and we went off to bed late Friday nite.

Saturday we got up bright and early and headed out. Between Google directions and their GPS we made it in good time & got to park pretty close in--Lucky Row 13!

We met up inside the gates with Thax's best friend Tim, and Tim's fiancee Jen. They met on WoW & have not yet spent much time together RL, BUT they seem very happy and sweet to each other, and I enjoyed hanging out with Jen. She is not too sweet, nor is she too bitchy, she's just right. Good sense of humor, smiles a lot. I was worried that I wouldn't like her, that she'd be an obvious gold-digger or something, but she seems very genuine.

We met up with some of Tim's other friends/coworkers, Jen, John, and James. They seemed really nice but they seemed to be wandering a different way than us, so we just touched bases a couple times over the day.

We walked and shopped, caught the Wine and Alchemy show at 2:30 (could have done without the loud drunk, who does not realize how close he got to a good Krav-in') and the Birds of Prey show at 4:30.

I tried Dill Pickle Soup and also discovered that Pomegranate juice and rum is nice!

Shopping:

• I got a Wine & Alchemy CD for my stepdad and a Dragons Blood scented massage candle.
• Thax found some Xmas gifts for folks and got 2 reversible Monk's Bags--one in red and black for him, and one in 2 shades of brown for me. I really like them & they were very reasonably priced. There was a lot of overpriced cheap crap from China for sale in a lot of the booths, and one of my old favorites, Bald Mountain leather, is going out of business. I miss the days when most of the booths at TRF only sold hand-made items.
• S&M  found a really nice, solid wood shelf with some hanging pegs that will be great for holding bath sheets in their master bath.

At one point in the day, Jen and Tim wanted to ride elephants, so I sat at a safe distance while Thax took pictures of them with Tim's camera. I was joined by a drunk with a cigar...so much for un-stinky seating near the elephants! Anyway, he was genial enough, and his wife was very entertaining as she tried to rein in his exuberance.

Thax bought me a rose near the end of the day. I was very touched. I got a little weepy.  He's so sweet to me.  :)

The fireworks were great. Tartanic playing outside the front gate after hours was wonderful, as always.

We headed back, tired but happy.

We got back to the S&M ranch pretty late, so we had nightcaps of the American Honey that we stopped and got on the way home, then crashed out. (We also got some Purple Possum Mead at the same store but haven't opened it yet. I'm curious!)

Breakfast was smotherbabies (dutch babies) and wonderful iced & hot coffee. We hated to go, but there was a lot to do at home before the work week started up again.

So, yeah! It was a Great weekend :)

Originally Thax had said he only wanted to go to faire once this year, but we had such a nice time, we are thinking of heading back for final weekend--they're open Friday to Sunday Thanksgiving Weekend. & camping!!

(here are the rest of the pictures Thax took with his phone, btw.)