CafeChatNoir

…the couple in the car in the parking lot in downtown Charleston, doing things that you only see in bad porn movies.

So, yeah, coming back from vacation sucks and only reinforces how much I despise having to work for a living, but it was fun.

– Citadel football - maybe next year, guys.
– Citadel graduates - all those things they taught you, they didn’t show you how to read the seat assignment on a stadium ticket?
– Charleston - really cool little town
– Ghost walk in Charleston - not nearly as scary/morbid as they said it would be. Fascinating, but disappointing from a goriness standpoint.
– Halloween in Charleston - like Georgetown on quaaludes
– Hollywood, SC sheriff’s department - you guys are quite efficient.

Corn Festival was fun - less about corn and more about getting a TON of craft vendors & such in for the day. Had a torrential downpour right in the middle of it, but all the houses on the street it is on had covered front porches, so pretty much everyone was able to stay dry. gets the super good sport award for getting wet while getting the kettle corn for everyone and helping them keep their tent from collapsing. Wandered around some more and it started raining again towards the end. No quick end to this one tho, and we all ended just getting soaked. So, we headed back to our friends house, clothes all into the dryer. Scarfed down hotdogs and VERY fresh corn in borrowed clothes and bathrobes.

It was really good to see Linda & Craig again - I’ve known them forever, and they’re like a second set of parents to me. I know they’ve really been wanting to meet and see what was up with that. Since they told us we could come up and crash in their neck of the woods anytime if we want to do sightseeing/biking in the area, I am guessing he passed. :)

As is my custom at these types of things, I know myself well enough by now to know I will spend on fun stuff that I wouldn’t get under any other circumstances. So, I am now set with fancy dip mixes for the holidays and bath salts and handmade soaps, and zero guilt. I have one soap that I can only describe as smelling like a purple sweet tart. The cats also now have shrimp & crab kitty treats. There were at least 3 pet treat vendors there. All the animals have goodies from the trip.

So, if you happen to be in Shippensburg, PA on the last Saturday in August, be sure to check out the Corn Festival.

We haven’t had an Ag Fair up here in years, because we don’t have any Ag around here anymore. Closest thing is a small “working farm” owned by the county parks department that kids go to see on school field trips. (I’m not knocking it - it’s really cool, but it really is pretty much the only Ag thing in the county.)

So, this weekend we headed for the Shenandoah County Fair, about 80 miles west of here. It’s an area that still has a fairly substantial farming population, and the younger generation is definitely involved. The schools have active Future Farmers of America chapters, the 4H exhibit stalls are filled, there are signs made with pride thanking the buyers of their entries. Kids around here know that that hamburger meat didn’t start and end at the grocery store.

Picked up a cookbook from the Ladies Auxillary of the Star Tannery Fire Department. Between the fact that the first recipe I saw was for my favvvvvv hashbrown casserole, and the second was for fried rattlesnake, I couldn’t pass it up. I doubt that I will find the words “Low-Fat” anywhere in it, which suits me fine.

The exhibits. Great livestock, mainly cattle and sheep, and some hogs. One very upset baby cow who had been taken out of the stall and tethered up at the bath area. She wasn’t particularly interested in getting a bath. :) Still trying to figure out if the ‘coats’ they were putting on over the sheep were to keep them from getting dirty until they were shown, or if they had just sheared them and maybe they don’t adjust immediately to the temp differences?

The poultry hall is always a good place. You never realize how many different kinds of chickens are out there until you see them all in one place. And so pretty, too! Three entries for chicks - the tiny kids were oohing and aahing like crazy. “Mom, they’re so little!!” Great entries for bunnies, too. I always think that were the Eve’l Dog to walk in the chicken & bunny room, she’d just have a stroke right then and there.

About 60 entries for flowers. Gorgeous. Food. Ohmigod, the food. Easily 30+ plus for canning and probably another 50 for cakes/cookies/pies/yummy things. A whole hall filled with veggies and such. First prize pumpkin was spectacular.

Had tractor pulls as well. Very neat to watch. Didn’t go for the grandstand tix, just watched bits & pieces from the rails.

It’s a fascinating place to peoplewatch. These are men and women whose livelihood is at the whim of mother nature. These are faces that have seen years of very hard work, and have lifetimes of stories.

So, is winging his way to the island, but before going, he, and myself all headed out to DukeFest.

It is one of the sillier things in the world and lots of fun, if nothing else for the people watching. The dog was very good, only barked at a couple other dogs during the day and only barked at me once when sagamore was heading up the side of a hill to take pictures and she wanted to follow. The fun part was after I got her up there, he decides to run down the hill and she took chase. With me at the end of the leash. Somehow I managed to not bounce down on my face, LOL! She should be good and tired for the rest of her road trip.

Got ribs. Got cajun pork rinds. Was able to park my car off the side of the road and not have to worry about being able to get it back out again.

Came home, all sleepy and sacked out for a bit - discovered why when I woke up - got all kinds of sun today. Glad I wore the sleeveless shirt. Shoulda worn shorts!

Finally off and running around noon. Sheesh, took me forever to get my act in gear. At least this year I remembered to bring a blanket to sit on - wherever it was that we would end up sitting. :)

First stop - Unicorn Winery for a tasting and some noshes. Got a couple of bottles of wine there, including my fav blush they make called, “Slightly Embarrassed”

Then, we stopped at the side of the road and picked up some ribs. Perhaps an invitation to food poisoning, but OMIGOD they were good. Been in the smoker since 3 in the morning. Fall off the bone good.

Then, on to Grey Ghost for more tastings and more bottles. Picked up an extra bottle of dessert wine for Nancy & Edward - found out on Thursday the bottle of dessert wine they’d gotten in Italy and saved for their first anniversary had turned, so this was a little something we could do.

Another stop - Cooter’s Place. (If you’ve ever seen The Dukes of Hazzard, well, yes, it’s the same Cooter.) The place just cracks me up.

On the road again. Stopped at the Luray Zoo. Strange little place. Now, I am kinda leery of private zoos - visions of animals not well taken care of, etc, etc, etc, but I also love animals, and here was a chance to see some. Nice surprise here. Really good little reptile exhibit (including an extra note on one of the turtle aquariums “Please don’t worry about me, the tank really is big enough!” - this particular species of turtle just never freaking moves and just waits for something to swim in it’s mouth.)

While the habitats were less than perfect, a big thing I noticed was when the woman came out to start giving dinner to the various critters, the Bobcat that had been just chilling out in his hidey hole (can’t blame him, it was HOT!) heard her voice and his ears perked up and out he came to see her, even tho she didn’t have dinner for him yet (she was still doling out the fruit dinners to some of the other critters, no meat around just yet) The animals there really respond to her and you can tell she loves them a lot.

The best part was the 1 yr old camel that pretty much fell in love with the big guy. Chewing on his shirt, trying to get his sunglasses, gnawing on his arm and generally being sweet and cute. This surprised me, as camels have a bit of a rep for being mean and cranky. Asked the lady where he came from - turns out there is another private zoo in Richmond they got him from after the bull camel attacked him when he was a few days old, so they couldn’t keep him with the herd. They took him, hand raised him, and now he follows her around like a dog. I didn’t even think to get a pic of it. Argh!

The animals are well taken care of, bright eyed, well fed and quite alert. So, it didn’t upset me like I was afraid it might.

More driving about. Hit the end of 211 in New Market and hung a right to head for Strasburg. 30 miles later, we’re there. The big guy stops at a gas station to find out if/where there are fireworks. The town park. Great! Where is that? No idea… So, a stop at 7-11 and we find out where the town park is. Head over there and settle in for fireworks. (PS, props to Lear Corp for letting everyone use their parking lot.) Had some of the best hot dogs I’ve had in a long time (also could have just been cause I was SO hungry!) They had helicopter rides, and the big guy found out they’ll be at the Shen Co Fair at the end of August. Yay! I get to go to the fair! (Not sure if I’ll be getting on the helicopter, tho…)

Then the fireworks!! Now, we were sitting at the top of a hill, and the fireworks were being shot off from the bottom of the hill. If a shell had gone sideways, it would have taken out half the town - nice element of danger to add to the excitement, LOL. The proximity was really cool, though - seemed like they were right on top of us.

Long ride home, but worth it! :)

If you’re in Virginia or thereabouts…

Various Virginia Festivals over the course of the summer

June 14/15 - Virginia Waterfront Festival

June 25-29, July 2-6 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

July 24-27 - Orange County Fair

Aug 10-16 Clark County Fair

Aug 11-16 Rockhingham County Fair

Aug 22-30 Shenandoah County Fair

Aug 23 - Sep 2 Chesterfield County Fair

If you’ve never been there - set aside an afternoon to wander around. Nice trails, and just generally pretty. If you’re lucky, over on the marsh side you’ll get to see a beaver swimming about. (It occurred to me that I had never seen one outside of a zoo before!)

http://www.nps.gov/this/

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