The Connecticut Renaissance Faire
This weekend was spent at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire and it was great!
The weekend for me started on Friday at 11:00 - I had had breakfast with LeRoy, stopped at the bank and got on Route 287 at about 11:02. I took Route 287 North through New Jersey to New York and 287 East, over the Tappan Zee Bridge, which I love and then onto 684. I was on 684 for 25 miles: in New York for most of it, through a corner of Connecticut for about two minutes and then back in New York. I was then on Route 84 East for the bulk of the journey – five miles or so in New York and then all Connecticut for the rest. I got off at Exit 70 onto CT-198, then CT-171, then finally to CT-169, all country roads with many fieldstone walls and houses with a huge distance between them – not like New Jersey at all. Even Sussex County is not that rural! It was all so gorgeous – woods and open fields and blue sky and horses grazing – it was stunning. There is rural and there is wow. This was all wow. I loved it. I wished I could have stopped to take many pictures. Woodstock is lovely - but I am getting ahead of myself.
The ride up was fine. I howled along with ColdPlay, Split Enz and Enya, enjoyed the scenery and sun and hit only a bit of traffic, first on 287E between exits 11 and 14 (road repaving), a little back up on 84 (more road work) and some minor hiccups in the flow in Hartford. Had I taken Route 95, the pick of the navigation unit, I'd have been mired in miles of unmoving traffic through Danbury, Hartford, and any other Connecticut city along the way. The navigation unit is not savvy when it comes to what roads to avoid. But I am (having been stuck on Route 95 for two road trips) and have deeply learned that lesson - never take it!
The trip took a total of three and one quarter hours – not bad. Harry had taken 4 hours and his was a shorter journey but anything on Route 95 is nothing but a nightmare. He was sitting in traffic the whole time. I ran into a bit of a slow point getting to the Tappan Zee due to resurfacing the highway and some small amount of traffic on Route 84 getting into Waterbury for the same reason. I got home faster – two hours and fifty minutes. Sunday driving is easier. There was no traffic in Hartford, CT – normally there is a lot – and no snags getting over the Tappan Zee as well.
I got into Woodstock around 1400, after a 20-minute journey down a very windy country road that was a total delight. Up and down mountains, woods with the sun shining through the leaves, beautiful "brooks" in the valleys and many, many stone walls about 20" - 24" high all over the place. Most houses dated in the 1700s and 1800s - no modern house farms ruining the landscape here! It was lovely. I enjoyed every bit of it and while I need not be at the faire until much later, my plan is to be on the road at roughly the same time or earlier to enjoy more of Connecticut. I really want to see it and not have to just zip through on the way to the faire.
Woodstock is mostly farms and woods and no small amount of historical places and buildings. I got to the Faire and went in without having to pay and found David fairly easily – the faire is tiny compared to New York’s sprawling grounds – maybe one twelfth the size. These were all tents, no permanent structures (there were buildings there but not for common use except for the employees and vendors. I went to the tent and was pleasantly surprised – it is a big tent. It is, as David calls it, the world’s biggest brassier. It looked like it. It had two pointed tops and was mostly white but the tops were blue. It was quite roomy inside and we had no trouble with sleeping arrangements.
It was cool but lovely out. The sun was shining in the blue sky and it was around 19˚C so it was light sweater weather, my favourite. I got in with a massive headache and starving. My last meal had been at 0930 and I was definitely hungry. But the faire was only just winding down, so I went with Ruth to get my pass (a hard card like a credit card with a photo taken on the spot - very professional and completely different than the cheesy one I get every year at the NYRF), got my car and parked in front of the tent and got my stuff in. The evening was pleasant and David, his daughter Ruth and I went out for Chinese food at a buffet place in Putnam that night. The temperature did drop, though, to around 6˚C – too cold for me but it was alright with the two of us under a thousand blankets and on the air mattress. We also wore clothing to bed (a novel experience for me as I am accustomed to sleeping in the all-together, as it were). Good thing, though, as it was cold when I awoke.
Unfortunately it was 1900 by the time we went out to get dinner. But the Chinese food buffet was great and the meal was enjoyable, just David, his daughter Ruth and myself. We spent some time after that in the dollar store in the same strip mall and found tons of candy - some that I haven't seen since I was a kid. I am ABSOLUTELY stopping there again! As we were leaving to go out, Rook and Nightbringer arrived, and we left them bickering and setting up their tent. Apparently the man who owns it did an abysmal job of setting it up!
We said good night to Ruth and got back to the tent at about 2100, just in time to put the bed together and make it for the night. The faire keeps these huge Klieg lights on until 2200 - at 2200 sharp, they all go off and the night sky comes alive - delightfully so! The Milky Way was completely visible and Mars glowed orange-yellow to the northeast, and Venus was brilliant in the west. It was incredible! I need to remind David to bring his telescope. I have mine but transporting it is not an easy thing and at a value of $400 I am not lugging it to a place where some one might see it and decide to acquire it. I doubt that would happen there, but my New Jersey mind refuses to believe that!
Anyway, it was great. I went to the bathrooms with Rook and David was right - they were spotless and clean and I had no issues with using them. So not like the NYRF, which is as disgusting as any place can be. She also showed me where the free morning breakfast was and the shower and anything else I needed to find. Free breakfast! I couldn't believe it! And lunch as well! This faire actually cares about its vendors and feeds them and treats them like people, not indetured servants. There was everything we needed. Truly amazing!
We went to bed around 2330 - I couldn't keep my eyes open and after three hours of driving and then three hours of setting up I had run completely out of steam. I got in under the covers onto the air mattress and it was quite comfortable. Very surprising, since I am a fussy sleeper and need all the cushiony comfort of my waterbed. But it was good - and warm, which is really saying something. It was all of 65 degrees when I got there and dropped down to a chilling 40 degrees at night - BBBR-R-R-R-R! So we had on clothing (I had been warned of this and had packed night clothes) and a ton of blankets and it was great.
What wasn't great was awaking during the wee hours and finding a leg thrown over me and one bootie off. I had on a pair of socks and booties over my feet but it was staying under the covers that kept me warm.
Saturday morning dawned clear and cold. Other than making sure I was wearing warm clothing, it was an easy trip up to the bathrooms and the shower. At 08:30 I showered in a clean shower with hot water (!) and the bathrooms were immaculate! I was delighted. I never had any luck at the NYRF – one had to shower between 04:30 and 06:00 to have anything resembling warm water and the privies and showers were never well-cared for. It was always a rather unpleasant experience. Not so here. The water pressure was weaker than I might be accustomed to but that is not even a price to pay – I was warm and clean and perfectly delighted to be so.
I had a good time working there on Saturday and it was pleasant in the Gypsy Camp, as our portion of the Faire was called. I got to know Tracy and I already know Nightbringer and Rook all too well at NYRF, so it was good to have people to talk to. We also started and ended every faire day with a gypsy dance and all fell to dancing just above the May pole with great abandon – it was a lot of fun. I took a lot of pictures and partook in the exercise as well. Next year I hope to have better gypsy attire and not be trapped in a bodice to do this.
I did get out and really have a good look at the faire around 15:30 and did not return to the tent until 17:15 – the faire closes at 17:00 but I was really getting a good long look at all the different crafters and things and enjoying greatly the hot apple cider there. I love hot apple cider!
There were wenches that came around at 10:00 (opening) with baskets of breakfast foods and again at 13:00 with baskets of sandwiches for the vendors. It was delightful! I had free food – a completely new experience as we never even get a discount with any foods sold by the NYRF consortium. Up until this year when we became friendly with the food people across the road from us we never got a break on anything edible. (It turned out that the food people across from us next to the archery booth at the NYRF are not owned by the faire. We bartered with them this year and they fed us free drinks and snacks – hot pretzels and chocolate covered strawberries, which I adore and that worked nicely but for real food we were on our own.) The Connecticut Faire was an entirely new experience! Free food is a luxury.
Every morning I discovered they also served hot foods in the commons room by the bathroom/showers. I went there and got hot tea and oatmeal for David. I also usually grabbed a banana and ate better there than anywhere (except for Ray making me strawberry pancakes on Tuesday morning – yum!
They did serve hot lunch as well but I eat neither Mac and cheese or chili (not to mention I shiver at the thought of what I would “pay” later for eating chili – yikes!) so never partook. However, a PB&J suited me just fine (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich).
I did do some looking and found a woman selling gourds that I loved and suggested bartering for that. I did get a hanging hollowed out gourd with an opening for putting in a candle and a cut out of the pentacle on the other side. It is gorgeous and I need to hang it up. David was happy – she bartered for that (the cost was $35) and paid an additional $40.00 on top of that. It worked out really well.
I also bought a couple of little odds and ends around there and lived on hot apple cider. I did not go home empty-handed.
Saturday night a group of us went out to eat a fine Chinese restaurant, not anything like the buffet we did in Putnam. This was a really nice restaurant and the food was excellent. I loved it. We all had a really nice time. That night we collapsed into bed around 22:00.
Sunday was a little warmer and I got out a little bit but not much. I did more hot apple cider and made good money. The weekend was very worthwhile and enjoyable. I left at about 17:00 and was home just before 20:00. I took a shower and had a couple of slices of pizza from across the street and went to bed early after starting the laundry going. I was exhausted – three hours of driving is okay but I find it draining. And it was not at all a bad drive! It’s just a long time to be in the car.
During the week I kept busy with calls, working around the house and helping Ray on Thursday closing the pool. Well… it is not yet closed. Not for lack of trying, really. It was too dirty and needed to be vacuumed badly but there was a jam in the filter and we did not discover before using most of the excess water. We stopped around 15:30 with the pool mostly vacuumed but not all the way and decided to pick up on Tuesday in the morning.
I left for Connecticut around 10:30 this past Friday morning after running some minor errands. It was cloudy but dry and quite warm, somewhere around 26˚C. I got there in two and a half hours. I had all the time in the world with David not due in until 21:00 or so and realised that I was all of 20 minutes away from Rhode Island. I immediately thought of my pen friend Daniela in the Czech Republic, who has not gotten a Rhode Island postcard. I needed to stop and get some for her and my other pen pals.
I wish I’d had the time to go to the coast, but I did not, so I drove into Providence. I made some discoveries. Providence is a hole. Other than a small high-end/historical section, it is really kind of a dump. The drivers there, however, were a whole different breed than anything I am accustomed to. I would put on my turn signal and the driver that was in the lane I wished to change to would immediately slow and allow me in! This is not New Jersey/New York driving. Here, I put on my signal and the driver in the aimed-for lane would immediately speed up to ensure I wasn’t getting in front of him/her!
Conversely, the rural part of Rhode Island was just gorgeous, even on a crappy, overcast day like it was – and the drivers were horrendous. Where the speed limit signs in New Jersey are meant to be followed on small one-lane roads, in Rhode Island, drivers considered them more suggestive than required. I went no more than 5 to 7 mph over the limit and people were tailgating me so closely I could feel my hair going grey from fraying nerves. Not to mention the overtaking business. If the party behind me was unsatisfied with my speed (and they ALL were) they’d get in the oncoming traffic lane and pass me. I found a lot of that in England, too, a very surprising thing. Understand that in the 18 plus years of driving that I have been doing, it has all been in urban and suburban areas. There are no one-lane roads with overtaking! Not here, not in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia and definitely not in Washington, DC. I did not find it in Florida, Nevada or California, either. The parts of Connecticut that I had been in previously did not have it, and Canada did not as well. So this was all new to me. I was relieved to get back to Connecticut.
I stopped briefly to check out an old cemetery (I do so love those) but it was clearly not meant for visitors to prowl around in and although I could have easily gained entry over the low stone wall I did not want someone chasing me off their property or worse, calling out the local constabulary to get me out.
I got to the grounds around 18:00 but there was no Rook and NB and David was still three hours out. So I went to the Chinese buffet and ate well – all you can eat and unlimited Chinese tea for $6.95 is too attractive to pass up – and I know where it is. I did some prowling about in the dollar store there and also stocked up on Vitamin C chewy things. Very yummy and healthy! I returned to the grounds at 19:45 and had enlisted Tracy and her boyfriend to help me with the pop-up tent when NB and Rook pulled in. We all got the tent up. They went for dinner while I worked on setting up the inside to be ready for David when he got in and to go to bed.
David pulled in around 21:45, which was a little late and we quickly unloaded the van as it was just starting to rain. The clothing we had to get in as fast as possible and we did it all just before the serious rain began. We got everything set up and ready for the next day by 22:30 and I went to bed then. Well, I passed out… I was really tired.
At 08:30 I was roused from sleep to hear the staccato beat of hard rain on the tent roof. There was some wind as well and a pool of water to the left of the air mattress. Yuck. It was warm, though – not that this was a plus. What with rain falling hard, 95% relative humidity and warm temps did not make it a better day. It was disgusting. And the ground… it all quickly turned to mud, muck and mire in no time and it was awful. In a word. And it was inside and outside the tent and the rugs were soaked through. That night after a delicious dinner at a small pizza place in Putnam, we went to the Wal-Mart there and picked up a plastic sheet used for covering the ground/furniture while painting and put it on over and under the air mattress to keep it dry.
I take medication to help me sleep sometimes and I definitely wanted it with me for this – I wouldn’t have slept a moment without it. I don’t regret that. It made me sleep well and deeply and was well worth it. But it rained so hard on Saturday night into Sunday morning that even I w0ke up at some point to hear the pouring rain and high winds battering the tent. David had had to get up and go outside to batten down the hatches – not even that amazing tent was meant to deal with horizontal rain! But we made it through that hellish night… to find that the temperature took a nose dive to about 11˚C! So now it was cold and rainy! This was no better than warm and rainy and in some ways it was worse.
While it did not rain much on Sunday it was bitter cold and never sunny – in fact I have not seen sun since midday on Thursday while Ray and I were working on the pool. And at the current rate with the forecast as it is, I won’t see sun until Monday! I’m not enjoying this at all…
At worst it misted a couple of times on Sunday so while I did not make a lot of money, I did make some and I also got some shopping done. I got a start on Christmas stuff. I loaded up my car with everything I did not need that night after dinner and parked it in a place that I could just hop in and go on Monday afternoon to be on the road and home at a decent time. I could not stay late as I had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday morning at 08:00.
Sunday night into Monday night was fine, and the rain held off until right at opening time at 10:00. It was more like Saturday and rained hard on and off. At 15:00 I reached my limit of patience. I changed into normal clothes – I was freezing – and loaded my car up and at 15:50 I was heading home. I got through Hartford with only the slightest slowing of traffic and through pouring rain, ran into a bit of slowness getting into Waterbury and it was quite slow getting onto the Tappan Zee. But once through the Tappan Zee bridge I sailed right home. I got in on Monday night at 19:34. Not bad considering the weather and the time and the fact that it was Monday – true, it was a holiday, but only for government employees and school kids. So there was still plenty of mess to get mired in.
I loved the Faire, hated the weather of the second weekend and I am quite relieved that it is all over!
The weekend for me started on Friday at 11:00 - I had had breakfast with LeRoy, stopped at the bank and got on Route 287 at about 11:02. I took Route 287 North through New Jersey to New York and 287 East, over the Tappan Zee Bridge, which I love and then onto 684. I was on 684 for 25 miles: in New York for most of it, through a corner of Connecticut for about two minutes and then back in New York. I was then on Route 84 East for the bulk of the journey – five miles or so in New York and then all Connecticut for the rest. I got off at Exit 70 onto CT-198, then CT-171, then finally to CT-169, all country roads with many fieldstone walls and houses with a huge distance between them – not like New Jersey at all. Even Sussex County is not that rural! It was all so gorgeous – woods and open fields and blue sky and horses grazing – it was stunning. There is rural and there is wow. This was all wow. I loved it. I wished I could have stopped to take many pictures. Woodstock is lovely - but I am getting ahead of myself.
The ride up was fine. I howled along with ColdPlay, Split Enz and Enya, enjoyed the scenery and sun and hit only a bit of traffic, first on 287E between exits 11 and 14 (road repaving), a little back up on 84 (more road work) and some minor hiccups in the flow in Hartford. Had I taken Route 95, the pick of the navigation unit, I'd have been mired in miles of unmoving traffic through Danbury, Hartford, and any other Connecticut city along the way. The navigation unit is not savvy when it comes to what roads to avoid. But I am (having been stuck on Route 95 for two road trips) and have deeply learned that lesson - never take it!
The trip took a total of three and one quarter hours – not bad. Harry had taken 4 hours and his was a shorter journey but anything on Route 95 is nothing but a nightmare. He was sitting in traffic the whole time. I ran into a bit of a slow point getting to the Tappan Zee due to resurfacing the highway and some small amount of traffic on Route 84 getting into Waterbury for the same reason. I got home faster – two hours and fifty minutes. Sunday driving is easier. There was no traffic in Hartford, CT – normally there is a lot – and no snags getting over the Tappan Zee as well.
I got into Woodstock around 1400, after a 20-minute journey down a very windy country road that was a total delight. Up and down mountains, woods with the sun shining through the leaves, beautiful "brooks" in the valleys and many, many stone walls about 20" - 24" high all over the place. Most houses dated in the 1700s and 1800s - no modern house farms ruining the landscape here! It was lovely. I enjoyed every bit of it and while I need not be at the faire until much later, my plan is to be on the road at roughly the same time or earlier to enjoy more of Connecticut. I really want to see it and not have to just zip through on the way to the faire.
Woodstock is mostly farms and woods and no small amount of historical places and buildings. I got to the Faire and went in without having to pay and found David fairly easily – the faire is tiny compared to New York’s sprawling grounds – maybe one twelfth the size. These were all tents, no permanent structures (there were buildings there but not for common use except for the employees and vendors. I went to the tent and was pleasantly surprised – it is a big tent. It is, as David calls it, the world’s biggest brassier. It looked like it. It had two pointed tops and was mostly white but the tops were blue. It was quite roomy inside and we had no trouble with sleeping arrangements.
It was cool but lovely out. The sun was shining in the blue sky and it was around 19˚C so it was light sweater weather, my favourite. I got in with a massive headache and starving. My last meal had been at 0930 and I was definitely hungry. But the faire was only just winding down, so I went with Ruth to get my pass (a hard card like a credit card with a photo taken on the spot - very professional and completely different than the cheesy one I get every year at the NYRF), got my car and parked in front of the tent and got my stuff in. The evening was pleasant and David, his daughter Ruth and I went out for Chinese food at a buffet place in Putnam that night. The temperature did drop, though, to around 6˚C – too cold for me but it was alright with the two of us under a thousand blankets and on the air mattress. We also wore clothing to bed (a novel experience for me as I am accustomed to sleeping in the all-together, as it were). Good thing, though, as it was cold when I awoke.
Unfortunately it was 1900 by the time we went out to get dinner. But the Chinese food buffet was great and the meal was enjoyable, just David, his daughter Ruth and myself. We spent some time after that in the dollar store in the same strip mall and found tons of candy - some that I haven't seen since I was a kid. I am ABSOLUTELY stopping there again! As we were leaving to go out, Rook and Nightbringer arrived, and we left them bickering and setting up their tent. Apparently the man who owns it did an abysmal job of setting it up!
We said good night to Ruth and got back to the tent at about 2100, just in time to put the bed together and make it for the night. The faire keeps these huge Klieg lights on until 2200 - at 2200 sharp, they all go off and the night sky comes alive - delightfully so! The Milky Way was completely visible and Mars glowed orange-yellow to the northeast, and Venus was brilliant in the west. It was incredible! I need to remind David to bring his telescope. I have mine but transporting it is not an easy thing and at a value of $400 I am not lugging it to a place where some one might see it and decide to acquire it. I doubt that would happen there, but my New Jersey mind refuses to believe that!
Anyway, it was great. I went to the bathrooms with Rook and David was right - they were spotless and clean and I had no issues with using them. So not like the NYRF, which is as disgusting as any place can be. She also showed me where the free morning breakfast was and the shower and anything else I needed to find. Free breakfast! I couldn't believe it! And lunch as well! This faire actually cares about its vendors and feeds them and treats them like people, not indetured servants. There was everything we needed. Truly amazing!
We went to bed around 2330 - I couldn't keep my eyes open and after three hours of driving and then three hours of setting up I had run completely out of steam. I got in under the covers onto the air mattress and it was quite comfortable. Very surprising, since I am a fussy sleeper and need all the cushiony comfort of my waterbed. But it was good - and warm, which is really saying something. It was all of 65 degrees when I got there and dropped down to a chilling 40 degrees at night - BBBR-R-R-R-R! So we had on clothing (I had been warned of this and had packed night clothes) and a ton of blankets and it was great.
What wasn't great was awaking during the wee hours and finding a leg thrown over me and one bootie off. I had on a pair of socks and booties over my feet but it was staying under the covers that kept me warm.
Saturday morning dawned clear and cold. Other than making sure I was wearing warm clothing, it was an easy trip up to the bathrooms and the shower. At 08:30 I showered in a clean shower with hot water (!) and the bathrooms were immaculate! I was delighted. I never had any luck at the NYRF – one had to shower between 04:30 and 06:00 to have anything resembling warm water and the privies and showers were never well-cared for. It was always a rather unpleasant experience. Not so here. The water pressure was weaker than I might be accustomed to but that is not even a price to pay – I was warm and clean and perfectly delighted to be so.
I had a good time working there on Saturday and it was pleasant in the Gypsy Camp, as our portion of the Faire was called. I got to know Tracy and I already know Nightbringer and Rook all too well at NYRF, so it was good to have people to talk to. We also started and ended every faire day with a gypsy dance and all fell to dancing just above the May pole with great abandon – it was a lot of fun. I took a lot of pictures and partook in the exercise as well. Next year I hope to have better gypsy attire and not be trapped in a bodice to do this.
I did get out and really have a good look at the faire around 15:30 and did not return to the tent until 17:15 – the faire closes at 17:00 but I was really getting a good long look at all the different crafters and things and enjoying greatly the hot apple cider there. I love hot apple cider!
There were wenches that came around at 10:00 (opening) with baskets of breakfast foods and again at 13:00 with baskets of sandwiches for the vendors. It was delightful! I had free food – a completely new experience as we never even get a discount with any foods sold by the NYRF consortium. Up until this year when we became friendly with the food people across the road from us we never got a break on anything edible. (It turned out that the food people across from us next to the archery booth at the NYRF are not owned by the faire. We bartered with them this year and they fed us free drinks and snacks – hot pretzels and chocolate covered strawberries, which I adore and that worked nicely but for real food we were on our own.) The Connecticut Faire was an entirely new experience! Free food is a luxury.
Every morning I discovered they also served hot foods in the commons room by the bathroom/showers. I went there and got hot tea and oatmeal for David. I also usually grabbed a banana and ate better there than anywhere (except for Ray making me strawberry pancakes on Tuesday morning – yum!
They did serve hot lunch as well but I eat neither Mac and cheese or chili (not to mention I shiver at the thought of what I would “pay” later for eating chili – yikes!) so never partook. However, a PB&J suited me just fine (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich).
I did do some looking and found a woman selling gourds that I loved and suggested bartering for that. I did get a hanging hollowed out gourd with an opening for putting in a candle and a cut out of the pentacle on the other side. It is gorgeous and I need to hang it up. David was happy – she bartered for that (the cost was $35) and paid an additional $40.00 on top of that. It worked out really well.
I also bought a couple of little odds and ends around there and lived on hot apple cider. I did not go home empty-handed.
Saturday night a group of us went out to eat a fine Chinese restaurant, not anything like the buffet we did in Putnam. This was a really nice restaurant and the food was excellent. I loved it. We all had a really nice time. That night we collapsed into bed around 22:00.
Sunday was a little warmer and I got out a little bit but not much. I did more hot apple cider and made good money. The weekend was very worthwhile and enjoyable. I left at about 17:00 and was home just before 20:00. I took a shower and had a couple of slices of pizza from across the street and went to bed early after starting the laundry going. I was exhausted – three hours of driving is okay but I find it draining. And it was not at all a bad drive! It’s just a long time to be in the car.
During the week I kept busy with calls, working around the house and helping Ray on Thursday closing the pool. Well… it is not yet closed. Not for lack of trying, really. It was too dirty and needed to be vacuumed badly but there was a jam in the filter and we did not discover before using most of the excess water. We stopped around 15:30 with the pool mostly vacuumed but not all the way and decided to pick up on Tuesday in the morning.
I left for Connecticut around 10:30 this past Friday morning after running some minor errands. It was cloudy but dry and quite warm, somewhere around 26˚C. I got there in two and a half hours. I had all the time in the world with David not due in until 21:00 or so and realised that I was all of 20 minutes away from Rhode Island. I immediately thought of my pen friend Daniela in the Czech Republic, who has not gotten a Rhode Island postcard. I needed to stop and get some for her and my other pen pals.
I wish I’d had the time to go to the coast, but I did not, so I drove into Providence. I made some discoveries. Providence is a hole. Other than a small high-end/historical section, it is really kind of a dump. The drivers there, however, were a whole different breed than anything I am accustomed to. I would put on my turn signal and the driver that was in the lane I wished to change to would immediately slow and allow me in! This is not New Jersey/New York driving. Here, I put on my signal and the driver in the aimed-for lane would immediately speed up to ensure I wasn’t getting in front of him/her!
Conversely, the rural part of Rhode Island was just gorgeous, even on a crappy, overcast day like it was – and the drivers were horrendous. Where the speed limit signs in New Jersey are meant to be followed on small one-lane roads, in Rhode Island, drivers considered them more suggestive than required. I went no more than 5 to 7 mph over the limit and people were tailgating me so closely I could feel my hair going grey from fraying nerves. Not to mention the overtaking business. If the party behind me was unsatisfied with my speed (and they ALL were) they’d get in the oncoming traffic lane and pass me. I found a lot of that in England, too, a very surprising thing. Understand that in the 18 plus years of driving that I have been doing, it has all been in urban and suburban areas. There are no one-lane roads with overtaking! Not here, not in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia and definitely not in Washington, DC. I did not find it in Florida, Nevada or California, either. The parts of Connecticut that I had been in previously did not have it, and Canada did not as well. So this was all new to me. I was relieved to get back to Connecticut.
I stopped briefly to check out an old cemetery (I do so love those) but it was clearly not meant for visitors to prowl around in and although I could have easily gained entry over the low stone wall I did not want someone chasing me off their property or worse, calling out the local constabulary to get me out.
I got to the grounds around 18:00 but there was no Rook and NB and David was still three hours out. So I went to the Chinese buffet and ate well – all you can eat and unlimited Chinese tea for $6.95 is too attractive to pass up – and I know where it is. I did some prowling about in the dollar store there and also stocked up on Vitamin C chewy things. Very yummy and healthy! I returned to the grounds at 19:45 and had enlisted Tracy and her boyfriend to help me with the pop-up tent when NB and Rook pulled in. We all got the tent up. They went for dinner while I worked on setting up the inside to be ready for David when he got in and to go to bed.
David pulled in around 21:45, which was a little late and we quickly unloaded the van as it was just starting to rain. The clothing we had to get in as fast as possible and we did it all just before the serious rain began. We got everything set up and ready for the next day by 22:30 and I went to bed then. Well, I passed out… I was really tired.
At 08:30 I was roused from sleep to hear the staccato beat of hard rain on the tent roof. There was some wind as well and a pool of water to the left of the air mattress. Yuck. It was warm, though – not that this was a plus. What with rain falling hard, 95% relative humidity and warm temps did not make it a better day. It was disgusting. And the ground… it all quickly turned to mud, muck and mire in no time and it was awful. In a word. And it was inside and outside the tent and the rugs were soaked through. That night after a delicious dinner at a small pizza place in Putnam, we went to the Wal-Mart there and picked up a plastic sheet used for covering the ground/furniture while painting and put it on over and under the air mattress to keep it dry.
I take medication to help me sleep sometimes and I definitely wanted it with me for this – I wouldn’t have slept a moment without it. I don’t regret that. It made me sleep well and deeply and was well worth it. But it rained so hard on Saturday night into Sunday morning that even I w0ke up at some point to hear the pouring rain and high winds battering the tent. David had had to get up and go outside to batten down the hatches – not even that amazing tent was meant to deal with horizontal rain! But we made it through that hellish night… to find that the temperature took a nose dive to about 11˚C! So now it was cold and rainy! This was no better than warm and rainy and in some ways it was worse.
While it did not rain much on Sunday it was bitter cold and never sunny – in fact I have not seen sun since midday on Thursday while Ray and I were working on the pool. And at the current rate with the forecast as it is, I won’t see sun until Monday! I’m not enjoying this at all…
At worst it misted a couple of times on Sunday so while I did not make a lot of money, I did make some and I also got some shopping done. I got a start on Christmas stuff. I loaded up my car with everything I did not need that night after dinner and parked it in a place that I could just hop in and go on Monday afternoon to be on the road and home at a decent time. I could not stay late as I had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday morning at 08:00.
Sunday night into Monday night was fine, and the rain held off until right at opening time at 10:00. It was more like Saturday and rained hard on and off. At 15:00 I reached my limit of patience. I changed into normal clothes – I was freezing – and loaded my car up and at 15:50 I was heading home. I got through Hartford with only the slightest slowing of traffic and through pouring rain, ran into a bit of slowness getting into Waterbury and it was quite slow getting onto the Tappan Zee. But once through the Tappan Zee bridge I sailed right home. I got in on Monday night at 19:34. Not bad considering the weather and the time and the fact that it was Monday – true, it was a holiday, but only for government employees and school kids. So there was still plenty of mess to get mired in.
I loved the Faire, hated the weather of the second weekend and I am quite relieved that it is all over!
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