Another fine trip this past weekend! The beginning was rough, however: my wife and I got down to Richland before I remembered that I hadn’t got our passes out of storage, so I turned around and headed back home to get them. Thus, we got to the hotel considerably later than I had hoped and a lot more tired than I wanted. Therefore we slept in a little later than planned.
The result was that we didn’t get to the city till about 10 AM. Not wanting to miss anything else (having already missed the opening ceremony), we ate at Eva and Delilah’s rather than Mollies. Cheese danish and cherry turnover, still warm from the ovens! Flaky, gooey: Yummy!
Having also forgot her hat, my wife picked up one of the black, straw (paper) hats at the HH, and we hit the square, almost overwhelmed by the number of craft booths! We spent over an hour seeing them all, including picking up a few cards for later contacts. I intend, for example, to get the cooper to make a water keg for me. Going was slow because my wife has a foot problem (due for a minor surgery this week), and we took frequent rests. We stopped at the leather shop and got one of those jackets mentioned here—great deal!—and laid in a supply of lye soap for the winter.
We walked down the Hill to grab lunch at the Lumbercamp Skillet, and then came back up to a pre-arranged meet with Duelist just before the 1:30 lumberjack show on the square. We actually ran into him and his family prior to the set time, so we chatted for a while. Great guy with a very nice family! While talking, we saw Terry walking up in his Scarecrow get-up heading to do his routine near the HH.
My wife got to watching the Sherrif and Sarie Ellen playing Backgammon and Acey-deucy. I tied to follow, but the rules made my head spin. The lumberjack show thrilled me. Our guy lost the springboard event, but he simply dominated the climb! He was up and back down that pole in about three seconds. Mighty impressive! My wife talked to him, and he said he took 5th in the world at that event recently. I have no trouble believing it!
After that, we headed down to the train and arrived just after one left; since my wife’s feet were hurting, we sat there till the next departure. On that trip, we got a BIG surprise: the wreck of ol’ 82 isn’t just the remains of an engine anymore: there is a car there! It is sitting at an angle on the hillside, off its trucks, somewhat toned down in color by smatterings of (I guess) black spray paint. (Of this development, more later.) The brakes on the train seemed to be VERY noisy.
After we got back, we just had to hit the FM. Duelist and his family got off the same boat we boarded ;-) Only one bit of disappointment here: the song wasn’t playing that I could hear. All the other sounds were clear, including the banjo-or-mandolin music.
We took the easy way up to the square and had some ice cream at Hannah’s—it may not be Heaven, but Hannah’s is the next best thing! We then caught the brittle-making show and bought candy for the boys.
After that, we went over to the Opera House for “Headin’ West!” Neither of us had seen it before, but we were both impressed by the quality of the singing and the staging/effects. We’re going to make sure our boys get to see it. They’ll really like the miners’ gags. After the show, we bought a stained glass nightlight as a present for one of the leaders in my Cub Scout pack; she is a lighthouse fan, and this one is very pretty.
We debated eating supper in the City or doing something else and then eating on the way home. The latter course won out, and we decided to take another train ride to get another look at that car on the hillside. After the ride (the last of the day), we asked one of the conductors what was up. He said that it had been there only a week or so, and that its replacement should be on the tracks by OTC. Instead of repairing them, they are replacing the cars one at a time from plans drawn from the current ones. He said it will take a couple years to get them all, but I think some of their development/maintenance $$$ are going into this worthy, if unspectacular, project.
Then it was up the hill, through the OM (and a stop for a dulcimer case at the music shop—great folks: they gave us the discount for the case even though the dulcimer purchase from them was 15 years ago!) and out to the lots for a trip home. It started to sprinkle just as we left, couldn’t beat the timing. We tried to get into Olive Garden in Springfield to eat, but they were full, so we hit HuHot (which I like better, anyway. Shh! Don’t tell my wife!).
General impressions: Everybody was just as friendly as could be. I wonder if the better weather—i.e. much less killing heat—is partly responsible for that. The RB was certainly NOT very busy, quite the contrast from our last trip! Crowded park till late in the afternoon. The trees are just starting to change: they ought to be gorgeous when we come back in October!
Wonderful crafters/artisans. Beautiful stuff to see and purchase.
Food quality was quite good. The bakery was marvelous (proximity to Marvel Cave, I guess), and the Lumbercamp Skillet was delicious. I have no more superlatives to use for Hannah’s: ice cream simply doesn’t get better.
Ma seems to be gone completely from the robbery skit: I haven’t heard of her but once this year. The woods joke was omitted both trips; don’t know if that is a change or just the conductor. Thus, the rattle-headed copper moccasin came earlier in the routine. The skit on the second ride (last of the day, remember) was a little loose but still within the bounds of reason. Both times, we gave them some change or a dollar—pardon me: “dawlr”—so they told us we were a pleasure to rob ;-)
This was the sort of one-day trip which refreshes the mind, exercises the body, warms the heart, and calms the soul.
