In which we actually go to the Sheep and Wool festival.

We got up all bright and early and, eschewing a wholesome breakfast in favor of delicious bagels (vacation is carte blanche for that). The first year we went, it rained. A lot. It was wet, but uncrowded. Surprise win! The next year, it was very, very hot. I discovered how many ounces of lemonade I could drink without needing to use the restroom, and had fun anyway.

This year was pretty perfect. 70 degrees, sunny, amazing. Unfortunately, everyone else thought so, too. This is the parking lot, before it even filled up all the way:

The crowd bravely marched onwards, undeterred.

Onward!

And yet still quite silly. (That never changes.)

Loads of people, presumably from those cars. Or else they were spontaneously generated, which seems unlikely.

One of the few photos of me from the weekend (I like being behing the camera).

Wow! That sounds fun! And a little creepy! And I don’t eat lamb!

I wanted this rug, but it was waaaaaaay outside of my budget. I have plans to replicate it.

This was a silly frenzy of photographing. Yes, each other. With cameras. I started it!

Yay, Alpaca! He was all sort of head-bobby and forward, and I was all like, “oh, how nice, he wants to be friends,” and then was told that this is what alpacas do when they’re upset and about to spit. I walked away.

He was like a muppet! An angry, spitting muppet.

I wandered around in the very crowded main barn, and bought some bindis on a whim. Meanwhile, everyone else had assembled for lunch. D and B were gracious enough to wear them (D was the only guy! Brave D!).

A very creative landscaping solution outside the pit beef/turkey/ham booth.

And then there were the eclairs:

Yum. This happens every year.

We did actually look at some sheep, too.

A ewe.

A ram.

Rams and ewes, being all flirty through the fence. It was really cute.

I tried on a silly hat:

(Jennie took the camera for this one.)

Then we took a break and watched the sheepdogs.

Run, sheep, run!

The dog was very intense.

In the meantime, Jennie got bored.

Which meant that H got a really swell tattoo. And then Jennie took a nap.

So blah blah blah stuff happened, we made a beeline to the Sanguine Gryphon booth, having searched in vain for it the previous two years, and bought some Bugga, direct from the source. YES. And then my friend Aamba (who I had only ever communicated with online previously) came to meet me, and we wandered about for a little while before I had to leave. I attempted to help her buy yarn, but her self-control is far better than mine. I also forgot to take her photo, so that will have to wait for later.

So then we left and had dinner at our usual place, the bottomless, mix-it-yourself Mongolian barbecue. I suddenly recalled how dehydrated I had been the last time, and was very grateful for the nice weather this year. As it was, we ate a lot, mine being doctored quite generously with this:

Sriracha! Yum.

At H’s house that evening, D played his concertina for us. He isn’t… terrible, although his wife would probably argue with that (she’s had to listen to him a lot more than we have).

Jennie and I drove to Baltimore to stay with family, and I saw these guys:

Wonder Husband in his oh-so-stylish eagle shirt.

Uncle Pirate! Hi, Uncle Pirate. Goodnight, Uncle Pirate.

Part 3 to come soon…