Another Whirlwind of Activities

   Since Shane had never been there before, Ryan and I decided that we were all going to Cox Farm for the fall festivities on Thursday.  Our timing was a bit off because we were there when a lot of the field trip children were still there, but it was a lot of fun anyway.  One of the workers asked Ryan if he ever considered working for the Fields of Fear that they have after dark, and he got a lot of compliments on his Halloween themed hair throughout the day.  Ryan got more apple-butter and Shane got some cider for the house.  There was also the obligatory bag of caramel corn that came home with us.  I wanted to take a lot of the animals home with me, but they wouldn't let me, even if we could have fit one of the goats into the back of Shane's car.

  We left a bit late on Friday for the wedding near Richmond, but since there had been two hours of wiggle room built into the timing of the trip, we weren't worried.  We got on the road after grabbing something quick to eat in the car and started making good time.  We hit our first slowdown, but it didn't seem so bad.  Then we kept hitting slowdowns that just kept adding time.  At one point the GPS just added 40 minutes for no reason we could tell.  Our original planned time of arrival being a little after 3pm had now become 6:30pm and the cemetery closed at 6pm.  Ryan was scoping out lanes and we may have gone a little fast, but we got there right before it was going to close.  The guard at the gate seemed confused when we said we were there to marry someone, but the grounds keeper knew what was happening and let us in.

  The second we were going to start the ceremony, a train decided to roll through.  After we all took a quick train break it was time to start.  Victoria looked so beautiful.  Shane got some good Rocky Horror puns into the ceremonial words and everyone had a good time.

  It was then time to go to the AirBnB and have the reception.  The table décor was nice and spooky.  There were some snacks, but the main meal was really good Chinese food with Crumbl cookies for dessert.  To keep everyone going there were blood bag style energy drinks.  I had to call the party a bit short for our group because I had to work early in the morning.  I'm glad I got to go as Ryan's and Shane's plus ones.

And Back We Go!!

  Shane's car was technically ready on Friday, but he and Ryan had plans later that day, so getting the car was put off until Saturday.  It was a late night for some of us, but we managed to make it to the train station right as they were boarding.  We all got hotdogs and chewy marshmallow treats on the train.

  We passed through Ashland again, so I saw Center of the Yarniverse once more.  Last time they were closed at least, this time it just wasn't an easy option.  Bill would also argue that I don't need more yarn.

  We stopped back at CookOut and HobbyTown.  It was like we were finally getting last week right and going home in the car we arrived in.

  Once we were home we had to get ready for the show.  I was back lights again and Shane got notified earlier in the day that he was going to be Brad.  It was a bit of a tighter timeline than we usually use to get ready, but not so much we had to rush.  The laryngitis part of my cold had kicked in at that point.  I said I wasn't going to do any callbacks, but I did some anyway.  On the way out of the theater I was figuring out how to lock the one tricky side door and Shane tried to close the other door on my arm, which broke my Fitbit band a little.  Seems he is not having the best month.

What a Weekend

   On Friday a bunch of us headed to Maryland to help Bloody Mayhem Theatrical with an outdoor showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Before the show even started the wind picked up and the inflatable screen tried to make a break for it.  I ended up holding the transducer screen because it was acting like a sail and was also trying to fall over or make a break for it.  It was still a lot of fun though.

  On Saturday it was time to head south for Chris and Victoria's bachelor and bachelorette party.  On the way we got to see the tour bus for Yoko Says No.  I am going to look into their music at some point.

  Victoria was still at work, so Chris offered to show us some fun places.  We stopped by Rest in Pieces, and Ryan got a new friend (a cow skull now named Mootilda) and I got some bug keychains.  It was way too easy to find things you wanted, and I could see myself spending too much money on things to decorate the house with.  After that, it was about dinner time, so we met Victoria at Les Crepes Carytown where I got a very dirty chai and chicken crepe.

  On the way to the haunted house we got 7 people into Shane's 5 seater car.  It was a bit wild, but makes sense for us.  I was really excited since Victoria was telling us about how good of a place it was.

  It was such an impressive haunted house event.  There were so many rooms with so many big props and various things going on.  In the tunnel there was a guy behind me egging me on saying things like "Why you walking so slow? Are you dizzy? Why are you walking like that?"  He was my favorite part and pretty helpful.  I don't think I paid enough to get into it.  If you are in the area go to Red Vein, we already have plans to go again next year since we hear the theme changes. 

  On the way out of the parking lot Shane tried to take a shortcut and drove into a drainage ditch.  It ended up dislodging the coolant tube from the engine, cracked a corner of his radiator, and some of the radiator support is missing.  It meant that we had to leave the car with Chris and Victoria until it could be picked up and taken to a repair shop.  We got to go home in a rented Nissan Versa SV, at least it's a pretty blue color.

  We had to stop at Cookout for lunch, Ryan had never been, and Shane is trying to get all of us hooked.  I saw the sign for Hobby Town and Shane got really excited.  To help us digest we wondered around the store and all ended up spending some money.  I got a really cute stuffed cat by Tasty Peach Studios and a tiny tape measurer that I'll be adding to my knitting bag.

  On our way home we saw a florist, Thompson's Westwood Florist, where their electric sign said, "How mad is she?" which was pretty funny.  The ride back went well even if Shane got impatient at times during the trip.  I had a lot of fun; it was great to hang out with Chris and Victoria outside of Rocky.  I hope they manage to move back up and be closer to us.