blog fest recappage

Its hard to believe it was one week ago today

that Mama (Mental P to you'all)
picked me up at a few minutes past the butt crack of dawn
to head down to
Virginia ..
Mathews, Virginia..
to BLOG FEST!!!!!!

We made excellent time pulling
into CountryGirl Kate's
amazingly beautiful driveway at a little past 10 a.m.

Met George in person but
Mama
SCREAMED
GEORGE!!!!!!!!!!
& it made him hide
Harrumph.

After Annie joined us
we got everything stowed away & set out for Virginia

Kate is the most awesome map reader/navigator in the history of the world ....
okay so I maybe exaggerating a teensy bit.

Back on the road we listened to Mama's favorite talk shows on XM Sirius radio
sticking close behind Annie's car.

It was a mostly uneventful ride ... we stopped for lunch at The Cracker Barrel about 11:30ish and had some good food and chat.

Stopped at a gas station on Historyland Highway (where I shot this critter) to decide which of the two routes (both our landlord for the weekend AND Chesapeake Bay Woman, a Blogfest hostess along with Angie (BigHairEnvy), provided directions) to take, to use the facilities AND buy some water ...

The woman at the register asked me if I was going to take pix of the 'Ladies Room' ... I said no, but she thought I ought to.

I didn't.

I am like that.

Without too much trouble we found the Sea Shanty,
our home for the weekend

After unpacking we headed over to
Chesapeake Bay Woman's
(hereinafter ref'd to as Janice)
hovel

Janice's delightful mother Mary Ann (who looks like Joanne Woodward)
helped with all the fabulous food and drink
as did all the bloggers
everyone brought something
(I brought 3 dozen H&H Bagels)

I don't know what time we all got back to Sea Shanty

or
how many bloggers it takes to open a trundle bed

I do know it was after my regular bedtime and I was wide awake until I was fast asleep.


On Friday morning we woke to the most oppressive humidity ever.

Kate and I drove to the QuickMart to get provisions for breakfast ... silly us, when we got to Janice's there was another huge spread set out ... after eating and gabbing (two activities bloggers excel at) we piled into cars, SUVs and Jeeps forming a caravan and headed out to

Bethel Beach/New Point to see the Lighthouse & a lots of yucky little sand crabs.

This is a dead crab ... trust me, its prettier than a live one

Air was so thick with smog

we could barely see the Lighthouse
but we did try

Next on the agenda

was a photo op stop at the Tabernacle
which is
"below the court house"
on Tabernacle Road

Then... Lunch at Chef Todd's at court house
and a little shopping in Mathews before the rain hit.

And a visit with the ladies who run Mathews Visitors Center

Dinner at Sandpiper Reef Restaurant in Hallieford
a wonderful experience for most -
for 2 of us
not so much

BUT we all had fun

We were joined by one of Janice's blog commenter's brothers
who quizzed us as well as mesmerized us on/with Mathews lore...

Saturday was a lot nicer ..
a lot nicer
we caravaned to the Davis Creek dock

The Waterman, aka the Get Away Driver

(and husband of Ann Marie holding Binky)

took us out on the Bay in his boat

Lots of pix were taken
some others (other than me)
got actual full shots of a pod of
dolphins porpoises

On to a private beach on Gwynn Island overlooking Hills Bay

Spending the rest of the day sunning, floating & of course eating/drinking

That good looking hunk

grilled us some hot dogs, burgers & salmon

Interestingly
all of Mathews has only dial up internet
as there are no cell towers around
EXCEPT
near the beach ....
something to do with boats needing to reach those on land in the event of trouble

Can you believe that is more important
than blogging on high speed internet connections
or
even making a cellphone call
(if you are not a Verizon subscriber)
without losing the connection!?!

Sheesh.


As soon as the connectivity was discovered

There was talking, tweeting, texting

others continued to float

Sun

and
Swing

Our hostess provided

some spectacular SkyWatch worthy skies
as the sun set over the far side of the bay.

Diane(AsthmaGirl) and Shelley(the Baroness)

had early flight out of Newport News
so they were on the road by 6:45;
the rest of us hit the road at 8 on the nose
caravaning back to Kate's before heading north.

And here we are 12 zillion hours later
that's Mama, the tart, chic, amazing chauffeur and friend, with me
outside Casa Edelstein
where Husband,
eager to see me after 4 days away,
met us camera in hand
(he needs his own blog!)
to record our auspicious return
and
carry my bags!

I am SO looking forward to next year, cause this has got to be an annual event!