San Mateo County Fair

This year, I volunteered for the crochet booth at the San Mateo County Fair again. It was in the only air conditioned building on the fairgrounds and the temps got up to 100 degrees that day, so it was a very pleasant job. I got a lot of crocheting done on some tiny doll patterns and also enjoyed some fair food. I have already posted most of my photos on the magazine's site, but I saved a couple for this blog. One is the display case of vintage dolls, including a Ginny. (The fair has a section for "collections", that's where this was shown.) The other is a guy in a great Walking Tree outfit--he must have been on stilts since he was very tall. I wonder if he also goes to the Maker Faire? The worst thing that happened that day was when I stopped at the 1870 Art Center in Belmont to get info about a wood carving class, and discovered that ALL of the artists have moved out! I managed to contact one of them (Ruth Waters) and she told me that they have found a new spot in Burlingame--I'll post more info when I find out where it is. I have been visiting the 1870 Art Center for years, but now it exists only in my memory (and photos I have posted on this blog). Sigh.

Wood Turning Show in San Jose

We checked out the American Association of Woodturners Show in San Jose on Friday, there were some amazing examples of what can be done with wood and a ton of skill and time!

My Vintage Ginny Doll Arrives

My DD calls this my "replacement daughter," but I had a Ginny doll when I was a little girl, so it's really a nostalgia thing. I found her on ebay complete with her cute outfit, as well as her vintage wardrobe. She's talented, too--when you make her walk by moving her legs, her head turns back and forth. Look at that sweet, sad face--who would not love this doll? And besides, she's the same age as I am! :-)

Finding Books in Minneapolis

No trip is complete without some good shopping and art. So we explored two that are right next door, Big Brain Comics and Open Book, which has a workshop, gallery, and nice gift shop. If I went back to live in this city, I would want to be located near these places--they are in the renovated Warehouse district, which is a groovy place just south of the river and at the north end of downtown, close to everything.

Eating in Minneapolis

We ate so well in the city, but I didn't take photos of all the food, just our dinner at Masa. We also ate KILLER steaks in the Grand Hotel's main restaurant, Rare Steak and Sushi (we had to go back to our room and relapse into meat comas after eating there). The ceviche appetizer was excellent, so the sushi must be great, but we had no more room ...and for our final breakfast in the city, we went to Wilde Roast Cafe, just across the Mississippi River from downtown Minneapolis. Delicious, and the weather was perfect for sitting on the outdoor front porch, watching the dandelion fluff drift in the light breeze. And no trip to Minneapolis is complete without a stop at Caribou Coffee, mine was at the airport while we waited for three hours for our plane to take off (runway work in SFO delayed our flight...) I even had time to do a little bit of souvenir shopping at the Minnesota theme gift shop. There was some very nice handmade pottery there but I had already splurged on an MCAD mug, so I resisted.