Oh my, I didn't realize I neglected this space for so long!
Welcome back everyone!
It's been a long couple of months - where have I been??
First off, my BFF from college got married June 2nd, and I was her MOH <3 I was also very busy helping with planning her engagement party in early April and bachelorette weekend in early May. Amongst all this, I was preparing for BreyerFest! I am a bit exhausted haha, and I have yet another sprint in the next 2 weeks until my live show NENE. I will be happy when after the first weekend in August, all I have to look forward to is a swap meet later in the month and stewarding for BOO in September. [August 28th me, the show happened, it was fun, yay! Still enjoying my downtime of having Nothing Big to plan for in foreseeable future.]
Of course, last year I was also looking forward to the peace and quiet for a while and then planned another entirely new show in about 2-3 months, but I'm going to be more cautious about that because I was very burned out over the winter. I'm only going to jump into something else big if I'm really feeling like I can handle myself after this time.
I am choosing to miss out on a live show in Canada the weekend after my show - the timing was just not ideal for trying to make that happen, I can't fathom trying to pull together a show string, travel plans, and everything I need to do for my own show in such a short amount of time. Hopefully, the next one will have better timing as I would love to "go abroad" for the first time in my life and it really isn't that far a drive - just a bit too far without needing hotels or coordinating with relatives.
With all that out of the way, here is my (longer) BreyerFest recap! I will be inserting haul photos here and there, but this part is more about the journey and the people, and the models can take the role of highlighting my adventures.
Thursday, July 4th, 2024
My boyfriend and I set off on our annual trek south. This year, it happened to fall on the holiday, which made for a bit easier long-distance travel (unlike other major holidays, it seems like most travel for the 4th is contained to local/regional travel, OR folks are traveling earlier in the week so they are already where they need to be for the 4th). The one issue we expected to run into was restaurants being closed in the evening as we reached our halfway mark to stay overnight. Thankfully, our hotel did have on-site dining available, but unfortunately it mainly served as sustenance. The potatoes were good on my end, but the rest of the food was average at best. Sadly, our favorite place (a mom and pop Thai establishment) in the small downtown area was most definitely closed for the 4th.
This is the second year that we've taken two days to make the drive (the previous 2 years we drove straight through, though I was not attending BFest in person, but still, after the return drive in '22 we said never again! Haha. That is a while side story for another day!) Our roughly halfway point between Southern New England and his family in TN is funny enough, Lexington (Virginia). It is also a very horse-centric area, similar to its counterpart in KY, but much smaller in size. There are quite a few accommodations in the area, which is nice. Aside from the dinner food, I liked where we stayed this year, so I'll probably go back to them in the future. It could also be the timing of our travel, but last year's hotel had quite a few families and was too echo-y for easy sleeping.
Friday, July 5th, 2024
We started our day with an always-awaited breakfast at the Waffle House less than 2 minutes from the hotel (this was also my backup plan for dinner the night before if we couldn't find anything else, WH is always open!) There were a number of other patrons, so I did resist the urge to play "Waffle House" by the Jonas Brothers on the jukebox. (I was very, very tempted though, since we don't have WH in the Northeast!) The staff were very kind despite definitely running on lack of sleep and overwork. We sat next to a nice elderly man and his wife at the bar. Funny enough, the man is originally from southern New England as well and so we chatted with the two of them while we ate. He didn't completely remind me of my grandfather who passed in 2011, but he was a similar age and there was enough resemblance that it was nice to think about Grandpy for a while.
After breakfast, we scouted out a nearby antique mall I hadn't been to before a couple of miles down the road. There were definitely some interesting things to see, and I spotted some Breyers, but most were either marginally or VERY overpriced for their conditions. I only ended up getting a War Admiral and Seabiscuit pair of Classics wearing non-Breyer tack, in roughly shelf condition and a "bag o horse stuff" for cheap including some more tack, toy horses, and a Breyer SM with a chipped ear. We did get to pet an adorable cat while waiting for a price check, so that was also enjoyable! I kept for myself from the "horse bag", a Grand Champion model to fit in with my small carpet herd from my childhood, and a Funrise model that I don't think I had a copy of as a kid (I also had a bunch of those, that predate GC too for me! I'd say Funrise was probably the closest to being my "first model horses").
Behold! Sights from the antique mall:
The models on this shelf were...maybe a bit too high for condition & type of model. I did not check the price on the FAS since the tag was on his tail, but considering the others he may have also been a No.
These were the first two Breyers I saw, shortly after walking in. Smarty I have, but I could have been convinced of him for the right price. I think he was at least $60? Far too much to grab as an extra in any case.
This clinky was cute, but I don't collect many breakables and certainly not when I'm still going to be traveling for a week+!
The saddest bookshelf. I was delighted initially to see the smoke mare...but no tail. And still $10! The Fighter was the most egregious at $30 with missing half a leg! I think the foal and Trakehner were at least $25-$35. I did not look at the other 3 but imagine they were similarly very overpriced.
I am not sure if this Spirit Riding Free model is a Breyer one or another brand
The Seabiscuit I recused, complete with a saddle that I later learned is some sort of souvenir keychain, and not hobbyist made. Ah well, he was not prohibitively expensive for my goal of rescuing a shelf/body (Loves are popular) and a cool(?) saddle.
I really liked this Mule, but at $68 and just beginning my trip, I passed even though I could probably remove some of those marks.
Seattle Slew! This guy was weird. His box had one price, but said he came with accessories. It wasn't clear if that was referring to the roses he wears, the saddle in the same booth, or something else?? Turns out after a couple of calls to the booth owner and the lady at the front desk searching around a bit, there was also this tote of accessories with Breyer stuff in it. Sadly, I think they wanted like $85, or $95? (really not clear which price) for everything, which was not worth it to me. SS wasn't very secure in the box as it was so he's probably damaged in there. I'd have gambled for like 30 or less but not at the asking price. Ah well. This price check is when we got to pet the cat!
Overall, this was a bit on the pricy side for horse things (probably because tourist-y horse area), but given that it's so close by my preferred hotel, I'd probably go back again.
Other side of the cabinet, again, nothing I needed.
Following the antique adventure, we continued south & west to get to my boyfriend's family's home. The trip both days had some rain/storms, more so on day 2. And of course, I was the one driving through most of the worst parts! Go figure, when I finally found a rest stop and my nerves were shot after one of the worst sections, the storm cleared in time for my boyfriend to take over again.
But all things considered, we arrived safely in TN. I had less than 48 hours to spend there this year (our trip as a whole was a lot shorter, even though I was spending more of the week in KY), but we were graced with a pretty sunset on night 1, and as always it is great to spend time with the animals.
Incredible sunset!
Saturday, July 6th
Saturday was a relatively low key day, given that I'd be going a million miles an hour for the rest of the week! I spent time with the cats:
Harley
Sadie
Jellybean (who is constantly judging everyone with that face, haha!)
And Lila!
I met and was immediately added to the list of "best friends forever" of the newest family member, Murphy! He has not yet been DNA tested, but we strongly believe he's at least a Pyrenees and Golden mix, maybe also lab...definitely in the teenager phase, will still grow more! He's 100% a "velcro dog", has to be right next to you when he wants attention, will sit on feet (notably, a Golden thing). But he is learning to be a good guard dog and is very smart. (He also is almost constantly in motion so getting pictures was tough!)
he is still filling out and growing into those big paws!
In the morning, I stopped by an acquaintance of my BF's mom to pick up a Marketplace purchase from a couple months ago (arrangements to get it to us sooner did not pan out). I was thrilled as a Misty & Stormy collector to pick up this set in box. The Stormy is probably different *enough* from the older Orange Stormies, since she was made a few years after the current RR started production, but for now I'm keeping it in box. Funny enough, I actually saw a bunch of folks in KY selling the same next in the next week - perhaps recency bias led me to see more of them than I might have noticed in the past, or maybe they're just a hot sell right now!
the box isn't perfect, but as usual that's not what I'm here for!
The rest of the day, I tagged along with my BF and his dad on some projects for a bit, relaxed at the house, helped with dinner, etc. Along the way I was doing my best to clean the models I'd purchased the day before, since I wanted to at least put the cheap toys I didn't need into my sales for the Swap Meet. I also quested to ID the fancy saddles that were included (as mentioned above, they are most likely souvenir saddles - I did not end up showing them to anyone in KY for further inspection, just ran out of time to do everything!)
I also spent some time each day of travel & Saturday searching for more rooms to add to my Clarion Vendor Chart on Google, which I am pleased to report I got up to 62% of rooms with confirmed information before I ran out of bandwidth to be checking and updating by Wednesday or so. I got a bunch of positive feedback during the week about it being useful, so thank you to those who shared that with me! I will have a better starting point for next year with fewer rooms that I know nothing about!
Finally, I had to start re-packing and re-organizing for my next leg of the journey to KY. I knew I needed to consolidate as much as I could since my lovely carpool hosts would not have a ton of space.
Sunday, July 7th
It's KY day! I finished up packing anything that still needed to be re-packed, and last minute pulled out a few more items that weren't critical just to make my pile a bit easier to load. My BF drove me out to our meeting point with my lovely carpool gang, Kelly & Ken (and earless Eddie!) Despite Eddie's threats of my riding on the roof, we tetris-ed everything expertly into their vehicle and prepared for a few more hours in the car.
This was my second year carpooling with Kelly & Ken, and I could not be more grateful for their ability to stop by to take me to KY so my BF can stay in TN for the week and does not have to be subject to BreyerFest (we are both introverts but understandably, model horses are worth braving the crowds for to me, him, likely not so much!) I always have a good time!
Highlights from the trip include my first visit to a Buc-ees (and to Ken's delight, as it is a new location, it will be a convenient waypoint for them from now on when traveling to KY or points north), and gifting Eddie with his first friendship bracelet of the trip. (Eddie, for those not in the know, is a Stablemate G3 Belgian in the original palomino color, with missing ears. He is the mascot of Kelly's herd and the Facebook group "Model Horse Central"!)
Buc-ees is a popular mega-convenience store chain that is slowly spreading its reach across the US. This location in KY off I-65 just opened, presumably within days of our visit, and was actual sensory chaos. I found it to be more overwhelming than the CHIN on the most crowded nights, and that is saying something. I would visit a Buc-ees again, just...maybe not one that had freshly opened. Cool side note, they do carry Breyer - of course, a limited selection of Classic/Freedom and smaller, but still it is always great to see more in-person opportunities to draw in new collectors.
Despite experiencing some delays due to traffic, we arrived in Lexington roughly around the anticipated time. 
***From this point forward, it's been over a month since I wrote anything, so the remainder of this may be less detailed from memory!***
This pic is from the Sectional he won, but this outstanding Copperfox dapple gray took Overall Reserve!
Sooo close!
Our first order of business was stopping by the CHIN to pick up NAN stuff (staff things for me, entrant things for Kelly), then getting me over to my accommodations for the first 2 nights, the Griffin Gate. I had never been over there before. Back when Stone events were held there, I think the only years of overlap would have been 2004 and maybe 2012 when I was in town for NAN, but both of those years they also had a suite at the CHIN and I wasn't into Stones enough then to attend Equilocity itself. By 2017 they'd moved to the Fairfield and it's infinitely harder to get over there during Fest weekend despite being not that far away, so I didn't go then or in 2023.
The hotel has definitely stayed modernized, I appreciated the lack of full carpet in the room actually, surely it's easier to keep clean. Aside from one kind of small issue the first night (which I tried dealing with myself but I wasn't fast or tall enough after a bit, the folks were very responsive in helping me though!) everything was great and if I was so inclined and didn't mind the higher price, I'd stay there for more of model horse fest week. My room had both a lovely view of the CHIN and was along the skylight. I expected that to be quite echo-y and perhaps hard to get to sleep, but it was surprisingly calm and the curtains did an excellent job with blocking light.
I was on the highest floor of this wing - very neat views but don't look down from that hallway on the left!
Nice comfortable bed. They even provide a super fancy sleep spray for your pillow! It smells nice, I kept my leftover bit.
This couch was nice to relax on after traveling and on Monday night after NAN
Very nice, non wall-to-wall carpet space! There are two small rugs on either side of the bed.
Left side curtains here open to the atrium shown above
Channeling my inner DooWiki for obligatory toilet photos somewhere in my BreyerFest blog! Haha! This bathroom, unlike the truck stop bathrooms she often writes about, was clean and well stocked with amenities
This faucet design seems to be the new popular choice for hotels, similar ones were also installed in the CHIN room and the hotel my BF and I stayed in on the way home.
Behold! The Holy Land!
Sunday evening was fairly uneventful from a CHIN perspective. I think I found only one room "Open", but I ran into the vendor in the hallway and she let me shop when the door was not 100% open for business (still unpacking). My main objective of noting any rooms on the vendor list that don't actually exist was completed (apparently, I hadn't removed all of these last year). I also grabbed a salad to-go from the Taphouse since I wasn't running into a lot of folks that I knew.
I called it a night fairly early after my single run through of all the wings and getting food, I did not want to walk back to the GG alone in the dark. But, I was rewarded with this nice sunset:
Ah, nearly empty CHIN parking lot, a rare sight
I spent the remainder of the night making sure I was prepared for Monday morning, and listening to the latest MIB episode (Meredith Warren interview). Along with dealing with health and room minor shenanigans, both of which thankfully resolved themselves Sunday night with no repeats.
Day 1 Loot! Stablemates, from the one room I shopped in. I think I got all of this for $5
Monday, July 8th
NAN kicked off with day 1! Since it was earlier in the week than historical NAN's, we had a smaller staff for Monday. I was a ring steward/ribbon runner along with my best folks Mary, Kelsey, Jordan, and Amanda. We were a small but mighty team overseen by the awesome Vicky! From day 1, it was evident how much care and organization went into the planning for this year by Sara and Carrie. No detail was spared to keep things smooth and efficient! Our duties as staff included preparing judge sheets, checking in classes, directing judge traffic amongst ourselves, gathering and handing out awards when championships were announced, and answering the occasional questions from entrants if needed. We also kept information (check-ins and results sheets) flowing to the front stage so Lindsay and Shannon could stay on top of what was happening around the room.
The staff had a separate lounge area across from the show hall that was a nice escape for folks who needed a break or in the case of the judges, had extra time between classes. We were provided with food and crafts in addition to our "staff swag bags" that we received upon picking up our badges and shirts. Everyone I talked to who had previously worked the show said this was the best treatment they've had as staff (which makes sense, the Rupp arena where the show was for years was one giant concrete room without much space for separation of staff outside of a "corral" set of tables).
The competition, as always, was great quality with NAN and Day 1 had a strong start for OF Plastic Breed classes as well as the smaller but still mighty artisan performance. I did not get almost any pictures because as staff we weren't really allowed much phone use while we were working. And it wouldn't be so bad as a steward to take pictures, because we don't influence the decisions, but judging on Wednesday, I especially had to avoid doing that. I was just kept so busy with few moments to sit, I did not have much picture time on Monday!
After the show wrapped for the day, there were still not a lot of folks who had arrived for room sales. I went out for dinner at Osaka, a fantastic Japanese restaurant in Lexington, with show host Sara, Vicky, and friends Dana and her daughter. It was such a fabulous trip spending more time with Sara, who's previously been living in my region but will soon be moving away for her husband's work, and getting to know everyone else! We all had great food and because of how the cuisine is served, it was easy enough to try some of each other's. Sara also got a few appetizers to share on top of that. Hands down, my best meal in KY! Thank you again Sara & crew!
Soo I forgot that actually, I did my shopping for the night before we went to dinner (more Stablemates and put a few TR on hold until I was actually at the CHIN, less stuff to drag across the parking lot the better). I know I also trolled the halls when we got back for a bit, but again, there just wasn't a lot going on yet, so I went back to the GG probably earlier than I would have if there were more rooms open. I was pretty tired and feet hurt after my first day of work, so while I did some re-packing I didn't get to everything.
Monday night additions - thank you Jackie!
All of the GG ponies on the fancy nightstand
Tuesday, July 9th
Day 2 of NAN continued without too many incidents (only a couple of ponies throughout the day decided to nosedive off the tables without anyone near them, thankfully the room was carpeted so the damage was minimal compared to what it could have been on plain concrete). We had a few more staff joining us as stewards/ribbon runners, but things were still busy as we moved into the Artisan halter and OF performance portion of the event.
Show Host Sara graciously drove me over to the GG late morning to pick up my belongings and check out, so I would not need to make several, very slow trips on foot! Thankfully we had plenty of room in the judge area and in the smaller room next door which was offered as overflow for entrant tote storage that I could keep my things there for a few hours until Roommate Sara arrived down the hall. It was lovely to start seeing more folks arriving outside of our event, stopping by to say hello! During lunch I dropped off a couple of trades and sales items to folks I'd arranged ahead to connect with (including picking up my Region X longsleeve finally, yay!)
Towards the end of the day, once I knew Sara was in the room, I started moving my stuff down the hall as judges & staff started wrapping up their duties and art projects and no longer needed to be in the judge lounge. Despite my best efforts to "pack lighter", I still ended up having to bring a lot in order to be prepared for the week, so my tired feet were not pleased with the treks. At least we were in the 500's and not the 400's all the way at the opposite end of the hotel!
After NAN was done, I helped Sara finish getting her sales models ready, and she ordered dinner for delivery (since after that night, it would be too much of a madhouse to have food delivery show up). It was great to put my feet up for a bit. I also somewhere in there stopped back at Jackie's room down the hall to troll for more Stablemates I thought I'd missed (I think I was successful on a few) and pick up some QHG I'd put on hold the night before.
Of course, now that some more rooms were open, I wanted to do some more exploring! All in all, my Tuesday was very successful, though I think this was the point where I started pulling from future nights' cash envelopes rather than having extra leftover to move to future days as I did the first 2 nights. Ah well. It is hard to predict what you'll need each night, especially in a NAN year with extra nights needing to be accounted for. I also took this opportunity to put up my Stable Snaps flyers before the premium wall space was all taken!
the spoils of Tuesday night...including a classic and a crystal from my own roommate! I am beyond thrilled about Bobby Jo in particular. The Cream & Cocoa set were a lunchtime trade
Wednesday, July 10th
The time had finally come! My first experience actually judging at NAN! After 2 days of working the show, I knew a lot more about what to expect than if I'd been judging on the first day, so I felt good about that familiarity. Also, now that I was an actual Clarion guest, I grabbed myself the hotel continental breakfast in order to have a bit more calories in me than the small yogurt, fruit, pastries we'd been getting in the staff lounge. I was super excited to see a lot of Cool Things, and I was not disappointed! I was actually assigned to quite a few of the stablemate scale classes, which was very cool. The year I competed, 2012, had very few SM classes and my only Reserve Champion came from a SM special run class.
Click to enlarge, here I have drawn hearts next to the classes I was assigned to judge!
For those not familiar with NAN, there are many rings (I think we had 13-14 this year) going at once. Usually at least 5-6 each for one certain category/division. Unlike many local shows, each ring has a set number of assigned classes that will take place in each ring. So, you have to pay attention to specific rings rather than just an area of the hall. Things do not necessarily run in the overall "call order". This is because NAN's 3-judge system assigns us to work in specific classes, but depending on how slow/fast other classes or other judges are working, we might end up being needed for a bunch in a row or may have extra time to sit between our assignments. This is why, for the judges in particular, we had a craft table set up in the judge lounge available to paint, glitter, and otherwise craft with provided stablemates.
This also gave us a lot of social time! It was great hearing about what other regions are doing at shows and learning from one another to get ideas to bring home. As well as bounce ideas around about things NAN/NAMHSA can do in the future to provide more for members and retain interest in membership. Thank you everyone for the thoughtful and insightful discussions!
It has been a dream of mine to judge at NAN, at least going back to 2012 when I first attended, but maybe even further back than that! I could not have imagined a better experience for my first time and I hope to have another chance to give back in the future. Truly, a major thank you goes out to Sara & Carrie for believing in my knowledge & expertise enough to let me judge for you!! I can only hope I met my goal of contributing to at least a few happy memories for folks to celebrate!
The final day of NAN is always the short day, because we have to be out by a certain time so the tables can be moved around for Breyer's events later in the week. This went well as far as I could tell, the lunchtime NAMHSA members meeting also went off without a hitch - lots of news shared and folks recognized. After the show, I returned to the room and hung out with Sara for a bit while she sold from the room. (At some point I actually dug out my sales stuff, which I wasn't planning to outside of the Swap Meet, but most of the stuff besides the Snaps fit ok on the end of my bed and was easy enough to clean up each night.) We were both participating in the members-only sale for "The Horse You Want" group, though she drew an early number and I requested to be later, out of abundance of caution even though NAN would be long over by then - it was a new venue and all and I just wanted to be safe, haha. So, it worked out that I watched the room while she went to shop, and she took over again when it was closer to my turn.
After we'd both had a chance to shop, we went over to actually eat at the Taphouse in person (the only time I did so during the week), celebrating my successful first time judging and Sara's early successful room sales. Dinner was good! Once done with food, we both went shopping together for a bit, and I found a few more things (including buying a third model from the Horse You Want room!) I also traded a few bracelets in addition to some I made for friends whom I was slowly finding and dropping off.
I won the big drafter and the round medallion in the NAN raffle, the little SM I painted and glittered, and the purple medallion was this year's volunteer gift!
The remainder of Wednesday's haul! The grazing foal, ASB, and QHG came from the Horse You Want sale. Also, finally new bracelets, yay! I am particularly pleased to have scored a "Ketchup Boi" bracelet from the Steinkamps!
Thursday, July 11th
Thursday was intended to be the "chill" day, and that it was, for some time! Sara and I slept in, had a nice breakfast, and opened the room for most of the morning. (I had determined the night before that I should take a break from shopping for a bit!) We visited with Breakables and Resin Renn entrants and bought tickets for the Resin Renn raffle. Also, on that trip, we stopped by the 300's/400's to see about certain items. The room I'd put a couple more flockie SM on hold the night before was not open at that time, so I went back later that night for those, but I think Sara was successful on her errand.
My small sales crew on the end of my bed, here!
Sara's room is great for attracting customers because she faces the parking lot on the ground level for this wing
Our room setup and open for business on Thursday morning! The ring light was a great addition last year, so I brought them again. We only found space for one, but it greatly improves the lighting which is rather dark otherwise.
Here is where I wish I'd planned better (or at least gotten ahead of what I needed to have done), but it eventually worked out ok. I am just not a fan of when things don't go in the way I anticipated which leads to a lot of anxiety. The Resin raffle was to be pulled at 3, and the Stone pool party Sara and I wanted to attend was 4-6:30. We figured, maybe 15 minutes, half an hour tops for the raffle and then we'd have time to get changed and make it in time for the party, maybe even a little early and get shopping wristbands for Stone. How bad could it be, right? Had I known how things would drag, I would have at least gotten dressed beforehand, even if I didn't do hair/makeup yet. But again, I want to stress that this did not ultimately cause any catastrophes, I still got everything done that I wanted to do and only had to modify my hair plain a bit for speed. I am just *not very good* at dealing with changes to my expectations in the moment that I cannot control and thus ended up feeling panicky during the raffle pull.
The raffle, in total, took an hour and a half to finish pulling and announcing. It ended at 4:30 with the biggest and most valuable item pulled last, which of course Sara and I entered for, plus a couple of our friends who were also not show entrants but were stuck there waiting. To be fair, I did win a group of stickers, and a super cute unpainted micro, so my time and money spent weren't for naught, but it did feel like being between a rock and a hard place for a while. Leave, and possibly forfeit winning an expensive model, or stay, and risk being too late to the other event? (It was noted that if the Stone's event capacity filled up for the party they might have to turn people away.) I have every confidence that the procedure for this will be improved for future iterations of the show and I do not lament any of the folks who were in charge over how things turned out this time. I'm sure you all were as stressed as we were about it!
When the raffle was over, Sara and I booked it back to the room for the quickest change and transformation ever! I chose to skip a more complex element of my hair that I had planned for, because like the smart person I am, I had not practiced it. However, I was still able to use the accessories for it in a similar way and hopefully it didn't look too silly! The "Mojo Dojo Casa Horse" event, featuring hobby artisans and partnered with Stone, was offering costume contests for its two nights. The Thursday one was more informal, but since I couldn't attend the Friday one, I chose to dress up on Thursday. We just needed to take inspiration from Barbie in some way, so I went with a pink accented "Y2K" look with lots of glitter as a throwback to my pre-teen era.
Part of my outfit! I wanted to have twists in my hair to attach the clips to but no time. I'm also wearing a denim skirt that's very 2000's and gold strappy (FLAT) sandals (I am not good with heels normally, let alone when I've had sore feet for several days, I know myself that much haha!)
Thankfully, our arrival was not too fashionably late at the GG and we did make it to the party, though no wristbands for us (and apparently those were all given out quite a ways before 4, anyway, so getting there a few minutes before 4 wouldn't have helped, haha!) The room was immaculate, the food was tasty, and there was a pre-sale for some of the Stone merch (I bought a sticker set and upgraded to a fancy gold shopping bag). Apparently, no one was actually swimming because the pool was locked? I didn't go outside but a few folks were next to the room on the patio. It wasn't as hot as the next few days, but it was still not super desirable to be outside when A/C was an option!
It was really nice to see Region 10 friends Carly & her parents, and Abbey! (Though I missed meeting Abbey's BF and getting to see her daughter, awww :() And I finally got to meet my lovely fellow Breyer predictions chat friend Sarah! The giveaway chips Drafts were really cute, and several friends won! Yay!! Of course, I also got to meet the fabulous Stone Owner Erin formally as well which was super fun :D
After the party concluded, the Linefest began for Stone and continued to grow for Mojo Dojo. Honestly, the wait wasn't terrible for MD and it was nice talking to the folks around me. I was in line to pick up a newly releasing micro for my friend Beth back home, who couldn't make it to the event. I was a bit worried seeing the line as it was, but I had no trouble getting one for her! While in the MD salon area, I also grabbed a purchase card for the Stone run "Sublime". This was a really interesting collaboration that required navigating two different lines and also was time sensitive. There were only 45 Sublime available (and 10 of a larger scale model in the same color which was not in my budget) and to buy one, you first had to wait in the MD line, then go up to the correct table for a card. Next, exit the MD salon and go across the hall to Stone (but DON'T get in the general line), you'll be waved through at the front over to the register area to claim your model and get in line to check out. Sounds complicated, and it kind of was! But we figured it out.
Sea of pink in the Mojo Dojo Casa Horse line!
While I was waiting to buy Sublime, I was looking over the Stone sales that were still available at that point. There was a preview album on Facebook on the last Saturday for these models, and I'd taken screenshots of all the ones I found interesting, and also favoriting a smaller group as top priorities. This group was all OOAK pieces so when they sold, they were gone. I took notice of a few I recognized that hadn't sold yet, including one larger model in particular. Once I paid for Sublime, I headed back out to the hallway to get in the back of the general line. The original plan was to have the wristband folks enter in groups according to the wristband color, then open to general sales after that. I am not sure how well the wristband idea worked, but by my place in line, a lot of the wristbands had already gone through and those ahead of me seemed to be mostly general access. There were some rumors floating around that folks without a wristband were told "only wristbands shop tonight, everyone else tomorrow", so some people left.
I was trying to find out what the actual plan was, and according to the postings online, general sales would come after wristbands, so I stuck it out in the line. Sure enough, by the time I got close to the front, clearly non-wristband people were going in. I was rewarded in my patience to find the larger model, a Palouse, that had been staring at me earlier, had not sold yet! Delighted, I picked him up and went back over to the smaller scale area because I could NOT afford two large ones. I was surprised that the little rainbow Chips Morgan hadn't gone yet, so I chose that one as my second (we were allowed up to 2 each in our trip).
I think it was only around 8 when I was done with all of that, so I went back to the CHIN. Roommate Sara had not stayed for any of the lines. Once I'd dropped off my Stone stuff at the room, I went back out with the goals of picking up the little flockies I'd left behind last night, and visiting the Artisan Gallery. Flockies secured from the 400's, I wound my way back through the 200's (I think that's the only area I didn't get through on Wednesday) to meander back to the AG. It was getting late by the time I arrived, but I said hi to Laura & the carousel ponies and grabbed a few stickers on my way through the room. I also got some pics of most of the BCC, but one entry was being setup when I arrived so I didn't get a pic of that one.
***From this point forward, it's been over a month since I wrote anything, so the remainder of this may be less detailed from memory!***
Friday, July 12th
Sara and I woke up early on Friday morning, grabbed some breakfast, then it was off to the Park for day 1 of the main event! We parked next to Alltech, not only because we wanted to visit the show, but because my last commitment for the day was a workshop over there as well. It was definitely odd for both of us to be visiting instead of entering the show, but it was nice to spend time looking at the Collector Class entries, cheering for our friends who won, and socializing here and there across the hall. (I won't load all the pictures of those here because this is already SUCH a long blog, but here are a few favorites!)
Rare Stablemates are always super fun to see!
Mistys!!
More HTF Stablemates including a neat G1 cull
Beautiful grouping of early vintage rarities by Kirsten
Shira's Stablemate class entry came out great!
Spotted, Peruvian Paso in silver bay, the OG holy grail before SBW took the top spot mold-wise. Always love seeing this guy!
Heather's Tom Bainbridge collection is phenomenal! These are all OF, with several test pieces (including the gorgeous SBW that I love visiting at BFest) :D
This entry includes the auction Clydesdale Stallion & Foal set from a few years back, awesome!
One of Robin's entries, I helped to brainstorm the layout for before the event. Tests throughout the ages!
Robin's other entry, featuring models with boxes over 60 years of age. This was also really fun to help workshop!
As it got closer to opening time over at the main Park area, Sara and I wished our friends good luck and walked over. It was starting to get hot around opening time, but thankfully the walk over wasn't too bad. Our goal was to find a good vantage point outside of the SR tent and watch for the Surprise and variations to be revealed.
We set up my picnic sheet from the '23 VIP pack and patiently waited for the processional from the gate!
It took a surprisingly long time for the crowd to arrive, I'm not sure if that had to do with the QR code scanning or if things are always like this. Almost 10 minutes after opening, I think, we finally started seeing the KHP mounted police escorting the crowd into BreyerFest.
Here they come!
With the harsh sun, there weren't quite as many people as I anticipated coming over to the hill to open their models, but it was still fun to see the first few and report out everything to friends who weren't right there at the Park or were stuck at home. Unfortunately due to the relative lack of variations across the gambit of SR this year, things weren't as exciting as I hoped in terms of being one of the first few "in the know" about what was what, haha.
After seeing a few Surprises opened near us, we wandered further left on the hill and across from the front of the tent to the shade where more folks were gathering to open models. I'm pretty sure that before 10 am, we knew all of the Surprise variations and also knew about the Fight Song and Can't Hold Us Down variations.
Here are some of my "out in the field research & reporting" photos of the Girls variations:
Matte chestnut sabino
Green clearware deco
Glossy bay pinto
Glossy bay
Glossy Bay Pinto & Matte Appaloosa
Bays, Sabino, Overo, Appaloosa, & Cremello
After a while, the intrigue wore off and we'd seen pretty much everything. Sara and I thought the line was short for the Tent Store (based on how the tent was set up last year) so we got in line there. Apparently, they'd added an extra tent for a portion of the queue to wrap around, so the line was not actually as short as we thought. BUT it certainly beat the SR lines which were still massive at that point (all the way up the road on the hill next to the SR tent and into the schooling ring shade area). It took longer than expected to get through the Store line, but we were rewarded by finding some special stuff still available in the Archive & leftovers areas. I grabbed a NIP Stablemate for myself and an Avatar's Jazzman for Robin who was at BFL all day. I also thought well enough to grab an anniversary program, a couple of stickers, and picked up a purple mug for Christine back home. I also added this year's carousel ornament to bring to Laura since she had a hard time getting a copy of Charger last year.
While waiting to get in was longer than we thought, getting out was a bigger problem. Sara didn't have to wait terribly long, but the line for my register got hung up several times with connection issues and it fully crashed when I was like 2 people back. Thankfully, when it was apparent that two of the registers would require IT support, the staff member controlling who got into which checkout lane paused adding new people to the queue until those who'd been stuck for a while could cycle through on a different lane. I will say the folks on register were very apologetic and taking as much in stride as they could, which was very kind of them. It had to be very stressful to experience and know all these people were there waiting on something they couldn't fix.
When I finally got out, Sara and I took a break from the sun and went to buy some shaved ice at the food vendor area next to the painting tent. Much needed cooling break!
Next, we headed to the covered arena to buy raffle tickets. Knowing that they sold out early last year, we didn't want to miss out. I was only entering for Sunday, but I wasn't going to the Park on Saturday and had no idea when I'd arrive Sunday, so it made since to just enter early. There was a bit of a line, but Sara was able to pick up her volunteer model while we waited, so that was convenient.
By this time, it was almost 12:30. I knew my workshop was 3-5 and I wanted to try and get at least some of my models from my tickets. We grabbed bag check tickets after seeing a shorter line from afar. It turns out, the only line that was still with a large queue was VIP! AA tickets had little to no wait. We both went in for round 1 (I had Wild Cards and regular AA which are separate lines) and after that took turns holding the bags for the rest. I did 2 trips total and I think Sara did 3? She likes to not use all her Wild cards on the same trip so she can see what she gets and then go back for what else she still wants.
The sun was VERY HOT by this time, and despite having plenty of water, it wasn't keeping up with the miserable conditions. We opted to go open our models at the Collector Club tent, sit in the shade, claim drink tickets, and see any other previews that weren't in the AG the night before. We were very low on new reveals this year unfortunately, but some exciting things are coming!
Llewellyn is very cute in person!
How cute are the donkeys?? And Augustus is amazing, I can't wait!
Speaking of tiny drafts, it's a great year to be a mini draft fan! Horatio is so precious
The Classic Unicorn will be a must have for me to join the RS conga!
Finally, the Fall CC Edition explains why she wasn't the Surprise (she was one of my top predictions). She is fabulous and definitely needs to come live with me
Upon opening my 4 SR, I was greeted by Miss Independent & Edge of Glory from my preference AA ticket (exciting even though they didn't have variations) and for my Wild Card I went with a Surprise and Fight Song (I'd been on the fence about him, but the Surprise is not a mold I conga, and I figured being one of the only with a variation it was worth it to go for him). I had excellent luck - Fight Song was the new tail variant, and the Surprise was a Glossy Appaloosa! I'd been pondering over which color was my favorite all morning, and I think I had settled on the appaloosa, but I would have been happy to hold onto the bay pinto or cremello (or any glossy) if I pulled differently. Maybe even the deco or sabino. This way though, I was relieved because whatever Surprise came out of my VIP ticket would be what it was and it wouldn't matter to me as much.
It was after 1 by this point, and our bag check window ended at 1:30, so we needed to start heading back that way. We stopped to talk with a couple friends on the way and barely arrived in time, oops! (For the record, I doubt the hour limit is a super hard and fast rule.) It was time to assess the VIP line again, if it was better, Sara would hold my stuff so I could go through. It just wasn't anywhere near enough to risk though, so instead we walked over to catch the shuttle to Alltech. We both needed the AC break and I needed to drop off most of my stuff at the car (a few things I needed were still in the car too). After hanging out at the hall for a bit, Sara headed back to the main Park (and was nice enough to take my VIP printed QR codes with her in case the line was better, those are prepaid anyway so very convenient in that situation). I stayed to spend time with Robin & Shira and get some food before my workshop. Thankfully, the Alltech concessions are up and running by that time and it's not yet close enough to the evening show to be too crowded.
Shortly before 3, I wished everyone luck and headed downstairs for the workshop. It was really cool to have a workshop experience again! The first and only time I'd done one before was the very first year I went, in 2004. 20 years later! This was the Holo Party 21+ Edition, hosted by Shauna. I've long admired her customs (because GLITTER) and it was a lot of fun to try out the techniques. I brought a model from home for the occasion (pre-approved of course) who I'd base coated in black acrylic. She...did not cooperate with the application of the shimmer medium, so after Shauna trying a few different techniques to stop the issue, we finally found one that worked and stopped pulling off the base layer. Of course, I did also have a Classics model provided to me as part of the workshop, so I also did some practicing on him.
Of course, I did not finish either of them, but my personal horse is a longer term project whom I hope to get back to this winter. If you've been here before, you're aware of my love for the SBW mold. The one OF I do not have is Journey, a run of ~10 from the West Coast based Equitana event in 2001. She was a prize for the show that was held there. As such, between being awarded at an event with less hobby attendance than BreyerFest, having such a low number made, and originally distributed on the west coast, my chances of finding one organically "in the wild" are astronomically low. And even my in-hobby odds aren't great, because not only do I need to find one, I'd have to afford the asking price or hope I don't get into a bidding war which I'd be determined to win, likely at the expense of my bank account.
Due to this, I figured that for now the closest I'll get to her is creating my own. Of course, to distinguish her from the original, I wanted to make a holographic version (the body I used also started as a vintage RR so she's got the attached tail, and Real Journey does not). I'm really grateful to Shauna for all of her help getting me to a point of having a base layer and to spend time learning how to use the holographic/pigment techniques!
My starting point of the workshop! (Featuring wine)
When the workshop was over, I met Sara and we took the car back to the CHIN. She did not have any luck getting any more of our special runs - the line just stayed way too long.
Once we were back and everything stowed in the room, I started bringing my Swap Meet stuff over to the ballroom to set up. I was also able to have some more food before shoppers were let in thanks to the food booth out in the lobby area (genius on Breyer's part to have this!)
A photo of my Swap table!
Though I had a good time at the Swap overall, the folks I did talk to were very nice, I don't think it was the best first experience. From talking to other vendors nearby who'd also been there Thursday night, it sounded like it wasn't just me at least, many folks sold less on Friday than Thursday. I found it to be overwhelming to keep track of scanning for indication of interest from folks nearby my table and try to engage with those people if they hadn't said anything yet or not (I am really not great at this especially after a long day and with a lot of environmental sensory input all around me). I was certainly delighted to talk to folks about how the Snaps work (those who "got it" tended to respond very positively) and I did sell some things here and there (mostly Stablemates rather than Snaps). I even ended up with enough cash on hand to buy a Blue Spice Drop from a gal who was walking around.
By the end of the sale (11 PM) I was very exhausted and the trips back and forth to get everything to the room were very unpleasant (though I'm thankful Sara's room is in the 500's and not in the 300/400's!) I was too tired to do a haul photo, not surprising! It was pretty much straight to bed for me (or as fast as I move when I'm tired and brain scrambled) since I needed to be up early again in the morning.
Saturday, July 13th
Saturday was Equilocity show day! It was lovely to spend a day in the cool AC getting to see so many pretty models. Erin and the Stone Team put on such a high quality event and I am grateful to have been part of it. This edition of the Equilocity show offered a novel approach to judging - everything was judged based on workmanship & artistry! While this was normal for the Artisan divisions, and not uncommon for Stone (some areas do this already to some extent), it was completely new to OF China and other OF Plastic. Erin also added extra divisions for tack, props, and other model horse related art that does not normally get to show, which was really cool!
I judged the Large Batch OF Plastic & China division, which was mostly Breyers & a few Copperfox and others for Plastic, and an interesting variety for China but certainly plenty of H-R. I won't spend a ton of time giving my thoughts on the structure and analysis of the division, since that alone could be an entire blog post, but I'll just say it was a very enjoyable experience, lots of fun to expand my thinking in a different direction that my usual. Especially contrasted with my experience as a first time NAN collectibility judge on Wednesday!
The pacing was a bit more laid back - some of this to help out folks entering multiple divisions, and some just to aim for a more relaxed day. I had a decent amount of opportunity to sit, which after a long week of way more steps than I'm used to per day, was greatly appreciated. I even had some time to participate in the Pokemon Go Global GoFest (along with my fellow judge Maggie and a couple other folks I think) which I wasn't highly expecting to do much on Saturday (I actually played more on Saturday than Sunday).
Here are some photos from before the show started:
My ring sign!!
Fancy gold pen and clipboard with judge sheets
View of the ballroom with awards in the foreground, some of the judging rings, and entrant tables furthest in the background
Fun angle of the rosettes, Art of the Horse entry tables in the background
Close up of the Division Champion awards - shaded gold Iberian mold with unicorn horn and long sweeping mane
Another angle of the awards models
While everyone was getting set up, there was not a lot for the judges to help with. We were encouraged to wander through the sales area if we wanted! I hadn't been able to attend the Dinner on Friday night since it conflicted with the Swap Meet, so there'd been more models added for sale since Thursday. It was really cool to see the models that had been made representing winners of the digital, flatwork, writing, and other Non-Palouse categories of Art of the Horse (all of the other categories were judged further ahead of time and thus there was time to design & produce models, whereas the Palouse categories weren't judged until they were in person in KY). A few other runs and OOAK were added as well that I hadn't seen before.
The shop area was at the end of the room and remained "open" for most points during the weekend where there was some sort of activity happening in the room, following the Thursday night opening. (Though I assume there was some level of structure during the Friday dinner.)
I wasn't sure if I'd buy anything, but then I saw the HOLO "He's Just Ken" run (a new addition Friday night) and there really wasn't much else choice to be made! A Chips (aka more affordable than larger ones) in HOLO??? Sign me up!
I made note of a few other models I liked that hadn't sold yet, just in case Sara and I came back Sunday morning (we did not)
This guy was also holo, but as a more expensive Pebbles, I may have only been talked into him if Ken wasn't there and there weren't other Chips I was pondering on. I'm also not the most enthralled with this mold (something about the forehead/eye area looks a bit off to me and at least that's saved me money so far!)
This Chips was super cute, and I don't own a Chips Friesian yet
My favorite of the OOAK Pebbles Drafts had already sold by then (I think he was gone on the trip where I bought my OOAK's Thursday though) but this one was also cute and up for my consideration
I thought this Chips Arabian was a very cute standard chestnut color, I was surprised he hadn't sold yet and was among the temptations
Among the pretty grays in this year's lineup were this cute Arab...
...And this cute Arab!
However, given how few smaller models that caught my interest were available Saturday morning, and none of them (aside from Ken) really yelling at me, as well as not wanting to buy another larger model, I'd skip the Sunday morning last chance sale. (It was a bit disappointing to learn that the Sunday sale does not offer any discounts, it's just the last opportunity to buy the leftovers in person, but I'm well aware that any which get pushed to the online crowd will have no trouble selling for full price, so it makes sense!)
At the end of my day, I needed to award an overall champion and reserve. It's always a true test of one's judging skill - if you make the final choices hard for yourself, you've done well (and the competition has brought their A game!) It was tough to juggle all of the factors I'd taken into consideration all day, especially since I had both Plastic and Breakables present, but in the end I chose the two models that stood out to me the most:
This pic is from the Sectional he won, but this outstanding Copperfox dapple gray took Overall Reserve!
Again, wrong point in the day (this is when she won her class, I think I'd taken this to show to Sara), but here is my Overall Champion! An absolute masterpiece of an OF test painted by Tom Bainbridge.
My division was not the last to finish, so I took advantage of having some extra time and went back to the CHIN to change and prepare for evening activities. Then scooted back over to the Griffin Gate to get some ice cream from the Stone ice cream social and watch the end of the show wrapping up.
I had some extra time following that, though my feet were already YELLING at me, I still made the choice to trek around the CHIN some more. I know I didn't buy very much that night because I was running low on cash, but I do recall picking up a Jamboree Buckskin rearing stallion classic in the 100's for a price that blew me over (he's a run of 400, so despite being older and less popular I had expected to find one for higher than I did).
After my roundabout trek through the opposite end and middle of the hotel, I stopped back at the function space lobby to FINALLY attend the social media meet. This was only my third year in person trying to get there (2017 and 2023 I failed). It was very loud and overstimulating for this ND introvert, but I had a good time, trading signatures on models and bracelets with quite a few people. I tried to go out of my way to reach out to younger folks in particular who looked as overwhelmed as I was in offering signature or bracelet swaps. I even got lucky and won a pair of Pony Paks pouches in the raffle! One of the fun activities they had set up were giant cutouts of this year's special runs (and LE?) that people could take photos with. I chose my favorite of the SR, Fighter. Behold!
That's probably as close as you'll get to my full face on here without sunglasses or cropping some part out, haha! Also, you can just barely see the light-up cat ears headband which I am thrilled I snagged, I was sad I missed them last year.
Alas, my feet were screaming so hard by the end where the group photos were happening, I worried that I wouldn't be able to get back up if I sat, and I was done with being on my feet. Sooo, I'm not in those photos. I made my way back to the room as directly as possible (I don't think I had any more detours along the way) to SIT for a while.
A little bit later, when I'd had some rest, it was time for my annual Saturday Night tradition of visiting the Mares in Black room (though that actually started for me in 2017 before they had the podcast, I just ended up doing the same thing last year and figured why not continue). As always, loads of fun and I got to be present for A Story that will likely be recounted on the podcast eventually (involved another visitor to the room, and it was hilarious). I also got some free jam (haven't gotten to try yet since funny enough, my BF also left his parents' in TN with several other jams and jellies) and exchanged a few more bracelets.
After that last hurrah, it was definitely time to get some sleep! To quickly mention here, Sara was successful in obtaining my VIP SR models during the day on Saturday, and I opened those when I first got back from the Stone show....ah yeah, THAT is why I went on a trip around the hotel before the social media meet - my Surprise from VIP was a matte bay, aka the only one I didn't really find interesting enough to keep. So, I wanted to see if I could find a trade for her. Of course, no luck. She's the 2nd most common matte color (which we knew by then because the run amounts were in the anniversary program, oops Breyer 😂) and seemed to be most other people's least favorite as well. So many rooms I went into were also trying to rid themselves of at least one. Poor pony. (And yes, I still have her, after the remainder of BreyerFest and a local swap meet.)
Sunday, July 15th
The final day started in a far more relaxed manner for Sara and I than last year! Despite neither of us actually staying over again Sunday night, Sara extended the room booking so neither of us would need to rush packing up (and for me, I wouldn't need to rely on friends staying the night in another room to store my stuff during the day). It was quite nice to sleep in. I had planned going to the MIB brunch, but I missed the meetup and had no easy way to get to Cracker Barrel. So, I just grabbed some food at the continental breakfast shortly before that closed instead. After breakfast, I went back to the room and helped Sara get her sales inventory packed. It took less time than we thought! I packed some of my stuff too, but not all the models since I knew I'd have a few more in the afternoon (picking up the rest of my VIP swag and LE, Celebration models, and the Store Specials I wanted).
We arrived at the Park at a leisurely time of late morning, haha! First order of business was picking up remaining stuff to buy. Sadly, the Store Tent was devoid of anything fun by then, but I was able to handpick all 3 TR scale LE, plus an extra Alan the mule for my friend's birthday (she already got him so I can say this here!) No trouble with checkout this time! Next, Sara held my bags so I could redeem my remaining VIP items, and we also picked up the other Celebration models to go with our AA tickets.
On our way into the Park, Sara took a photo of me with the sign for the first year I attended BreyerFest, 2004! (I took one of her with her first one too!)
With all models picked up, Sara wanted to get on the road to head home - I sent my purchases back with her to the hotel - and it was right after the Celebration model pickup that we ran into our friends Melissa and Kristen. I'd spent a little time with them during NAN, but since they're from the west coast, this was really the first time we'd been able to hang out in person. Since I'd need a ride back to the hotel at the end of the event, they kindly offered to let me tag along for the next few hours!
It was around lunch by this time, so we wandered over to the food vendor area in Celebration Park. I'd seen a Boba booth from the shuttle on Friday and I was curious to try that. (It was kind of like a slushy/milkshake consistency fruit drink with flavored boba, very good!) Kristen shared her fries and chicken (they'd bought a couple things from a food truck to try) and we had lunch in the "beer tent" seating area. It was great to leisurely sit around for lunch and chat, until a new live music set started and it would've been too loud to keep talking. We were done with food by then anyway.
Next, it was back over to the main strip to see the Hands on Hobby tent. We heard there was a new exhibit and activity where folks could mock-judge a live show class, and we were curious about how that was going. It was really cool! The volunteers had set up a number of displays around the perimeter showing off different aspects of live show prep, and a table in the center held mock classes which a single volunteer was monitoring and offering explanations for. They also had a cardboard trifold set up where experienced show attendees could write short tips for first timers on sticky notes.
After stopping up at the covered arena, we re-stationed ourselves at the other food vendor area to stay cool. I briefly went over to paint a Stablemate (no G2 blanks this time, darn), of which I chose to make the paint very thin so he'd dry quickly and I wouldn't have to leave him there. I joined Melissa and Kristen and couple other folks who had gathered around the table. Shaved ice was once again the way to go for staying cool, in addition to my cooling towel (which I actually remembered to use, unlike Friday).
The last BreyerFest activity of the day was of course, the raffle draw. Thankfully we weren't too far from the covered arena, so it was easy enough to just head inside before the crowds got too thick. It was nice to catch up with a few more people while waiting for the raffle! I did not win, nor did any of my direct companions for the afternoon, but I did recognize some names so I had folks to cheer for.
In lieu of making a mad dash for the parking lot along with everyone else, the three of us chose to duck into the KHP visitor's center and gift shop to wait out the crowds in the AC. It was actually surprising how quickly everyone cleared out. By the time we got out to the lot (their car was far), it was basically empty. This was good because I needed to be back in time to make sure my boyfriend parked in the right area to pick me up! Thankfully we did beat him there and I had a few minutes to start packing before he arrived. There was less confusion than last year in regards to finding me 😂
And with that, another BreyerFest, model horse fest week came and went! I am eternally grateful for all of the opportunities that came my way this year, for the friendships I could spend time on in person, and the beautiful models I got to stare at all week! There was usually at least once a day where I wondered how my legs would make it through, but I persevered and thankfully did not injure myself. 😬
If you've made it all the way to the end, here is an internet trophy 🏆 and a photo of my haul back at home:
I am so happy with all of them!
As always, even this long haul saga is really just the CliffsNotes of everything I experienced, I could go into much more detail on some things that I didn't cover in depth, but after this, between the two days I spent writing this (July 27 and August 28), I'm blogged out for a while. But, I can check this off my to-do list, and that feels good. 🐎
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