Wandering to Aztec - Day 5 & The Road Home

And so then it was day five of this awesome trade show thingy, and then we were on the way home.

View from the hotel room that morning. It looks chilly, doesn't it? Yeah, no. That was like 80% humidity looks like. And it's not chilly. It's hot and it's muggy. Pretty in a picture, though.

This is how I traveled around the whole convention, but Opie (the one with the rockin elephant) had a different way to travel.

I think she probably had a great view from up there (and that's Opie's companion, Lori. She runs the miniature store that Opie is taking over hanging around in, called Happily Ever After in VA. Nice lady, for a human and all.)

I came. I saw. I shopped.

And then we were back on the road.

Which is exhausting, turns out. But we all really wanted to be home.

We ended up driving until we just couldn't drive anymore, caught a nap in a rest stop, and then we were back on the road.

We stopped in Junction City to say "hi" to David's brother on our way back and saw this awesome house. Check out that apex trim! Gorgeous!

I had no idea houses like this existed for real. It looks like a giant dolls house!

Driving and driving and more driving, but we knew when we were back in Colorado. And WOW did we miss it.

It was a great trip, but it's really great to be home. And now there's so much going on here I have to tell you about! Life is never a dull moment in the Wylde Kingdom, and it's nice to be back.

- Miri

Another Interruption - Something Cool and Interesting to See

Yeah, yeah. Blog update. I know. I know.

But have you ever been wandering on the internet and tripped over something SO cool, you just had to tell someone (everyone) about it?

That just happened to me.

This is Roaming Roy, and his friend Elissa.

Roy is a kind of Puppet, and there's more information about him here - About Roy, and I think Elissa is a kind of Human (the Australian kind, I think.)

They wander and go places, which is super cool, but the blog is also about strange, historical items and what they're used for (and what people THINK they might be used for, which is sometimes pretty funny). Elissa explains the blog here - What is the Tingle Factor Box?, but you should just get a cup of tea, and go read the whole thing. Their blog is just fascinating. The Tingle Factor Box

Seriously, you should go check it out.

I have no idea what I was searching for that lead me to find Roy and Elissa this morning, but I'm so glad that I did. They don't know me, or that I'm posting this, talking about them. I hope they're not horrified to find that they've been blogged about by an American Pixie.

Anyway, go check out their blog. I mean it.

And I promise to update mine too.

Later,

- Miri

Wandering to Aztec - Day 4

Okay, so where was I? Oh yeah!

I DID get to meet the amazing Nancy Van Horn, dollhouse construction expert extraordinaire!

And she autographed a book for me. AWESOME!!!

There was lots of wandering.

Lunch.

More stuff to see. Wander, wander, wander.

And then off to dinner!

We almost got lost, but really, following someone with a license plate like that, what did we expect?

We had dinner with my old friend, Opie, and her new family. She's got an awesome new mode of transportation. Seriously, I need to get me one of these.

She brought me presents.

Bats in a box... yes, a very Opie gift indeed.

We had a great time catching up and talking about her new life in Virginia. I guess she's hanging out at a miniature shop there, now called Happily Ever After, and she said the people are just the nicest. It's good to hear.

And then it was one more day and a drive home. Whoopee! But I'll show you the pictures anyway. Next time.

- Miri

We Interrupt This Blog for BOOKS!

Okay, so I should really be blogging about my last couple days at Aztec, but today I'm busy sorting books at Norm's Dollhouse.

We've got a big show coming up September 7th - 8th and we're not ready.

So very not ready.

So today I'm sorting books instead of blogging. Sorry.

And I think I'm even going to "borrow" a copy of the Velveteen Rabbit.  One of my favorites.

Now back to work I go!

- Miri

Wandering to Aztec - Day 3

Sorry for the delay in telling you about my adventures. It's been a week. One WEEK! But I got sick and we've got the annual local miniatures show to get ready for and...

... yeah, yeah. Excuses excuses. I know.

So here ya go! Day three of my Aztec adventure!

- Miri
*****
So, I'm construction supervisor at Wylde Kingdom Woodlee Junction Construction. But the only reason I have the knowledge I need to do that job, is this book.

Everything I ever needed to know about creating doll housing, I learned from "Everything You Wanted to Know about Dollhouses But Didn't Know Who to Ask" by Nancy Van Horn.

And she's going to be at Aztec. So I will be getting her autograph. :)

The view from our hotel room was lush and green. Not that Colorado isn't green, but it's more of a "pine-tree" kind of green, not so much a "lush, tall, reedy things that a pixie would be lost in in a matter of minutes" kind of green. Pretty. Scary. But pretty.

I guess it was an oversight that they didn't put my name on our buyer badge, but I fixed it.

I didn't get to meet Nancy the first night, but I got to meet someone else who is a hero of mine.

She makes dolls. Amazing, beautiful dolls. These guys stormed the whole Wylde Kingdom and we have doll meetups sometimes, just so all of our awesome Angel Children dolls can play together.

I knew I needed to bring home a new doll for my personal collection (though we ordered a bunch for the store too).

Her official name is Gretchen, I think. I don't know what her name name is yet. I haven't gotten to know her that well.

But she was made by the actual, honest to goodness, Ethel Hicks. I think she was surprised I wanted to meet her, but as Wendy told her "You make dolls. You're a creator of dolls. To a doll, that makes you a pretty big deal."

She was super nice too.

And then we got so busy I didn't take any more pictures. But I have more to show you about day 4. I'll get that updated tomorrow!

Later!

- Miri

Wandering to Aztec - Day 2

So I was wrong. Kansas had one more cool thing in store for me.

 I got to have breakfast with a storm chaser.

Like a guy who chases storms. Like tornadoes.

Like "Twister" (though he said that wasn't a very realistic movie).

Anyway, his name is Jerry Bruce and he chases tornadoes across Kansas. He gets on the radio and tells people where they are, so people can get out of the way.

He showed me pictures of some of the tornadoes he's seen. Curls my hair to think about being that close to something that dangerous (a tornado, not Jerry). He's been within an 8th of a mile from one of these things. Dang.

To be honest, I haven't me a lot of humans who've actually saved someones life. It was really cool. And I always thought storm chasing was kind of silly, I didn't understand how important it really was until I talked to Jerry about it. Nice guy. Awesome job. Tasty breakfast too!

And then I saw a giant ball of barbed wire. Yeah... we're still in Kansas.

But soon we were on our way to Kansas City and Venezuela Missouri.

There are big, big rivers in this neck of the woods. That's a lot of water.

It's all green and lush here.

Navigating is a lot easier when a) you have an awesome GPS and b) you're in the middle of freakin nowhere. There was just NOTHING anywhere around us.

Well, except for giant rivers.

And awesome bridges.

When I wasn't reading the GPS I was riding in the cup holder. Not as comfortable as it could be.

But I made it a bit more homey.

We drove straight through from Junction City, Kansas to Streetsboro, Ohio. That's like a million miles (I dunno, more like 926. A lot.) About 14 HOURS of driving. We rolled up to our hotel at about 3 a.m. and slept like rocks.

Tomorrow... day one of the trade show! I'll let you know what we find!

- Miri

Finally Some Wandering! - Day 1

We're on the road! On our way to Ohio for the Aztec Trade Show! 

We'll be driving through six states! Colorado, Kansas, uh... Venezuela, The Hanging Gardens of  Babylon, and then Ohio!  (I dunno, a bunch of states. I never was good at geometry.)

Thank goodness we got a fancy-schmancy GPS thingy. I'm the navigator.

Where's Don Quixote when you need him? 

 Kansas!

Wendy said that this time last year, Kansas was all crispy and brown. But it was kind of green and pretty this time. The corn is TALL!

Kansas rest stop.  

 Kansas rest stop pheasant. Pretty!

At the rest stop they had this "Tag Yourself on Facebook" thingy. We're cute travelers.

And that was about all the excitement Kansas had to offer. Time for a nap.

Wendy did wake me up to see the signs for the world's largest prairie dog and all kinds of critters. Hopefully, on the way back, we'll get to stop by and see them.

Kansas sunset.

And then bedtime at a hotel in Junction City.  Tomorrow, on to Ohio!

Night night.

- Miri