A few of us went to Rhinebeck last year. We had rented a cabin at Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park and spent the Saturday on the fairgrounds. Wow! What a good time! As soon as we arrived home afterward, we started planning this year’s trip. I use the word ‘planning’ here very loosely. We all sort of suck at this thing called firm decision making. There’s a lot of “yeah, that’d be cool!” going on when we plan, but not so much “this is what’s happening” being decided.

This year we had a few more people hoping to join our merry band. Since the year before had been so nice, we rented two cabins at the same state park near the fairgrounds. As we got closer to our departure date, we figured out what we were bringing, and worked out who would be driving.

I couldn’t believe it when we met up and left the city on time. I know, amazing isn’t it? The Friday afternoon trip up was a lot of fun. I was riding with Jenn and Connie so you know there was silliness and girl-talk to be had. The only thing missing on our trip was Andrea. Sadly, she couldn’t make it. Of course we sent her love notes via Twitter. I had forgotten to bring a mug, so I asked that we stop within New York so I could pick a up a cheesy “I Love NY” mug from a gift shop. I got a pink one.

The trip was timed perfectly. Both cars arrived at the campground at just about the same time and even better, it was still light out. We figured out who was sleeping in which cabin, unloaded our stuff and headed out for dinner in nearby Tivoli.

It was an excellent evening. Highlights included meeting Charlie, the shop dog at the local yarn shop, browsing in a great used book store, and a laughter filled dinner. No one had a tire blow out. No one had to go alone to the marina with the creepy park ranger. No one got lost driving in the wee hours on one of the half-dozen different Route 9s. By the way, what the hell is up with the Hudson Valley region and all the main roads being Route 9?