And Trixie Camp....

Let's see how much of the rest of my trip I can get through.

Just in case you haven't heard me talk about the Trixie Belden series before, it's a series of kids mysteries like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, only better.  I found it in jr. high and still love them.  I hang out at a couple of message boards for the series, and once a year we have a get together for fans of the series (and their families) that we call Trixie Camp.

While camp started on Thursday, my time with Trixie friends started Wednesday night.  Matt was nice enough to agree to have dinner with a Trixie friend who wasn't going to be able to make it to camp, so we met up with Karen.  Ironically, this is actually the second time Matt has met one of my Trixie friends.  And he even put up with some of our Trixie talk.  It was a lovely time, and the two hours (three hours?) flew by all too quickly.

During dinner, I had a "Duh!" moment.  A friend of Matt's was supposed to drive me to Circleville, Ohio on Thursday, but it dawned on me that some of the people going to Camp would probably be driving through the area.  Using Facebook and a two year old cell phone list, I was able to get in touch with two such parties, one that was leaving from only 15 minutes away.  The other got stuck in traffic, so I was glad to leave with the first party.

Circleville is about half an hour south of Columbus, and we arrived in the later part of the afternoon.  We had enough time to check into the hotel and get situated before it was time to carpool over to Marsha's farm for dinner.  That's right, our brave coordinator started out by hosting all of us on her farm.  We had a great time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones face to face.  I hadn't been to Trixie Camp for a couple of years, so there were some people I hadn't met face to face yet, and I will admit I spent parts of the weekend trying to match name with message board user name with face.  Someday I will be good with faces and names, really.  Thursday ended with a trip to the hotel pool before going to bed.

Friday morning we started out by shopping.  We went to a local souvenir store and a store that makes and sells it's own chocolates.  Believe it or not, I was excited about this since Marsha's sister had written a book set in Circleville, so I just had to get as much Pumpkin Show stuff as I could.

Our next stop was an ice rink.  I haven't been ice skating in 20+ years, so I wasn't sure how I would do.  I was a bit shaky at first, but I got more comfortable as our hour went on.  I still wasn't crossing one foot over the other to turn, but it was fun.  And I didn't fall once, although I did come close a couple of times.

Our final stop of the day was the Ohio State Fair.  Yes, my second fair in a week after years of not going to any fair.  Anyway, I spent most of the afternoon hanging out with Nick, a teen who has been coming to Trixie Camp with his mom for 8 years now.  We both wanted to hit the rides, and we had a blast doing it, although both of us were feeling pretty woozy by the time we were done.

And I finally got to try Chocolate Covered Bacon.  A couple years back, I goaded Katrina over at Callapidder Days into giving it a try, and I've felt slightly hypocritical about not trying it myself.  So when I found out they offered it for sale, I had to try it.  It was...interesting.  I'm not a big bacon fan to begin with, but it was so soggy that it took away some of the enjoyment for me.  I think I would have enjoyed it better if it were crispy.  It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't something I feel the need to do ever again.  I was just glad I'd found it since I'd made a big deal about planning to try it, and I'd been looking all day but never seen it.  I finally found it just before he had to leave.

After we got back to the hotel, we had a little down time before a pizza party and Trixie trivia contest.  We made up the questions as a team and then other teams had to try to answer them.  I was on Team Honey (my favorite character), and we came in last (unless we were using golf scoring).  But we had the most fun!

Saturday started bright and early (like 7AM).  Our first stop was the Hocking River so we could go canoeing.  Again, I teamed up with Nick.  It was a 5 mile trip down a pretty slow moving river.  It was relaxing and fun.  I wish I could do stuff like that more often.  Of course, the various water fights we got into added to the fun.

We had a picnic lunch at the Hocking Hills State Park, and then explored some.  The area was beautiful with a small stream flowing through a canyon.  Really enjoyed it.

Our last stop of the day was Tecumseh!, an outdoor drama about one of the Indians involved in Tippecanoe, an Indian/settler fight in Ohio.  We got a backstage tour and a wonderful buffet dinner before the show.  The stage was amazing with several ledges, a giant sand area for the main stage, and even a pond big enough for boats and swimmers.  They fire canons and guns multiple times.  It's really something else to see.

Unfortunately, Sunday was the end, and time for me to come home.  I left Ohio at 1, had a layover in Dallas (I was flying American after all), and got in around 5:15.  From there, I had to try to unpack and get organized to get back to work Monday morning.

Let me tell you, this week has been extra hard.  I had such a great trip (three posts worth) that it's been hard to concentrate on my job.