A hard hat is not enough protection against a flying pumpkin...

Sunday was much more leisurely, though just as awesome. We slept in a little bit before making our way back to the fair grounds. The crowd was thinner, and a little less intense. There was more time to wander, visit with people we ran into, watch the alpacas on parade...I would say the line-ups were better, too - until I found myself here:

The line for the chicken pot pie. It was well worth the wait! Fresh out of the oven - literally, so I had to wait awhile to eat it.

So while I was waiting, we wandered over to the field to watch the "punkin-chunkin" competition. Which was...an odd-but-awesome thing to behold. There were 5 high school & college teams, all in team colours...and hard hats:

They built these:

And had to try to hit a target about 150 feet away. Quite a feat, as the trebuchets were a bit unwieldy, and I cannot fathom how they managed to achieve any kind of accuracy. (But - they did!) Once the slings were loaded, an air horn would sound, and the pumpkins would fly:

What you can't see is that this particular pumpkin was painted gold, as were the hardhats of the team lobbing it. They hit their first 2 targets spot on, too. The carnage on the field was something to see! Though I think there were a few disappointed young spectators, as I overheard one young boy gleefully reporting to his brother that after the pumpkins, there would be sheep-tossing....

More time to wander meant more time to take in some of the non-fibre arts on display:

This one's for my Baby Sis:

Then, despite the warm weather (I actually got a bit of a sunburn!), we took some shots of new knitwear in action:

We imposed on a very kind knitter to take a picture of the two of us in our Rhinebeck sweaters...

I'd just like to point out that Anne spun the wool for this sweater from the Rhinebeck fleece she bought last year - how cool is that?

Finally, after some apple crisp (NOM!), it was time to go. Anne dropped me back at the hotel and headed home; I had the fun of trying to get everything into my suitcase. Before I packed, though, I got a pic of all my ill-gotten loot, all at once:

(I did not, in fact, roll around in it naked. Although I was sorely tempted...it's not all superwash, and there's some very sexy silk in that pile. I didn't think it would be good for the yarn.)

Rhinebeck weekend was over. I would totally do it again! But I had the next leg of my adventure to look forward to: a prophylactic against post-festival let-down. Next: the train!