New Jersey and Virginia

After we left Rob's home we headed for West Berlin New Jersey to meet up with Brian Menold and his  partner Leigh.  We were supposed to arrive around 3, but the traffic was terrible.  Finally we arrived about 6.  I texted Brian along the way and let him know what was going on.  He guaranteed me there would be a glass of wine waiting for me and when we walked in the door, he handed it over.  

Steven Kirk  was there too so we had a double fun night.  Brian gave us a tour of his workshop and of the new workshop he is putting in.  

We had a few glasses of wine and a very lovely lasagna made by Leigh for dinner.  It was really a pleasant way to spend the evening. I got some great video of the guys geeking out as guys do.  I also really enjoyed talking with Leigh.  It was really a wonderful evening.

I got a chance to try Kirk's box and gave up after a bit.  Later on, Brian and I solved it.  Steven had to leave around 9 as he lives 2 hours away, and George went to bed.  I stayed up and enjoyed the conversation.  All too soon we were yawning.  The next morning Brian made breakfast for us.  he even made me a sunny side up egg.  When I giggled about it, he told me he reads my blog!  How sweet of him.  I guess around an hour after breakfast we had to leave for our next stop in Virginia.  Thankfully, it was only a few hours drive away.  As we left, Brian gave us a large box full of donated puzzles for the museum.  His shelf is really filling up. And did I forget to mention the t-shirts that were waiting on the bed for us?  What a guy!

Our next stop was with Andrea and Bill Ritchie. We arrived at a reasonable hour and managed to have a chance to sit down and chat.  They first showed us to the cabin we would be staying in, then we went on to the house to get a tour and a lot of ideas for the castle.  Thank you Andrea!  Bill gave us a talk about the start of the Binary Arts company and it was in 4 parts.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) They very kindly gave us a copy of the very first prototype for Hexadecimal, and showed us a number of other puzzles made by the inventor of that puzzle.

Bill took us to see his shrine room and then we had a lovely dinner.  Again, it was a lovely evening that ended all too soon.  The next morning Andrea had to get up to go to an appointment early and George and I had a bit of a lie in.  Around 9 we went over to the house to say our goodbyes to Bill, but ended up spending another 2 hours chatting with him.  

When we left, we drove another hour and a half to meet with Genesis Chapman who had 13 puzzle sculptures ready for us to pick up.  We thought we would be later in the day, but by this time, I'm so far off on my scheduling that it isn't funny.  After we arrived and saw the workshop, 

we walked to Dots and had a nice lunch (I had eggs and bacon yet again. I just can't get enough of those!)

Upon our return to his house, we went inside and saw the puzzles and began to box them up. It took about an hour as many had to be disassembled.  

George had a nap on the sofa while Genesis and I chatted.  I even managed to snag two aliens that he hadn't shown me before.  They are so cute!  

Around 5 we took off for Georgia and our next puzzle party.  What a wonderful, crammed full of puzzling 3 days this was. 

It was not a Tea Party in Boston

the next stop on our trip was Boston, Ma.  The night after we left Tracy's, we stopped a few minute outside of Boston and had a lovely sushi dinner followed by a good nights rest.  The hotel was not what  I would call nice, but it was adequate.  I was concerned that we wouldn't sleep because of the thump thump thump coming through the walls of the night club next door but all was ok in the end.  I guess I was just exhausted enough to sleep through it all. 

We woke the next day well rested and first made a stop at our bank to get me a new card.  What is it with people who try to make money from doing this sort of thing?  Every trip we go on at least one of us loses the card.  Our first stop was to drop the van at the Bobroff's.  We got to Saul and Paulette's around 11:30 and went for a simple lunch before heading on to Boston for a party at Eureka.  

When we arrived, we were shown to the basement where we were greeted by Dave and Zack.  Soon more arrived and I'll apologize right now for not getting all the names down here. Brian showed up as did two John's and a Jane.  Tim came in with his wife and I think that was everyone. I was terrible.  I sat on the floor going through a box of puzzles and then went with Dave to another basement to go through more still. We went home with a couple of boxes.  George ordered a puzzle from Jane which will arrive at some unknown date in the future.

I was told there was a lot of puzzling going on, but I missed it in my hunt for that elusive unicorn of puzzles.  I found a few I guess. At 5 we all headed across the road to Hamilton's for dinner and more conversation.  We all had a great time but like all good things, it had to come to an end.  

Saul did a great job packing all of my purchases into his car and we headed back to their house for the night.  I took a tour of the house and even snapped a few puzzling photos. 

The next day Paulette and I headed to the ATM to get some cash and had a nice brisk walk to the ocean.  I was surprised to hear that the waves during a storm reach street level!  It must be at least 4 stories up.  When we returned we headed out for a very nice fish and chips in Eureka and got a tour of the area on our return.  I even managed to get Saul to talk a little about what he did in early years.  The Bobroff's were wonderful hosts.  

I'd love to show you Saul's workshop but promised I wouldn't.  All I have to say is it is truly amazing and if you get the opportunity to go down there, you should.

From here we drove about 4 hours to get to Rob Stegmann's.  He and his wife were also very kind to us and I'd like to thank them as well.  We had an early dinner as Brett Kruhner was coming over and was to arrive around 7.  True to his word, he did.  We spent a bit of time puzzling and taking photos of Rob's collection.  I found more than a few that I don't have and once again he has given me a shopping list.  We stayed up talking until well after 1 am but Brett had to work the next day so up to bed we went. 

During this time George was working on the 9 swords puzzle for Rob.  Rob brought out the Reiss games version and the IPP exchange version.  My beautiful lover analyzed both that night and the next morning he solved it and had a good conclusion as to the reason for the solution.  I see a paper in a CFF sometime in the future.  

Rob and his wife made breakfast for us all the next morning and my god did they put on a feast! We don't usually eat breakfast and had planned to turn it down, but then we decided it was more of a brunch by this time so we could pass on lunch.  Thank you!  I had grits that were very good and even decided I can make those at home.  

Sadly around 11 we had to go so we could get to Brian Menold's at a reasonable hour.  

Of course that didn't happen as planned, but that is another story for another day.