The Salty Trip Day One

First of all, I have to thank Paola for telling me about this retreat.  I wouldn't have known.  I read the Salty Yarns Blog but I wasn't looking in the right place to see what is coming up.  Paula showed me that I should watch the Events Page.  So a big thank you is due both of you.
Day one is always a travel day.  I flew into Baltimore and went down to baggage level and waited for my BFF to arrive.  As I was sitting there stitching a young man came up to me and asked for 7 dollars so he could get home.  DH has taught me to be very skeptical of such requests.  But I believed this kid.  He looked so tired and a bit embarrassed to be asking for money.  (the kids that ask you for money and want to spend it on drugs are overly friendly and charming - they've had lots of practice soliciting).  So I gave him the seven dollars and hope he made it home.  I did warn him to not buy drugs with it.  Maybe I'm a fool, but I hope I'm not.
My BFF arrived.  There is a whole arduous process to rent a car at BWI.  You have to take a shuttle to the rental car place and stand in line.  It takes a while.  I've brought Matilda, my (not updated) GPS to help us get where we need to go.  This afternoon we need to drive to the Wilmington, Delaware area to the Winterthur Museum.  My BFF has graciously offered to drive.  All of the East Coast is densely populated and the traffic is terrible.  We have 4:00 o'clock tickets to see the Downton Abbey Exhibit.  So we are off to Wilmington.  There are a ton of tolls and they are high.  We decide we will stop for something to eat if we see something and are hungry.  We drive for a while.  Then BFF spots a Baskin Robbins.  They have a limited ice cream flavor that she loves called Baseball Nut.  It involves raspberry and chocolate, I think.  So in the middle of the afternoon we decide to stop and get some.  We are both pretty hungry and wanted to have one of everything when we go in.  All the pictures look delicious.  It seems that all Baskin Robbins places are combined with Dunkin Donuts.

We decide we'll be good and eat a chicken sandwich first.  Then a donut.  Then some ice cream.  My favorite is Mint Chocolate Chip.  There goes the diet.

Back on the road, it is taking us longer to get to Winterthur than we thought.  There is terrible road construction right before we get there.  I've printed out written instructions to the places we are going as a back up.  We finally make it to Winterthur but it is after 4:30 and it closes at 5.  The estate has beautiful grounds.

 We get our tickets and take the shuttle over to the museum.  We get to see the exhibit.  BFF hasn't seen Downton Abbey but she enjoys the exhibit anyway.  I love seeing the clothes and especially the needlework accents.  The exhibit is set up to compare and contrast the fictional Downton Abbey's Crawley Family with the DuPonts.  The costumes are a combination of vintage dresses made into costumes for the show.  The backdrops are pictures showing scenes in which the costumes were worn.  It is fantastic.  The dress Mary wore when Matthew proposed is there with beading on the edges.

Edith's wedding dress.

O'Briens lady's maid dress.

The Dowager's dresses were exquisite.

What fun!  We are coming back tomorrow to see the rest of the museum and to try and get a Behind the Scenes Needlework tour.
So off to find the hotel.  This hotel is very difficult to find and we have to make some u-turns. (Recalculating!)  We think Matilda is confused.  Or lost.  But finally we find it - down a road behind a cemetery.  I don't really like this hotel as my room smells like a rodent died there.  Otherwise it is adequate.  Back to the museum tomorrow.
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