Set up, day one...a great day winds down...

Well, we left Tarrytown early this morning in pouring rain. The drive in was a bit slow, but relatively uneventful. We made it into the city to to our breakfast at the Harvard Club. It was great fun, wonderful people. A good time was held by all.

We made it over to the Armory at 10 am. We have, in the past, had to wait in line two right turns down the proverbial line. This morning, apparently the really early people were let is a bit early and we quite literally drove up and right into the elevator (one of the wonderful aspects of this fair is that you quite literally pull onto the floor of the hall, quite wonderful on narrow streets and bad weather). This was the first surprisingly nice event of the day.

It was immediately followed by our next pleasant surprise. When we were given our booth assignment, we discovered that we were the first booth in row (701, if you will be there on Saturday). It is very nice to be pretty much the first thing one sees when someone comes in...more importantly, it let me put our glass display cases up front and the table at the end of one table...very nice, from a display standpoint (sorry for the quality of the image, one of the downsides of the venue is that lighting it...er...marginal (at best) [N.B. image would not load, too tired to debug, will be added later]). The booth came together reasonably quickly and looks rather nice.

After unloading the van, you have to move it out of the hall. We stay across the road at the Hotel Giraffe. You drive out, run the block and pull into the Valet parking. I hate driving in NY. I hate parking in NY *much* more. The "value" in the ability to drop the car off "across the lane" an barely be put into words. That the hotel is just wonderful is a big plus, too. Our third lovely treat of the morning came thanks to the Giraffe. I dropped the car off and went in to check in, expecting (at 10:30am) to have to leave my stuff off and actually bring things up to the room later. However, when I checked in, I was told that we had been upgraded. We have a lovely corner suite. I am sitting in the living room, watching the news and finishing up dinner (don't ask, embarassingly unhealthy). We have two very nice rooms, a bathroom larger than many NY hotel rooms, etc. I really can not recommend this hotel more highly.

The show started promptly at 5pm (and ran until 9pm). Traffic seemed pretty brisk. We had several nice sales (always a nice way to start a fair). I found a few really nice buys. Overall, just a great day on all fronts.

The show opens tomorrow at 11am and runs until 5pm. With luck, we will be packed up (after a great day), and be out by 7pm. We have not quite decided if we are going to drive all the way home tomorrow or not. I think we will likely try to do so...but play it by ear. Hypothetically, there is a Comfort Inn right next to Reins Deli in CT. We shall see.... Here's to tomorrow being a good a day as today.