We (Lauren, Mindi, Frank, and I) hopped onto a plane early this morning headed toward Winchester for the 80th annual Apple Blossom Festival (for more information, go to www.thebloom.com). Our first stop was Sheetz where Lauren discovered the wonderment that is the never ending condiment option and Mindi sampled the new and delicately flavoured garlic fries (the car still smells).

We took a short walk around Shenandoah University and saw the cutest goslings waddling near the water. I stopped into the campus health center to see if my favorite sign was still on the wall (so I could share it with you all arounhd the world) but unfortunately, the “Love carefully, chlamydia is not a flower” sign has been taken down and I can only imagine that the students of Shenandoah are now at risk, without that sage advice.

We also walked around “old town” Winchester where we did some shopping (alright, a good deal of shopping) and chatting with the locals. A soiled man from Jacksonville (who itched the area under his shirt continually throughout the day) stopped us to celebrate and share his Florida heritage with us. He made us nervous… especially since he seemed to follow us throughout the day. We found ourselves at Brewbakers (one of our favorite pubs ever) and located the best people watching table ever. We took in the “local culture” and in the end met a man who could not resist my loveliness (it’s no surprise that he had clearly been drinking for hours and was the resident drunk).

We (I) also encounter an angry staring man who huffed at me after I came out of the restroom. Since I remembered to flush, I couldn’t figure out why he was hmph-ing at me and assumed I was being paranoid. He looked a little familiar but not so much that it seemed appropriate to say hi. As we left to head home for the evening, he (according to Mindi) gave me the “angry stare down” so this is my formal appology to the angry man. I’m not sure what I did to you, or wrote you up for in college, but I’m sorry if it had a lasting scarring effect. I’m sure I was in the wrong, and you were blameless, as most teenage co-eds are. My bad.

We’ve put together some new features, including “phrases of Winchester” and “trivia” so please participate in this holiday with us – there might even be a prizzze in it for you! Please respond to the trivia questions by emailing me directly at andrea@andreahendry.com.