Tales of the Traveling Tote #2 and a Giveaway

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We are having more fun with Tales of the Traveling Tote than I ever expected. Our next post will be September 15, and we are going to one of our local, state, national parks. We've had some lovely summer days here.  Sunflowers, daylilies and clematis are blooming their heads off. Miss Aurora has been enjoying our summer weather and is "feeling useful". 

Toted beach towels to our dock at camp (her favorite thing to do in summer)

Toted the snacks for our annual croquet game on Fourth of July weekend at camp

She strolled the meadow at Olana Historic Site (Hudson Valley)

Visited Cedar Grove (Thomas Cole Site)

Enjoyed her overnight stay at Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck, NY

Helped pick out an oak tree at Zone 3 (Inlet, NY)

Made a quick visit to "hang" with the artsy moose at View (Old Forge, NY)

Fit right in at the Adirondack Renaissance Fantasy Festival (Inlet, NY)
We attended the first annual Adirondack Renaissance Fantasy Festival near our camp in Inlet, NY. Thimbleberry the Woodsprite and her bestest friend Foomp were a delight to young and old. We were entertained by the Paddy Nappers, Gypsies, Fairies, battling Knights and belly dancers.

Miss Aurora was welcomed at Woodsy Gifts (Old Forge, NY) 

Hung out on the chair while I was reading a book at camp

We really enjoyed our trip to Rhinebeck, a tree-lined village that is upstate from New York City. A place for adventure, celebration and resting your head at night at a cozy B& B or Inn.  If you take Amtrak, you can get off the train, grab a shuttle and walk to quite a few inns, many fine restaurants and shops.

Talking to the locals was one of our favorite things to do. The Hudson River came up in every conversation, and defines "this side of river" and their preferences on what to do and where to live in the Hudson Valley. Our agenda included dinner at the Liberty Public House, saw Love and Mercy at Upstate Films, fine dining at the Terrapin and The Local, shopped for gifts at the Paper Trail (my favorite store in Rhinebeck) and the Rhinebeck Department Store.

While in Rhinebeck, we went to Olana State Historic Site. Loved this place!

Today Olana is known as one of the most important surviving picturesque landscapes in the United States. Produced during the same period with the same aesthetic and ideological motivations, the landscape at Olana has been compared to Central Park. Olana was one of several grand artist's homes in the Hudson River valley, and was the magnificent estate of Frederic Church.  

Church began the physical landscape design at Olana by searching three years for the ideal property. Frederic had walked and sketched throughout much of New England and elsewhere by that time, but his formative two years studying with Thomas Cole in nearby Catskill, New York, brought him back to the Hudson Valley.

Before you leave, tell me if you enjoy picnics, where you picnic and what you bring. Everyone who leaves a comment with an email link will be entered in my Voyage of Life giveaway. Winner of four photo cards and a surprise gift will be notified on August 14, 2015.

Located in the heart of the Hudson River Valley, the Thomas Cole Site (Catskill, NY) and Frederic Church's Olana (Hudson, NY) are two miles apart directly across the Hudson River from each other, connected by the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

While we were in Rhinebeck we visited the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, home to Thomas Cole (1801-1848) founder of Hudson River School of Art.

The Voyage of Life, painted by Thomas Cole in 1842, is a series of paintings that represent an allegory of the four stages of human life: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. The paintings follow a voyager who travels in a boat on a river through the mid-19th-century American wilderness. In each painting, accompanied by a guardian angel, the voyager rides the boat on the River of Life. The landscape, corresponding to the seasons of the year, plays a major role in telling the story. In each picture, the boat's direction of travel is reversed from the previous picture. In childhood, the infant glides from a dark cave into a rich, green landscape. As a youth, the boy takes control of the boat and aims for a shining castle in the sky. In manhood, the adult relies on prayer and religious faith to sustain him through rough waters and a threatening landscape. Finally, the man becomes old and the angel guides him to heaven across the waters of eternity.

MacKenzie Joy is "traveling" to celebrate Colleen's grandson's birthday and toting S'more jars made for another birthday celebration. Her beautiful tote looks so cool, festive and inviting. (Excuse the issue I am having with fonts and spacing on this post. I copied and pasted from emails and it is not working out)

Miss MC la Mer does not have many vacation plans this summer but came to lunch.

Yummy salad and fruit in the new MacKenzie containers...nice day to sit outside under the shade at the picnic table.

Check out my Tote playmates:

Debbie (Miss Aurora) @  Mountain Breaths 

Linda and Miss Rosie @  More Fun Less Laundry

Patti and Miss Kenzie @  Pandoras Box

Sarah and Miss CC @  Hyacinths for the Soul

Welcome our newest playmates:

Rita with Miss Luna C  @  Panoply 

Samantha with Christabel @ Samantha Stone

Tote playmates that don't have a blog
Tami and Miss MC la Mer
Colleen and Miss MacKenzie Joy

If you are enjoying the Tales of the Traveling Tote, I hope you'll visit again in September when Miss Aurora shares her tales of picnicing in a famous park. 
xo
Debbie