CT Bluegrass

The weekend before I started the new gig, we gave the new trailer, an Outback, that Bruce bought at the Camper Expo last March a first run by taking it out for a spin to the Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival in Spencer, CT.



We arrived on Wednesday night and the Festival itself didn't begin until Friday morning. There is definitely less to setup then the old crankup, but there is still some stuff to do. Nonetheless, we were getting hungry and headed to the nearest town, Norwalk, for a bite to eat as it was starting to get dark. Plenty of pizza joints, but Bruce wanted steak for his evening meal.



The town of Norwalk didn't impress me at all, since it is one of those old Mew England manufacturing towns that had obviously seen better days. After trusting on the GPS, (a big mistake) we settled on an 'Asian' restaurant, whose name was something like The Red Dragon. Bruce has recently had a 'bad experience' with 'Chinese' food, (I think it was MSG) as a resilt, never wants to do 'Chinese' anymore. I convinced him that there was probably some beef on the menu he could try.

It turned out to be an 'Asian' restaurant (read Vietnamese) and I suggested that Bruce try a beef dish. I got shrimp, vegetables and noodles, thinking that it would be like my hometown Chinese food. It wasn't but it was delicious and we all were ranting about the subtle differences in flavors.

We went back to camp where we enjoyed spending the night in the new Outback. I have a pretty good sized bed that isn't claustrophobic. Since the festival didn't negin until Fridaym and it was only Wednesday, we spent Thirsday esploring the shops.

We didn't even light a campfire that weekend, since there was plenty of music, although Bruce's criticisms were valid - none of the bands did more than one set throughout the weekend. If you missed a band on Friday evening, that's it - no encore on Saturday afternoon.

Some Winfield bands that U had seen or had missed were represented - Cadillac Sky, and Nothing Fancy was chief among them. But I really enjoyed a band from Nashville - The Incredible String Dusters. I had an opportunity to chat with the lead singer, Andy Hill, a graduate of Boston's Berklee School of Performing Arts and I emjoyed the conversation.

There was also a variety of vendors, as the vendor area was a large one and I struck up a conversations with one of the 'nature' vendors who was peddling minerals, which I picked up a few Ocean Amber (I think that's what it is called) shaped and looking like a mini planet Jupiter that I'll use for a plant pot decoration. Although no Winfield, Strawberry Hill was a step up from Pemi. Wether or not we'll return, well, I guess we'll have to wait till next year.