Shenandoah County Route 11 Yard Crawl

Emily and Jason came over on Saturday to join me in checking out the 8th Annual Shenandoah County Route 11 Yard Crawl. I've been wanting to do this for some time and was excited to see what this would entail. We had a later start than I would have preferred but Emily had chores to finish so I had to hop up and down while I eagerly waited for them to arrive.
We set off and within an hour were on Route 11 but there didn't seem to be that many vendors. We discovered that most folks set up in the towns on on the outskirts, there certainly wasn't a continuous yard sale down both sides of the road as I had been imagining. But then that wouldn't be practical anyway as along some parts of the road there was little room to set up or park a car.

A 6" high electric fence around a vegetable plot. Keeping out what? Garden gnomes?

This jar of Civil War bullets was going for $100. It was very heavy as well as pricey.

Jason found an old gas mask and sportingly modeled it, noting afterwards that it smelt awful!

A mirror showing the Twin Towers.

Sponge Bob looks happy with his new owner. I just missed this lifetime opportunity by a few seconds.

I was impressed by some of the display skills, particularly noting how these egg slices helped to draw your attention to the vibrant shoes.

More Sponge Bob!

We stopped for a beer in an Irish bar as it was very hot work wandering from yard to yard.

The local cats were eager to play their part too. The cat in the pram was asleep outside the bar when we went in, and a few hours later when we returned to have dinner, he hadn't moved. What a life!
When we emerged from the pub after dinner it seemed most of the yard sale had packed up and left. The event was listed as running from 7am - 7pm but with the intense heat many had given up. But I did manage to find an amazing bargain, a compound bow for $15. When I had first viewed Meadow House, I had spotted an archery target in the field and had since picked up a few arrows on the grounds which now stand on my fireplace. It had piqued my interest making me research into the different kinds of bows and equipment. I rather fancied having a bow and arrow. But the success of The Hunger Games movie had also spurred many other people into taking up archery so any second hand bargains were difficult to find. I had decided I'd prefer a more traditional recurve bow but when I saw the compound bow I couldn't walk past such a tempting offer. Compound bows are actually easier to learn with. So watch this space, after a few weeks there may be archery blogs.
Emily landed a few bargains too, finding a collection of retro glassware for her kitchen at  a silly price, and also landing the best bargain of the day, a set of 6 shot glasses and 5 photo frames for $1! I'll be back to this yard sale next year but think I will try for an earlier start.
We all decided to drive into Strasberg and have a look around. This is a very pretty town so we got out and walked around a few streets.

All the stores were closed but the buildings were interesting and the setting sun was producing beautiful colors in the sky. I'll revisit this town later, maybe with Mum when she comes over for a visit in October.

As the daylight disappeared we got back into Stuart and started to head home, but not before we spotted this little ice cream parlor. Chocolate ice cream with hot fudge sauce. A perfect end to the day!