Camp Report

With the best of memories and tired to the bone, Monte and I returned from CA and Camp Pluckyfluff Monday evening.  On a scale of 1-10, I rate this trip a 10+. 

We arrived in Sacramento last Thursday afternoon and in our trusty rental car, headed east to Placerville.  We arrived at our B&B, the historic Albert Schafsky house (circa 1902).  Our hosts, Rita and Stephanie, have three guest rooms in this gloriously loved and restored Victorian home.  We had the two upstairs bedrooms, as well as our own private sitting room.  Rita made THE best breakfasts and while many might have been full all day afterward, we shamelessly ate our way around town anyway (more on that later).

We had Friday to knock around town and then arrived at Camp Pluckyfluff early Saturday morning.  Our teacher and host, Lexi Boeger, is just the most unassuming, sharing, and bright young woman.  She has started a revolution and I couldn't be happier to be one of her foot soldiers.  The workshop was held on the patio of another historic building, located on her family's winery, the Boeger Winery.  Lunches were artistically created by her friend, Steve, and served under the canopy of an ancient fig tree.  It was bliss, the entire way around.  I'll try to stuff some pictures in here to give you an idea of what we enjoyed.  We spent our days watching Lexi and having her coach us in her fun techniques, including adding little goodies to our yarns.  After spending years and years of spinning yarns to be uniform in appearance, this was the kick I needed to make my spinning fun again!  Lexi and I discussed holding a Camp Pluckyfluff here in Taos; I'm thinking next spring.  I'll keep you posted and if you're interested, let me know so I can start keeping a list of those interested.  You must have basic spinning skills (spinning & plying) but this will give you permission to set yourself free and take your spinning to an entirely different level!

For those of you who haven't had the good fortune to visit Placerville, it's nestled in the Sierra foothills approximately 60 miles east of Sacramento, and southwest of Lake Tahoe.  This adorable town has a rich history, dating back to the California gold rush.  The historic district, walking distance from our B&B, boasts an awesome yarn shop (Lofty Lou's), a huge bead shop, the oldest continuously operating hardware store west of the Mississippi, antique shops, and restaurants galore.  We had a great salad lunch at the Courtyard Cafe, next to the historic Carey House Hotel (scene of Monte's French soda).  That evening we had a fresh seafood dinner at Powell's, and the rest of our evenings were spent at the Buttercup Pantry Restaurant.  The Buttercup serves old fashioned home cooking and THE most yummy home baked pies.  I snapped a photo on our last evening to remember them by...I had to leave town while I could still fit into my clothes! ---Martie