Long-a Longaberger Day
Today, mom, sis and I visited the Longaberger Homestead in Dresden, Ohio... where they make Longaberger Baskets. We left at the very foggy ass-crack of dawn to board a tour bus with two Longaberger consultants and head down to southern Ohio. We had my sister's friend and her mom along with us as well.
During the 2-hour ride, we ate muffins and fruit and they raffled off prizes -- EVERYone on the tour won something. I won a basket protector (a clear plastic thingie that goes inside the basket to, um, protect it). Sis won a basket liner (colorful fabric made to fit the basket, fold over the top and add a splash of color to the basket). Mom won a chance to pick from the 10 different basket gifts Longaberger was providing the consultants with. With our registration for the tour, we were able to choose to receive a Tea Basket or a Picket Pail Basket. All three of us chose the Tea Basket. The two hours flew by.
Once we got there, we headed to the Homestead (after snapping a few pics, natch) and the craziness ensued. It was massive sensory overload combined with clausterphobia. So many people, everywhere... and so much noise... and so much to see in products. Oh.My.Gawd. There were women who were buying three, four, five, six, etc. of ONE item!!! I was pissed that two women had FIVE each of the purse I had eyeballed. They left not-a-one on the shelves. However, I did find one downstairs that someone decided against buying and set down. Score! We did some frenzied shopping (within reason) and then headed over to the Crawford Barn for lunch, which was provided for us in a neat little Orchard Park Plaid fabric tote -- ours for the keeping! It was pretty tasty, too. A turkey wrap, some pasta salad, bag of chips, a cookie, and a soda/water.
After lunch, we headed into Dresden to do some shopping and walking in the tiny, quaint town. Of course, it had to rain because we were outside, but it wasn't stormy and it was fairly warm for this time of year. We bought basket liners and protectors for nice prices. We definitely got our exercise in today from all the walking we did.
A few hours later, we headed back to the Longaberger Homestead and had our Tea Baskets signed by two of the Longaberger Family Members (there were 12 children! -- 11 of which I believe are still alive). After that, we headed over to the HUGE factory where all the baskets are HAND-WOVEN. It was an absolutely amazing place. It's larger than SEVEN football fields! It was neat to see people actually weaving the baskets.
We then headed back to the Homestead and went back into the shops because we kept thinking about a handful of items that we thought we should have bought earlier, but didn't. The place was nearly deserted this time, and totally restocked! I found the purse I really wanted in the same pattern as the one I found earlier. I'll be selling the first one on eBay, I do believe, because the second one is so my style. It was so much easier and much more pleasant to shop in the newfound atmosphere at the Homestead. It was fantastic.
By 5:30 PM, we headed back to the tour bus to grab the snacks that the consultants had waiting for us, plopped down in our seats and watched A Cinderella Story (Stifler's MOM!) on the ride home. It, too, went quickly. The best part (aside from free stuff) was the fact that we didn't have to drive ourselves!!! It was quite an enjoyable day, despite the rain. And now? I am totally Pooped. With a capital P.
More pics over at Flickr... or in a Slide Show.