We’ve been talking about it for months, counting the months, weeks and days.  Now we’re down to mere hours until Sock Summit 2009 commences.  Steve & I are here in Portland and are about ready to jump out of our skin!  We took a crack-of-dawn flight and were here at our hotel by noontime PST.  Although I’m not a fan of these super early flights, it was my preference for this trip.  We have never been to Portland so I wanted to be sure we had at least a few hours to explore the city.  For those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know I was particularly excited to visit Powell’s Bookstore. 

Powell’s is not only an institution here in Portland, it is probably the single most successful independent bookstore in the country.  Powell’s is HUGE.  I love bookstores so I had to visit, but I also get very excited about successful retailers so I was equally excited to see what Powell’s and its reputation were all about.  I was so excited I completely forgot to take any pictures, but boy did Steve & I have fun!  We both came away with new books and I think you’ll see a theme.  Here’s my selection:

And Steve’s:

We stumbled onto Kenny & Zuke’s Deli and ate sandwiches that were way too good and way too big.  Then we set out to find Nordstroms.  Remember, where I live in W. Mass, our retail options are pretty limited.  On our way, we stumbled on these cool food carts:

They were on both sides of the street and most were pretty busy.  I’ll have to ask a local about them – if you know the history, please post in the comments!

We took the train back to the Convention Center.  Here’s our home away from home for the next few days:

We went inside and walked around, got our bearings and are REALLY ready to roll tomorrow and get the booth set-up.  We will be right at the front of the hall when you come in – booths 603-607 & 702-706.  That’s where you will find us throughout the show! 

We’ll also be attending the Sock Hop on Friday night and possibly the Ravelry Party on Saturday evening (depends if we’re still standing or not).  Please stop by and say hi and check out all of the great yarns we brought along!  I’m hoping to steal a few minutes away from the booth to do a little shopping myself.  There’s a custom color of Lorna’s Laces that I missed out on that another vendor is carrying and I HAVE to have it (as do several folks back home – I come home empty handed and I’m in BIG trouble!).

For those of you coming to Sock Summit – what are you most excited about?

Kathy

Tags: Sock Summit