Kentucky 2016 - Day One

And so begins our yearly journey from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Lexington, Kentucky!

Yee-haw!

(Please note that the following "Adventures of Cowboy Austin" date back to when we became Paint Pony Studios. Cowboy Austin was a lowly Breyer doll who we decided looked more like a male model than a cowboy, and myself and a few friends convinced my mother to do a performance scene with him down at BreyerFest. We figured that since Cowboy Austin's scene was so popular at our last show that we would take him with us on our journey down to Kentucky.)

For us, a BreyerFest trip wouldn't be a BreyerFest trip without hitting up some antique malls. What else can you do to break up a twelve-hour long drive? 

Welcome to Ohio, Cowboy Austin!

Northwest Ohio's largest antique mall just outside of Findley has been one of our go-to stops. Not only is it HUGE, but it has a lot of great deals. Check out this awesome find:

A little tarnished, but still cool.

This guy is a 1990 Breyer Signing Party model. Only 3,500 of these were made, and they were only available at participating retailers for the year. Peter Stone would make rounds to retailers and chat with hobbiests, sign models, etc. He was a neat find for the day.

Smile!

A picture perfect opportunity.

From Ohio, we just traveled down further. Crossing the Kentucky border is definitely a highlight of the trip. From there, it's only an hour left until Lexington!

Cowboy Austin and James, our Australian GPS.

Our yearly tradition is to drop of the bags and head across the street from our hotel for Fazoli's. Definitely needed some good Italian fast food to keep us going because after that, it was onto the room sales!

Room sales are some of the most challenging, frustrating, hot, sweaty, and yet... FUN parts of our trip. You never know what you might find, be it body boxes, new in box oldies, vintage animals, performance tack, artist resins, or dolls. Look what we found for our 4H kids:

Blankets!

Of course, the room sales wouldn't be complete without a stop by the Peter Stone Horses showroom at the Clarion. Just like Breyer, Stone offers "special runs" to those who stop by Equilocity, but they're in much, MUCH more limited numbers than Breyer's.

I personally haven't found a "must-have" yet, but my mom found one she just couldn't resist.

Surprise! Loving some champagne.

Meet "Gingerbread Man", a run of three in a satin matte finish. He is a champage dun ISH with a custom mane and tail and the prettiest eyes you've ever seen. The best way to start off our trip is with a new horse, and I am definitely loving this new addition to the family.

Stick around for tomorrow's update. It's going to be a day of exploring Lexington in our new Equilocity t-shirts and then another (more hectic) night at the Clarion for some Artisan's Gallery sneak peeks and maybe even some Stone Horse Bingo!

See you tomorrow!

~Emma