Overslept the alarm clock this morning! Woke up a couple hours past when I wanted to, which made making the NJARC swap meet on time problematic. Decided instead to only go into upstate New York, specifically Kingston and New Paltz. Kingston was our first destination, where we stopped at the world famous P&T Surplus which I've mentioned many times before. Last time I visited was in September, so I was overdue. This was one of those places I'd like to visit more often, and thanks to a new business in New Paltz that Carol likes, I should be back there sooner than six months (the last time before that was in 2020). P&T Surplus always has different stuff from week to week, but one thing they always seem to have is wire. I neeeded some for a shortwave antenna, and they have it cheaper than Home Depot and Lowes. Also surprisingly managed to pick up a couple of patches for my military heraldry collection. FYI, plenty of CB gear and used computers there now if anyone needs them. They also have tons of surplus industrial electronics. Next stop was Manny's Art Supply in New Paltz. It was my late friend and fellow writer Dave "Wildflower" Westerberg who first told me about this place, and I think the last time I visited was with him a good 10 or 15 years ago. It was part of our periodic upstate NY loop which included P&T Surplus and every Goodwill and Salvation Army store on the route, which at the time was a good half dozen or so. Manny's is still a nice art supply place, but not as good as I recalled from last time I visited. I have a Dick Blick's right down the road a ways, so if anyone in the family needs speciality art supplies we can just go over there. Regardless, the whole family managed to find something cool there, so it was still worth a visit. They had one of the more complete selections of Peter Pauper Press journals, which Carol likes. The last time I was there, Wildflower picked up a quantity of Lyra graphite crayons for a project. They're not very expensive, so in a moment of nostalaga I bought a few of them. Left the rather cool Japanese notebooks on the shelf because I already have what probably amounts to a lifetime supply of writing supplies, but there's always next time... Next stop was also in New Paltz, Gary's Pickles. Carol discovered them at the food festival held at Walkway Over The Hudson, and decided that these are among the best pickles, ever. Gary used to sell exclusively at food festivals and pop-up locations, and is now renting a place just on the outskirts of the city with its own parking. That's good because downtown New Paltz is as tight and busy as New Haven over by Yale. New Paltz is about 20 minutes away from Kingston, so it's easy enough to visit both Gary's Pickles and P&T Surplus in one trip. Our planned stops done, we proceeded to head home at a leisurely pace through Dutchess and Litchfield Counties. Passed though Pleasant Valley on the way and finally managed to get in to the Pleasant Valley Department store. Most of the time when we pass by the store, it's early on a Saturday morning, or on a Sunday afternoon when they are closed. It's an old-school small town department store. The owner said it was opened in 1946 when her father came home from World War II. They have Life Is Good t-shirts and Vermont Darn Tough Socks. 'Nuff said. I bought one of each. They also have other brands I favor so they may wind up becoming a go-to place when I need new clothes.