Rat-A-Rama 2009

The trip and show were TOTALLY AWESOME! Rattie friends united in Boise, Idaho this past weekend on June 20th for Rat-A-Rama 2009.

The start of my journey was taking the Max to NE 82nd Street to meet some friends for breakfast..the gathering for the exchange. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with the bestest (yes I know) company of friends, fellow rat enthusiasts!

Then it was off to Jantzen Beach to meet the fellow travelers from Vancouver, BC with stops in the greater Seattle area to us (in Portland, Oregon). In the parking lot at Target you saw a mad exchange, me for some ratties. lol

Bungeeed into the "POS" van (as termed by our fearless leader on this trek), we were off. I actually didn't know them very well but had met them before. But we are a group of people with a love for rats and the drive to Boise, Idaho was fast (at least to me). Little fuzzies all around and I probably talked everyones' ears off. lol

We were taken in by another fellow rat enthusiast and we mobbed her house, we had joked on the way there saying we were descending upon our hosts. Pretty much, "Hi, where do we put our ratties? Where is the bathroom? When do we eat? Can we see the ratties? Where are we sleeping? Oh and by the way, how are you? In the end it sort of worked out that way. lol Our hosts were very lovely. They had awesome pets too!

Those showing their ratties bathed them and I got to dry some of them. They were all so cute!

As we buttoned down for the night, rattie pairings were occurring. I asked my new friends if we had to listen to rat porn tonight. lol Frankly I was too tired to hear anything and passed out. This ended Friday night.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early. Showered, the van was loaded with ratties going to the show and supplies for tables. I wasn't showing ratties and didn't feel I helped very much, but I did iron the Rosette Award Ribbons. It was me against the satin! Resistance was futile! I had the iron. ;-)

Eventually we piled into the van and off to the show we went! I wasn't quite sure what to do so Little Mischief Rescue had me set up the table. I was sitting next to the Breakfast Bunch Rattery's table and babysat the table and made some sales. The judges gave me a job to run the calculations. Made a few mistakes but finally got it going at the end there. I eventually moved to the judges table to help with the calculations and asked a few questions while they judged. It was all very interesting. And of course the ratties were all very cute.

Of course I took a break a few times and ate some food from the wonderful vendor outside. Turns out they were from Hillsboro, Oregon. They were very nice. I ate way too much...yum Hawaiian Shaved Ice... I was interviewed by the Idaho Press Tribune. I ordered a copy of the paper today (turns out a co-worker had his father save it as well).

As the show winded down, the raffle was announced. I won a wooden hut and treats and a plushy toy to add to my collection at my desk at work. And then it was over.

We cleaned up after a very long few days and left for sanctuary.

We ended up at the Golden Corral for dinner. We see the commercials in here Oregon but have never been. It was VERY good. I think they could rival many casino buffets. I don't know if I could eat at Hometown Buffet again. To top it off, it was only a few dollars more than Hometown Buffet (because our drinks are separate), but they also refill them for you.

Then we headed back to the house and while rats were reorganized in preparation for the trip, I went into a food coma. I guess I talked a bit when I became semi-conscious at times, but I was very tired. lol

Then I woke up in time to go to bed. Again, more rattie porn occurred. And again we were too tired to hear them anyway. (Does this all just make you think Barry White should have been playing in the background. lol)

The next morning was kind of sad because we had to leave so soon. Although by this time I'm sure our hosts wanted their house back. lol We ferried stuff and ratties back out the van and the master packer packed them up again. We had breakfast and then went to the car rental place to add another driver so another could drive. Then we were off.

The trip back was fast too! Before I knew it we were at my house. We loaded up the food and supplies that I had picked up for them (some they purchased and other was donation) to head back up to Canada. And away they went. I walked in the door and pretty much passed out.

So that was the trip. I had so much fun and hope we can do it again next year! If you get the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it. It inspired me to train to become a judge.

I want to thank everyone that made the trip so enjoyable and the organizers that put the show on.

small note: You may all notice I never really identify anyone in this blog, if you happen to email me and say you don't mind, I do go through and change the story, but I feel there is enough invasion of privacy without adding to it here. :)