Sentimental Journey: Muir Woods

Sometimes things in life have a really interesting way of coming together.

 

In early February 2019, Chris and I took a trip to San Francisco. The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team was playing nearby in San Jose and I’d never been to California, so I went with him. Our flight out was first thing in the morning on January 31, putting us in San Fran around 11:00 a.m. We'd spend the rest of that day and the next sightseeing, hit up both the soccer game and the Sharks home game down in San Jose on February 2, and then fly home February 3.

 

Predictably, that’s not how things happened. There was a significant delay with our flight and we didn’t get out of Pittsburgh until 4:00 p.m. They ended up putting us on a direct flight rather than one with connections like we’d originally had, but it was already dark when we landed in San Francisco. We lost an entire day of sightseeing.

 

We had to eliminate some of the things each of us wanted to see (for me, sadly, that meant Alcatraz) and cram the rest into a full day on February 1. We had a rental car, so we went to Lombard Street, the Palace of Fine Arts, Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Painted Ladies. Chris wanted to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, so we did that. When we got to the other side, he mentioned a park he’d last visited as a kid, an old-growth coastal redwood forest, and asked if I minded giving it a try even though it was rainy. I’ve always felt a strong spiritual connection to trees and there’s sense of peace I get when I’m in the woods that I don’t get anywhere else, so I immediately said yes, rain be damned.

 

The park was Muir Woods, and it was easily my favorite part of the trip. 

 

 
The next morning, as we were getting ready to head to San Jose for the soccer game, I happened to check my email on my phone and saw the announcement for the web special #712292 Muir Woods, a run of 350 pieces from the America the Beautiful Series, honoring National Parks across the U.S. He was released on February 1 - the same day I was in the real place.

That made him an instant must-have.

 

 

Given that I was already sentimentally attached, I was nervous that I wouldn’t get drawn for him. My luck with web special lotteries is abysmal. But the alignment of the universe that caused me to be in Muir Woods the day he was released must have still been at play, because I got picked for him from the first draw. He’s as gorgeous in person as he was in the promo photos. Every time I look at him, I think about the real place and how awesome it was to be there.

 

I also don't think it's a coincidence that my Sentimental Journey post was on tap for today, exactly seven years later.

 

Whenever the time comes to disperse my collection, he'll be one of the last to go. 

New Additions: January 2026

One of my 2026 goals was to buy fewer models and spend less money. I’ve long been out of space in the horse room, the Floorses are multiplying at an alarming rate, and I dropped a ton of money last year trying in vain to save my cat, so finding some discipline in both quantity and expenditure was in order.

That lasted exactly 18 hours and 31 minutes into 2026.

 

 

On the evening of January 1, a seller posted this delicious thing, a liver chestnut Pebbles Arabian Mare, on the Peter Stone Sales Page on Facebook. The seller wasn’t sure if she’s a OOAK You-Color-It or a You-Call-It model (the former is your choice of color, pattern, and markings on a pre-selected body, while the latter is pretty much anything goes, including some super extreme customizations), but what she is doesn’t really matter to me. I just said, “Yes, please,” and bought her.

Four days later, my washing machine entered the end of its life cycle. It’s still here, but multiple pieces (that are no longer made) are broken within the drum and it sounds like the bastard offspring of a velociraptor and a bad fan belt when it spins. We’ll have to get a new one sooner rather than later. Luckily that was covered by our home warranty, who sent us a Lowe’s gift card to go pick out a new one.

Two days after that, my water heater crapped out, which was NOT covered by the home warranty, and there went my “fun money” budget for the foreseeable future.

 

However ...

 

 

Then this happened.

 

I shouldn’t have even bought this guy, but come on - he is the definition of what I most enjoy collecting. Arabian? Check. Bay? Check. Glossy? Check. Painted by Audrey Dixon? Check.

Obliteration of Mel’s willpower? Check.

His issue name is Wisenheimer and he was a run of 3 models released in November 2018. I’ve looked at this guy’s picture on the Stone Horse Reference site dozens of times in the past few years. With a quantity of 3, I never thought I’d find one. I messaged the seller as soon as I saw him and said, “I’ll take him.” Didn’t even want more pics. Didn’t negotiate the price or ask for time pays, even though the seller probably would have accommodated the latter since I’ve bought other models from her in the past. I had grabby hands the second I saw him.

He snuck in just ahead of the snow storm we got last weekend, which dumped a foot of snow on us overnight Saturday and into Sunday evening and was followed by an entire week of highs in the single digits/teens and lows as frigid as -14 (this morning). I'm glad the seller shipped him out as fast as she did!

The Singles Bar: The Letter C (Breyer Edition)

Continuing on alphabetically by mold name, today’s Singles Bar post contains my lone wolves on Breyer molds that begin with C.

 

 

This is #711433 Opry, the BreyerFest volunteer model from 2013. There were 155 produced. I’ve had several Clydesdale Mares throughout my collecting years, but she’s the only one who remains.

I was lucky enough to be picked for volunteering that year and received Opry for helping with the diorama contest. I accepted entries Friday morning from 9-12 and gave them back to entrants on Saturday evening from 4-7 once the winners were announced. In addition to getting all the entrants’ information as I accepted their entries, I had to measure the entries with a plexiglass cube to make sure they fit the 12x12x12 requirement.

One gal, a teen in a wheelchair who’d recently had a major surgery and didn’t think she’d make it to BreyerFest at all, came up to the table with her entry pretty early in my morning shift. I could tell right away that the entry was far too tall. Both the entrant and her mom were visibly distressed. I told them that all was not lost - they had til 4:00 to trim down the entry and get it back to the booth. They asked for a pair of scissors and some tape, and spent probably 20-30 minutes moving things around and getting it down to the right size. Once it met the requirement, they turned it in, thanked me profusely - I’m not sure why, as all I did was remind them of the rules and hand them the scissors and tape - and went on their way.

I’m glad they were able to get it submitted, because her entry was one of the winners.

In 2013, they were still announcing all the auction models prior to BreyerFest, and I was a bit disappointed when Opry was announced as the volunteer model. A cream dilute draft? Totally not my thing. (Well, except Pamplemousse, but we’ll get to him another day.) I stuck her on a shelf in my living room when I got home and looked at her every day over the course of several months, and ended up absolutely falling in love with her. She’s still one of my favorite volunteer models to this day.

 

 

I’ve shown her a handful of times in collectibility under the name Patsy Cline. Her biggest win came at a non-NAN-qualifying show with an OF color division, where she was declared the overall champ.

Opry will likely remain my only Clydesdale Mare for the foreseeable future, as the only others on my want list are somewhat difficult and pricey to obtain - the Connoisseur model Lanark’s Rosebud and the BreyerWest special run Del Mar.

 

 

A BreyerFest surprise model named after beer and released the first year they had the beer tent? Yes please!

This is the #711510 Rotating Draft Surprise in silver bay, one of six colors they used on the mold that year. I’m not typically a Cleveland Bay mold fan - he is sooooooooo loooooooong and takes up a ton of room on the shelf - but I had to have one of these as soon as I saw the color. There were 1200 made.

I had an astonishing four BreyerFest tickets that year. In my defense, it was the first BreyerFest back in Kentucky after two years of online-only during the pandemic, and I liked a ton of the special runs. I ended up with four surprises - two Wedgewood pintos, another one I don’t remember (maybe a buckskin pinto?), and a matte gray appaloosa, who ended up being one of the rare ones. A friend of mine avidly congas the Cleveland Bay mold, so I sold him to her for cost, and then bought this silver bay guy from my friend Nina, who had a duplicate. Everyone ended up happy!

Other Cleveland Bays on my wish list include obtainables O’Leary’s Irish Diamond and Griffin. I had a Griffin but sold him at BreyerFest 2024 and instantly regretted it. He wasn’t at all popular due to his Cheetos-orange color, so finding another won’t be difficult. The only unobtainium Cleveland Bay on my wish list is a glossy O’Leary’s Irish Diamond.

 

 

So I have a thing about cows. 

For my birthday one year late in high school or early in college, my sister got me a stuffed Beanie Baby Pillow Pal named Moo-Moo. Moo-Moo became a whole thing in our family. We affectionately refer to her as The Family Disorder - everyone talks to her. My sister crocheted her a sweater. Moo-Moo has been gifted many hats (including some fancy Kentucky Derby hats). My best friend sends her a birthday card every year. Moo-Moo has a whole personality including likes and dislikes, cannot be trusted around beer, and faints every time she hears any beef-related food words.

So when this Cow model, #711256 Diwali, was announced as the animal special run for BreyerFest 2017, she went straight onto my want list. In sixteen BreyerFests, she’s the only animal run I’ve ever purchased from the tent line.

I don’t have any other Cow models on my wish list, not being a collector of the animal molds, but I wouldn’t pass one up if I stumbled upon it in the wild and the price was right.

 

 

This is #B-BF-10089 Miss Independent, a run of 2200 pieces from BreyerFest 2024. I liked the color immediately, but there were others higher on my want list that year and I only had one ticket, so I passed her up.

If she looks downhill, that’s because she is, at the moment - she got a trifle warm during her journey in a shipping container from China and her left front cannon bone softened like overcooked spaghetti, ending up at a 90-degree angle. I can fix her with a heat gun, just need to drum up the courage to do so. I snatched her up during room sales last year for only $40. If I ever show her, her name will definitely be Spaghetti Leg.

I’m quite a fan of this mold, though I haven’t always liked the colors they’ve put on it. The only ones on my wish list at the moment are True North from the Premier Club and the unobtainable raffle model Rangoli.

 

 

This is #712435 Shelbourne, a release from the 2022 Stablemates Collector’s Club. I purchased him direct from Breyer. The Cantering Morgan mold seems popular enough, but I’m not a fan. This guy gets to stay because I like his color and because I like Shiny Things. The only other one I’d like to have is the 2020 BreyerFest single day model, Skye (who is also a Shiny Thing).

 

I have several Stone Chips that are singletons and was going to cover them today as well, but this post is already kinda long. I'm gonna do February Mel a favor and save the Stone Chips for next month.