Category: Travel

The great road trip adventure

1/12/2025

It's been a minute or two! I returned from the great road trip adventure last Monday but I haven't been able to do much since them. I came home with a massive head cold and spent this last week in the recliner. I'm on the mend now and the cold didn't damper the fun of the trip. Today's post is all about the trip.

We left Richmond early on the morning of the 30th and our ride was Anne's party van. We took this photo at the last stop in Denver.

We had the best travel companion, Ouiser. Hours of riding had to be miserable for her but she was a trooper. It was funny on the first night when, during the night, she jumped in bed with me. I thought she was being sweet. It turned out she was looking for protection because she had a little accident in the other room. She didn't sleep with me again the rest of the trip and we were all happy about it.

Our first stop was Knoxville, TN. Neither of us had ever been to Dollywood and we decided to start here to see the Christmas decorations.

The decorations were amazing. I could have taken a hundred different photos. These are just a few of my favorites. The park is so well run and very clean. I'm not a big theme-park person but I'd go to this one again.

After Knoxville, it was a short drive to Nashville to spend New Year's Eve in party city. We had a drink and listened to some music in a bar on Broadway before heading to the Ryman. The Ryman has to be one of the coolest theaters in the US. There's so much music history there. Several years ago, Chris and I saw Vince Gill and Amy Grant there at Christmas about 5 years ago.

There can't be a cooler show at the Ryman than Old Crow Medicine Show on New Year's Eve. I haven't seen a more energetic show since Earth, Wind and Fire. It was an absolute blast.

The next day we were off to Mammoth Cave National Park after a 45 minute search for the perfect chicken sandwich.

We did two tours at Mammoth Cave, the Frozen Niagra and Mammoth Passage. I would love to come here again. Aside from over 400 miles of mapped caves, there are miles of above ground hiking trails too. I expect this area is absolutely beautiful in Spring and Summer. If you ever get a chance to visit this park, do it. But plan ahead, the tours fill up fast. You can get on a notification list for openings and they do add tours throughout the day. Of course, you can't go in the caves without a tour.

January 2 started the long driving part of our trip. We spent the evening of the 2nd just west of St. Louis and headed to Lincoln, NE on the 3rd.

The stop in Lincoln was to visit the International Quilt Museum. Unfortunately, our timing couldn't have been worse. They were preparing 3 galleries for new exhibits. But we did get to see this very cool exhibit of quilted sculptures by Susan Else from Santa Cruz, CA.

After Lincoln, it was an 8 hour drive to Denver and the weather was like this most of the way. On this adventure I did get to do some of the driving and this day/evening was the most stressful. But the van performed great. We had to stop a few times to scrape the windshield and lights but it was never slippery at all. It's convenient to have a van with a microwave. We could heat water to pour on the wiper blades and lights. This photo was taken in Kearney, NE to send to my husband. Chris has hunted near Kearney for 30 years.

Most of Nebraska and Colorado looks just like this. There's a lot of space in those states!

This was my favorite sight.
We arrived in Denver about 8pm and we were ready for a night where we could sleep in.

On Sunday, we headed to Empower Stadium to watch the Broncos play the Chiefs backups.

It was freezing cold but a beautiful day. It was a fun ending to a great trip. On Monday, Anne and Ouiser left for the mountain and a winter of skiing.

I packed my two little remaining bags and came home Monday night. I packed for the trip in a way that I could throw out almost everything I packed. Occasionally I like to use travel to purge my wardrobe and it worked great on this trip. It's a really good way to travel to a quilt show. You can replace your clothes with fabric for the trip home.

Now we start getting ready for our drive to Tucson next week. I need to get the farm quilt bound before I go which means that I need to get a piece of fabric dyed for the binding first.
I'm glad I'm feeling better.

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Back from the beach!

11/5/2024

We had a lovely trip to the beach. I live only about 2.5 hours from Sandbridge Beach and I even lived in Virginia Beach twice, but I never spent any time at Sandbridge. It's a lovely beach and we really enjoyed it. This photo was taken from the pier and that's our condo building in the background. It was the last building before the city public property and Back Bay Wildlife Refuge area.

We were well entertained too! The Oceana Naval Air Station is nearby so we got to watch some practice maneuvers.

We also discovered that people ride horseback on the beach on Saturday mornings!

I'm not a morning person, like this person on the beach, but I did get to see the sunrise every day.

We walked on the pier one day and the pigeons and grackles were patiently awaiting any catches from the fishermen on the pier (yes, all men on this day).

One day I walked to the Back Bay Wildlife Refuge where this sign says no people beyond this sign. Hmmm, people and tire tracks.

We got some sewing and crochet done. Mom finished a veterans top and I finished this one. I'm glad I chose the orange fabric but Mom still wanted the green!

I finished the second donation shawl in this yarn. I just need to add a button.

I started the third (and last) one in this yarn.

We came home totally relaxed. That will wear off today as I work the election all day. I'll probably post again Thursday.

We're back!

9/9/2024

We were so lucky with the weather on this vacation. It was fabulous and even on the last day (Thursday) I was able to get out to kayak for a couple of hours. This was on the way back looking toward the place where we stay. You can see that "our" house has a spectacular view.

It's a 980 mile drive home so we always have a book to listen to and I have a crochet project. I started a shawl for this trip. We stated one book that was recommended to us and it was AWFUL. We switched to the newest installment of the Cork O'Connor series and it took us to within 15 minutes of home.

I only have a few rows left to do and this shawl will be done and ready for donation.

I did do a little shopping on vacation. At our stop in Belfast, I picked up two new patterns. I've been looking at Lepidoptera for a long time. Katie made one a few of years ago that I loved. I thought Oak Moth was just cute.

In Wilton I found these cute earrings.

In Southwest Harbor these 3 fabrics asked to be taken home.

Last week I talked about the rocks our friend, Bill, brought me. One person asked to see the rock collection so here goes.
Bill has a career in the US Navy and then a second career as a pilot for American Airlines. But his college major was geology. He loves rocks and collects them from places where he travels. These are rocks that he brought me from Ventana Canyon in Tucson, AZ. We visited them there last winter and hiked Ventana Canyon twice.
He always includes 1 untumbled rocks for comparison but he tells me that it takes weeks to polish rocks in a tumbler. The rocks are on the tea towel that his wife, Laurie, made for me.

Here's the beautiful tea towel that I will really use. She wove it with a beautiful butterfly pattern. I have a scarf that I bought from her several years ago that I also love.

These are some of the rocks that he polished for me from Cadillac Mountain. I hiked Cadillac on my 60th birthday so he did these for me to commemorate that.

Last year (2023) was the first year that they stayed with us in Southwest Harbor so he got these rocks from the lake. I have a lot of little wood trees, some I've bought and some a gift from a friend, that I use with my rocks to decorate the mantle. It's a little unusual, but given that I also collect vulture art, it all seems to fit.

I haven't quite gotten myself totally organized for the week so I'm not sure what I'll be sewing but today I'll, at least, get the farm blocks out, press them and get them up on the design wall.

Almost the last post from Maine

9/4/2024

Our last visitor left Monday. We had a great visit with him and he even brought me these great fabrics that he picked out himself! he used to work on the high-end garment industry so he's an expert on fibers and colors. One of our earlier visitors is a weaver and, when I get home, I'll show you the beautiful tea towel that she wove for me. Her husband tumbled some rocks for me from Ventana Canyon in Tucson. They were the couple that we visited last winter. He's done sever rock collections for me and I love them.

Since Dave left Monday we have had perfect weather. We hiked Bald and Parkman mountains Monday, kayaked a couple of hours Tuesday and today we hiked our favorite trail, Pemetic. It's not quite as high as Cadillac but a lot more interesting. It's a steep hike full of boler piles to scramble. I talked about it a bit in this post. This time we took the ravine path that required climbing down two ladders.

The views from almost all of the hikes here are amazing. From the top of Pemetic we can see over Southwest and Bass Harbors and out to the ocean and islands beyond.

In the afternoons we have been able to pull out the float chairs and relax in the lake for an hour or so. It's all been lovely but it's time to head home on Friday.

In the evenings we have been watching Season 1 of Joe Pickett. The house has Paramount+ so that's been a nice treat. I've gotten lots of crochet in and will have the baby blanket finally finished tomorrow. The big blue blanket is at a standstill because I need more navy Pound of Love yarn. I hope I can find some somewhere. It doesn't seem to be available online. I can get away with another yarn as long as I can find a pretty good color match.

With the baby blanket almost done, I realized that I needed to start a new car project for the ride home. It's going to be a donation shawl. I got the first few rows done so now I know the pattern and have it ready to go for Friday morning.

On the sewing front I did finish all of the blocks for Fab Farm! Everything is packed up now. I didn't want to try to cut sashing here so I'll finish this at home.

The last blocks were the bees. So cute!

Here's a look at one set of the blocks. I'm really excited to put this one together.

I'll hopefully have the baby blanket ready to share Friday and then you won't hear from me again until Monday or Tuesday.

Another amazing day

8/30/2024

We started off early yesterday to get on the trails before the parking lot filled up. If you want to hike in the morning in Acadia you have to get to the parking areas before 9 to be sure of getting a space. We got to the trailhead about 8 and when we returned about 10:30 there were 5 cars waiting for a parking space.
We selected the Bubbles for our hike yesterday. This fun trail has two mountain tops in one trail. This is on top of South Bubble looking over Jordan Pond with the ocean beyond.

On the North Bubble we were in view of Pemetic and Cadillac mountains. This weekend my goal is for us to hike one of these. Cadillac is the highest so that's a goal. But if we don't do Cadillac I hope we can do Pemetic, it's my favorite trail in the whole park.

We got back in time to relax in the sun for a while and then get in some sewing time. I'm now working on chickens! I started with the sections that are common to all 4 chickens. Getting these out of the way will speed up all of the other chickens.

I got the first chicken made and I think it's so cute! We have another friend coming to visit today so I might not get the other chickens done before Monday.

The crochet blanket is coming along great. I'm working on the border and only have about a round and half left to go.

It's been a few days!

8/29/2024

We left Wilton, ME Friday and made out way through Belfast and then on to Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island. We look forward to this view every year. We had some friends arrive and we were blessed with perfect weather for 4 days. Those guests left yesterday and we are on our own until Friday. Yesterday we woke to rain and it was mostly cloudy all day. But here's what's been going on so far.

We have a tradition of doing our first hike on Beech Mountain. It's a nice length with great views and all different types of hiking surfaces. This view overlooks the pond that "our house" is on. Tuesday I kayaked the length of this pond out and back. It was about 2 hours and a lot of fun.

Everyone except me hiked the Precipice Trail Sunday. Precipice has the right name, lots of ledges, rungs and ladders. Not for me at all! I kayaked the lake that day too. On Monday three of us hiked the Champlain North Ridge Trail. It's quite steep but had great views looking over Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor is the far point of the land mass with Bar Island right behind it. The town is named for the "bar" of land that is only visible during low tide. On the other side they have a sign with the nuber of a water taxi in case you get stranded. Midway in the photo is a big complex that is the Jackson Laboratory, a large research complex that has 4 location just in Maine.

In this photo you can see that the fog was rolling in as we were hiking up.

At the top it looked like we were above the clouds.
So far the hiking and kayaking has been great but we took yesterday off.

I didn't do any sewing while we had guests here but I got my sewing corner set up yesterday and got back to the Fab Farm quilt.

I finished the tall sunflowers yesterday. Only chickens and bees left to do.
We have a couple of days until the next guest arrives so I'll make some chicken progress the next 2 days.

I did get some crochet done while our guests were here because we watched movies at night. The red marker is where I last left off and was ready to attach the next ball of yarn. I finished that whole ball and the blanket is basically square, as I wanted. Now I will start the border and get this one wrapped up soon.

Today we hope to go for a hike and then I'll be on chicken duty while Chris goes out fishing. We are gett the best weather this year! It's the best year yet for weather.

Last days in Wilton

8/23/2024

Today we leave Wilton and head to Southwest Harbor for the last 2 weeks of our vacation. We have enjoyed our last 2 days here. Yesterday Chris had a guided fishing trip so I headed out on the kayak for one last trip around Wilson Pond. It takes about 2 hours to paddle around the whole pond and I made it back just as some rain was coming in. Aside from Long Pond on Mount Desert Island, I think this is my favorite pond that we've stayed on in Maine.

On Wednesday we went toward Weld and hiked half of the Blueberry Mountain Trail. It's a very steep trail that gains over 1400 feet in 1.2 miles. I knew that I wouldn't make it all the way to the top but I needed to test out how well my foot is healing before we head to Acadia for a lot more hiking. It seems to be healed as long as I have it taped up with the KT tape. It's a cool trail and, if we come back this way next year, we will definitely hike it again. We saw some interesting flora along the way like these black trumpet mushrooms that are supposedly edible.....but I'm not trying them!

This cool caterpillar is the spotted tussock moth caterpillar. I was thinking that it would make a cool fly lure to tie and actually found one but I can't seem to find it again.

I've also been sewing and got 4 sunflower blocks done. I think these are the least fun to sew but they are really cute and will add some brightness to the quilt. These are the short sunflowers. There are 4 tall sunflowers too.

I got the flowers for the tall sunflowers done before I packed up my mini sewing room. All I have left to make are these remaining tall sunflowers, 4 chickens and 4 bees. I might have the whole top together by the time we head home in 2 weeks.

Today we will spend some of the day in Belfast on our way to Southwest Harbor. We have friends meeting is there to hike with us for a few days. The weather is expected to be spectacular for the next several days.

Check in from Maine

8/19/2024

Like (almost) all vacations, things are going well here in Maine. Yesterday it turned a little rainy and it will be rainy today. But we have books and sewing so we're happy.

On Saturday we got out to the Mount Pisgah Conservation Area and hiked the Tower and Blueberry trails. I taped up my ankle and I have absolutely no pain in my foot. That was a great success! Stepping in dog poo wasn't a great success but I got over it and my sneakers are really clean now.

I realized that the hike location was 10 miles from the Maine Cabin Masters store so we detoured there before heading home. It was fun to visit but it's just a tourist retail store with a lot of really expensive things.

Chris is having fun fishing. It's always slow on maine lakes because there just aren't tons of fish here but he's having better luck on this lake than anywhere else we've been in Maine. If he had kept this one it might have been a citation. But he put it back from someone else.

Sewing continues at pace and now the cows are all out to pasture.

Next up are the horses. The horse blocks have strawberries as a component so I made these blocks first. They turned out to be harder than expected because I cut the green pieces and the large red pieces wrong! I didn't figure it out until I was sewing them together.

My little workstation is quite dark so on a trip to WalMart yesterday, I picked up this work light in the hardware department. It was about $30.

I love it! It has 2 lights and the light arms are adjustable in height and angle. There are 3 light strength settings and a flashlight on the end.

It's even magnetic on the base! This is going to be a great travel sewing light for me. It will be good for crochet too.

Today is another rain day. I hope to get enough of a break for a walk to town (1.2 miles) but mostly I will sew horses and we will read.

New England Quilt Museum, part 2

8/15/2024

Zen Nosegay by Pat Ferguson

When we visited the New England Quilt Museum we went specifically to see the Paula Nadelstern exhibit. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had an exhibit on the evolution of machine quilting! I didn't take as many photos in the exhibit because 1) I had seen many of the quilts in shows before and 2) there were a number of people looking at the quilts and it was taking too long to get in a position to take photos. But I have a few to share.
This first photo is a small section of a wholecloth quilt.

Mountain Torrent by M. Joan Lintault

I have seen this quilt in a magazine but it's so much more impressive in person. The center section is all machine created lace. You can see right through the quilt. She said she experimented with machine made lace as a connecting element, not decorative delicate element, in this quilt.

As I'm posting these photos I realized that I didn't get any photos of some of the earlies machine quilted quilts. It's clear that as soon as sewing machines were invented that quilters were taking advantage of the timesaving tool for every step of the quilting process. There are some very early machine quilted quilts. They even have probably the earliest free motion quilted quilt.

Bamboo White by Jinzenji Yoshiko

The photo can't possibly do this quilt justice. It's absolutely stunning.

The quilt is made in intricately quited strips and pieced strips are appliqued over each panel join.

I love Zentangling so I had to capture photos of these 3 Zentangled stitched quilts by Pat Ferguson.

Double Arc by Carson Converse

I think there were 3 quilts in the exhibit by Carson Converse and each one was very powerful and so precise! Her website is worth a visit!

Here's a closeup of the absolutely perfect stitching on this quilt. There isn't a backstitch on it anywhere.

Gray Applique by Karen McTavish

When I started longarm quilting Karen McTavish was one of the first "famous" longarmers that I followed and I took a couple of classes with her at some quilt shows. She says that she made this quilt during the winter of 2023 when Minnesota had 138 inches of snow. I just love the grayscale transition from block to block.

Funny story on this one. I really wanted a photo and was waiting for another woman to finish taking photos so I could get in position. She was taking her time getting her shot lined up. What she didn't realize was that I could see that she wasn't taking a photo at all. She was holding her phone like she was taking a photo but she was actually reading something on social media. I know she was doing it on purpose as a little powerplay but I wasn't in a hurry and was just amused.

The detail quilting is beautiful!

There were also quilts by Margaret Soloman Gunn, Debra Wagner and others. You can see a few more quilts on the website.
Then we turned a corner and got this fun surprise...

Humamachine Sculpture by Bruce Rosenbaum

You can read more about it here.

Paula Nadelstern exhibit

8/13/2024

I took about 40 photos at the New England Quilt Museum and I'm going to have to split them into 3 posts over the next week or so. Today I'm going to share the photos from the Paula Nadelstern exhibit. It wasn't a huge room but it was filled with her quilts that spanned from her early years to recent work. I recognized many of them from previous exhibits and from her books but they all look different in real life.