Home at last

Roger and I got home today around 4:00. We had the most wonderful trip, saw so many things, its seriously mind boggling. We took tons of pictures, can't wait to get them and scrap them while its all fresh...yes, Sister I'm gonna do them right away, not in 3 years :)

We were certainly saddened by the death of Papa Frank. He was quite the character as we all know, he had a kind heart and we will miss him.

To go back a bit, after we left Cedar Rapids, last Sunday, we stopped in Omaha, Nebraska at the most wonderful quilt shop of the trip. They actually have 2 shops in town, I went the the largest, both are called Country Sampler. It was full of wool, fabric, patterns, kits, wonderul wood pieces, plus they were having Christmas in July so lots of Christmas. I could have wandered and spent for hours but we headed out after a fun shopping trip. We were excited to find a Cracker Barrel near by...since it was Sunday I had their pot roast dinner. Oh my goodness, it was so good, one of my favorites of the trip.

We arrived in Grand Island Nebraska around 6, it is a good place to be from. We headed out the next morning to Laramie Wyoming. At this point we were just ready to be home. We did stay near the University of Wyoming and were so impressed with the size of their football stadiium....it was huge!!!!!

Arrived in Salt Lake City Tuesday evening, enjoyed walking around the temple and the square, had dinner, went back to the hotel...slept and up again this time heading to Reno. Reno drive was a long day..519 miles. We had dinner at BJ's Brewhouse one of our favorites. We went down to the casinos for a bit then came back and crashed one again. If you ever have to be in Reno, which I hope not...unless of course you are going for Hot August nights, you have to eat at Peg's Glorified Ham and Eggs I think its called. We ate at a new one out by our hotel this morning, it was our best breakfast of the trip.....you gotta try it!!

Home is the best place to be, other than with our granddaughters and family. It feels so good to come home and everything is in great shape. We hired a gardner and he has done a great job, so great we are gonna keep him!!!!

Off to relax a bit and put my feet up on my own foot stool ....until our next trip...bye bye!!!

Amana Colonies 2

Geesh, can't figure out how to post more than one picture so finally did two and guess what, I didn't know where to post so...........................I'll try this.

The Amana Colonies were wonderful, there are I believe 7, the main Amana is the best. We saw such wonderful antiques, I really, really wish we had a uhaul!!! We went in lots of shops with all kinds of things I love, Roger watched an auction while I perused a quilt shop...with wool I might add. We had lunch at Ronnenbergs I believe the name is. It would definately be a place to visit with your girlfriends as long as you could drive a moving van!!!!

Not much else here in Cedar Rapids, we leave tomorrow for Grand Island, Nebraska. Home is getting closer and closer and as it does, I have mixed emotions. We will love being in our own bed, using our own washer and dryer, scrapbooking our trip and then in about 10 days picking of the 2 little loves of our lives along with Lady and bringing them home with us. However, the thought of cooking, grocery shopping, getting up at 5:00 to go to the gym, and of course, working is not nearly as exciting as getting up and seeing Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, etc.

Later...good night...xoxo

Amana Colonies

An Adventure

Thursday, Roger had meetings all day so I decided to do some exploring. I ran across a blog from a quilt shop in Fox River Grove, Il, so I googled it and found it to be only 40 minutes from our hotel. I plugged the address into "Gerty" the GPS and off I went. First stop, Paneras...oh my gosh they are everywhere back here. I think I've seen at least 10 if not more. Pieceful Gatherings was wonderful, more primitive like I like and wool....good amount of wool. The picture is of her shop...so neat!! I talked to the shop owner, she was very sweet and told me about a couple other quilt shops. Sooooooooooooooo...Gerty guided me to A Touch of Amish and then to The Quilt Merchant which again had wool and patterns. The lady in the Quilt Merchant was so sweet, we chatted for a bit, really a cute shop!!!

We left Chicago yesterday for Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The drive was so pretty, lots and lots of corn, I mean LOTS of corn and beautiful farms....but its really hot and humid. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse came back too our room and crashed!!!

Today we are off to the Amana Colonies, my sister has been there and loved it so I'm sure I will too. Its hot and humid so we will be drinking alot and sweating...YUK!!!! I hate to sweat.

We should be home in a week :)

Chicago

We left Middleton, Wisconsin Monday morning and headed north to Menasha, the home of Primitive Gatherings. Oh my goodness, it was so fun to actually be there. I called my friend, Anne, and together we shopped the store. She was on the internet checking to see what, if anything, she wanted and I was busy gathering...what else do you do at a place called "Primitive Gatherings" Roger and I drove around the town, amazed once again at all the wonderful homes and the immaculate yards, certainly pride of ownership is alive and well in Wisconsin.

We headed back down south and made it to Chicago around 4:00. We are staying at the Marriott which is where Roger's employer is putting us up. It isn't any place I would choose but we don't have a choice so we are here.

Yesterday, we spent the entire day (9:30-11:00) in Chicago. We headed to the Navy Pier and decided the best way to see the most is in a tour. We rode around the city for at least 2 hours seeing the magnificent archtecture throughout the city as well as learning all the history of this busy, busy place. Of course, we drove by Oprah's condo and yes I did take pictures. We had lunch at Portillo's, really fun, typical Chicago place, walked and walked and walked until we made it back to the pier. We took an evening riverboat ride up the Chicago River seeing all the skyscrapers lit up, what a sight it was!!!!! We had planned to continue the tour today...but with 94 degress abd high humidty we decided to just stay local. We went to Woodfield Mall, walked around, had lunch at Cheesecake Factory and came back to our room exhausted. Roger had a dinner meeting and I stayed in our room and did nothing!!!

We've had a great time so far and are so thankful that we've been able to do this trip.

Wisconsin is so green and beautiful

Today we drove through some of Wisconsin....it is gorgeous. We had a lot of rain so no wonder its so green. There are beautiful, beautiful, farms all over these green hills. Roger and I decided we wish our parents had lived in Wisconsin so we could live here now with all our family. We drove through several towns even saw the Piggly Wiggly. We stopped outside of the Wisconsin Dells at a craft and antique mall. It reminded me of the old Folk Art Fairs we used to go to...lots and lots of cute things. We are finding we have less and less room in our car, Roger resorted to emptying the ice chest and its now storage!!!! We are in Middleton Wisconsin tonight. I've very exctied about tomorrow, we are driving to Menasha, Wisconsin to a little shop called Primitive Gatherings..which I'm anticipating to be full of wool...and for those of us who love wool...well we may end up with another ice chest :)!!!! More to come...Chicago is our next destination and we will be there until Friday when we will make the big turn HOME!!!!

Sioux Falls..there are falls there!!!!

Do you recognize these people???? Yesterday we got up, had breakfast at Cracker Barrel...it was so good!!! We headed to Falls Park and enjoyed walking around the park viewing the falls. It was so pretty, everything so green and lush and the buildings were this neat brick. Afterward, we went to a darling shop called Random Harvest. Roger visited with the owner's husband and I wandered the shop....and did some buying :). After we were on the road again this time for Minneapolis. We got here and both jumped in the pool and spa, it felt so good. We headed to the Mall of American which is huge and had dinner at Bubba Gumps...the coconut shrimp was wonderful. We shopped until we dropped then came back and crashed. Today we were up and about early, had the oil changed in the car, then headed back to the mall, rode the ferris wheel, wandered around, it is huge. We did try to find a couple stores I wanted to see but our GPS took us to on a wild goose chase...more than likely operator error! Anyway good day, off to Madison Wisconsin and God Bless my husband, he's taking me to Primitive Gatherings on Monday even though it is way out of the way....Yeah Roger...Until later..............

Badlands, Wall Drug, and The Corn Palace

Yes in deed, what a day....we saw a lot. We got up early, I wanted out of that gross hotel...stopped at Starbucks and was on our way by 7:30. Our first stop was Wall Drug, have heard about it for so long and there are signs forever advertising. It was huge and interesting to say the least, I shopped and Roger studied all the information about it. We took the Badlands loop and boy of boy what God has done in amazing.....I couldn't believe it, mile after mile of this...check out the picture. In all our travels, I can't help but thank God each time for the beauty of our nation. You see his hand in everything.

We made it to Mitchell, South Dakota and we headed downtown to a shop that Myrtle and I frequent on line. It was fun to go in and chat with the owner. Afterward we headed to the Corn Palace, talk about a peek at the past. It was huge, all decorated with corn and guess what...they sell popcorn inside!!!!!

WE arrived here in Sioux Falls around uh I don't know since we are now 2 hours ahead of you all in Califonria. Anyway, we were delighted to see an old friend across from our wonderful hotel...Paneras!!! We walked over and had a salad, Roger got a haircut and we are doing our laundry.

Tomorrow we are off to Minneapolis for 2 nights then will start heading to Chicago.

More later.....xoxox

Leaving Yellowstone, met the presidents today

We left Yellowstone yesterday morning around 7:00, stopped at McDonalds each got a parfait...those are really good. We drove through Yellowstone exiting on the east side, drove through Cody, Wyoming and then through the beautiful Big Horn National Forest.....amazing once again and the Shell waterfall was spetacular. We arrived here in Rapid City around 7, not thrilled with our hotel so are cutting it a day short here and on to Sioux Falls tomorrow. We;ve had great weather and lots of fun!!!! Roger seems to be working out well...this picture was taken as we were leaving Yellowstone, guess he was still sleeping!!!!

Yellowstone and Tetons

Yesterday we headed out to Yellowstone and had a great day exploring. We saw bison, buffalo, a pelican waiting on a rock in the middle of the Yellowstone River watching for a fish, deer and lots of tiny little squirrels. Old Faithful didn't let us down, it spewed like crazy. We saw absolutely stunning falls and rivers and lakes of unimaginable beauty. We were exhausted by the time we got back, had dinner, and then watched fireworks from the garage of a resident who took pity on us standing outside freezing....interestingly the wife was from Walnut Creek. The fireworks were wonderful.

Today we headed to the Grand Tetons which meant driving through Yellowstone again. What a picturesque drive and beautiful, beautiful mountains which I know Myrtle would just love. I took lots of pictures but unfortunately the ones on my big Canon camera won't upload so we will have to wait to get home to see those. This picture is at Colter's Marina, we had lunch here and enjoyed this gorgeous view. Off to South Dakota tomorrow.....

Yellowstone Today

Today is the fourth day of our trip to Chicago. We started out in Reno which was marginal at best, nothing new to see there. We had a long drive on Friday to Twin Falls, Idaho, the ride itself was pretty much sagebrush and a few distance mountains. We went through Battle Mountain which my mom told me she lived there for 6 weeks, glad that is all she stayed there because there just isn't much there. Saturday we sent to Shoshane Falls, it was absolutely gorgeous. They call it the Niagra Falls of the west, while I've never seen Niagra Falls I can't imagine anything more beautiful. Afterward we headed to the historic district of Twin Falls and as chance would have it there were having a quilt show. We wandered around there and stumbled across a wonderful scrapbook store....haven't seen one like that in a long time!!! We left there around 1:00 and arrived in Yellowstone about 5:30. We weren't hungry, ended up with cheesecake for dinner and then went to a darling little play, Clamaity Jane...really cute!!

Today we are off to Yellowstone National Park, nice cool weather, guess it will be a jean day. Happy Fourth of July to everyone and Happy Birthday to Cathi!!!!