Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Missing in Action...

It's been awhile, but I thought maybe I should check in, lest you think I wandered off into the desert, never to be heard from again.
It has been a busy couple of days since picking up our daughter and husband at the airport in Vegas on Friday evening.
Saturday was a very full day. We headed out in the morning and only returned after 11 at night. A pretty full day for this old gal. All kinds of things to dazzle the senses in Vegas...and it felt like sensory overload by the end of the day. We wandered the strip and checked out many of the better known hotels and enjoyed the architecture and decor.

We visited a few Harley Davidson shops. It is obvious that my daughter was more in a hurry than I to shop...I wad scanning the area for quits shops but alas...none to be found in the Harley Davidson (also referred to as HD) neighbourhood.

We even had coffee and dessert at the Harley Davidson Cafe!
Finished off the evening with a spectacular, fun show called Blue Man Group...wonderfully entertaining!

The next day found us at the Hoover Dam...an amazing engineering feat for the 1930's.

Impressive, don't you think?
On our way to Phoenix, we stopped at Lake Havasu to see the original London Bridge. Here's the story...apparently London, England felt that the London Bridge needed to be replaced, and the man who was building the community of Lake Havasu City thought that owning it would be a big attraction for his new community, so he went to England and purchased it, disassembled it, had it shipped to Arizona and had it rebuilt in his new town for a cool 7-9 million dollars...easy peasy!

Driving through the dessert was very entertaining...our car was quite loaded before we picked up our family members and luggage in Vegas, and to say we were a bit cramped for space would be an understatement...oh well it was only an 8 hour travel day. Have a peek

Desert landscape is so intriguing.

The Original London Bridge

There is so much more I could say and show , but we don't have wifi in our villa and I have been missing in action to long and am being paged, so ta ta till next time.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

Day 7: Flagstaff, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada

Very cold this morning. Minus ten...but beautifully sunny. After leaving Flagstaff we decided to take a little side trip. We had originally intended to see the Grand Canyon next week, but I mean how can you drive by knowing you are only about 45 minutes away from one of the biggest attractions in America. We were a little ahead of schedule so why not. While driving down the road to the canyon, we spied this creature having lunch.

An elk. Not my first time seeing these animals but still exciting.
We took a few pics of the canyon(about a hundred or so)
Have a look...

After an hour or two we got back on the road and headed to Vegas. Not the prettiest city I have ever seen. We found our condo, and moved in..made a few calls to family, started a load of laundry, went for groceries, made a stop at a hardware store looking for rotary cutter blades then Michaels for a circular knitting needle and then made our way back to the condo via Las Vegas Blvd.
Back home; put groceries away; start another load of laundry and the head out to the airport for midnight to meet our daughter and her husband.
Ahhh life in Vegas is exciting! ...but please remember, what happens in Vegas , stays in Vegas.

Friday, February 22, 2013

OVER 5000km. under our belt...

Lots of driving, but the goal is in site.

Day 6: Albuquerque, New Mexico to Flagstaff, Arizona

Would you like to see what I saw when I looked out our motel window this morning?

I cannot believe I actually entertained the thought of a swim in that pool you see peeking through the trees. It was a nice day yesterday, but boy oh boy, when it the temperature started to drop, it really dropped. Listening to the news/weather this morning, there were a lot of places that got the same kind of surprise that I did.

Apparently Aloe Vera plants are much tougher than I knew. This was at a highway ret stop this morning.
This next photo is definitely not a great picture of me, but I took it to illustrate something at the same rest stop...

Now you may be thinking, I am a "few strips short of a jellyroll" for taking a photo of myself in a bathroom stall, but I am only 5'3" and you will notice my head is quite a bit higher than the door. Is it just me, or is that a bit odd? I guess maybe in this neck of the woods you don't look for feet below the door to see if a stall is occupied; you just peek over the top on your way by!

Ok, let's change the subject...

We are still following along the old hi way Route 66. Every little community has their own Route 66 museum, none of which we stopped at... I kind of wanted to, but it was quite chilly and extremely windy out so once I got nestled in my seat in the car I hated to get out if it really wasn't necessary. I just sat back and enjoyed the marvellous scenery. New Mexico's nickname is Land of Enchantment and it isn't too hard to understand why... The landscape is hauntingly beautiful.

We stopped at a local quilt shop to find a few things on my list. I was looking for Monique Dillard's rulers "Fit to Be Square", and a good price on 505 spray baste, and a striped Navajo fabric...no luck I am afraid, but I did find a few more fabrics to round out fabrics I am purchasing for my oldest grand daughter's quilt...oh and a couple other fabrics. I would show you what I bought but I left the bag in the car and I am not going ,out in the cold to fetch it...it can wait till tomorrow.
I do however have a few pics I took in the shop

This shop seemed to be owned and run by two men; (father and son I think)
There were some very lovely local flavour prints, but not much in the way of samples.
While I was there, a sales rep from Henry Alexander fabrics was giving a demo of upcoming fabrics. I watched a bit of the demo, but Mr. O was wandering around the shop waiting for me, so I thought I should focus on the job at hand.

I mentioned that I would show some of my treasures from a previous shopping day. Have a peek...

A couple new books, some flannel for pillowcases for a quilt I made this past fall, a pkg. of vintage mini fabric panel, and a piece of French fabric.

A collection of fabrics for my granddaughter's quilt. All but the first fabric on the left will be incorporated in that quilt, along with a few others I have at home.

On to Las Vegas tomorrow. Our daughter and son in law are flying in from Saskatchewan to spend the next week with us. Thankfully we chose to rent a condo away from the "strip". After seeing the horrific report on the news today
I'm not sure I want to be anywhere near there, but we have purchased tickets for a Cirque du Soleil show and then plan to visit Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. It should be be a fun few days. We will be busy but I promise to try to keep you updated.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Hola chicas (Hello ladies)

Sending greetings from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Another full day...a little less driving today but I seem more tired than before.

Day 5: Amarillo Texas to Albuquerque New Mexico

Heading west we went to Sante Fe, stopped for lunch...first time having a grilled cheese loaded with green chilies and bacon and tomato and a BLT New Mexico style, with cream cheese, and sliced avocado. Very tasty!
I am not real familiar with the state of New Mexico, but some things I expected...

Different vegetation, wide open spaces, cattle, sand....
What I didn't expect was this ...

SNOW! I know we were told to expect snow and rain mix today, but it was such a nice day I was sure they must have made a mistake. We did see snow along the side of the hi way in some places as our elevation changed, but when we took a tram car up Mount Sandia, it was not long before we got to see some of the white stuff. What is a nice day in the city of Albuquerque is not necessarily a nice day up the mountain...I am told they are expecting almost a foot of snow. This apparently is not unusual...I think I better brush up on my geography , because I was thinking HOT in New Mexico...who knew?
But you know what really warmed my heart?

Yup! You guessed it...a quilt shop stop. This charming shop was featured in Quilt Sampler magazine in 2005. Lots of very different fabric, regional prints and patterns.
Have a look...

I purchased this bag pattern, and can hardly wait to make it...maybe for our next trip??? We'll see.

Here is what I splurged on today.

Some labels, spool wranglers, new ripper with a cool added feature that helps get rid of all the little thread bits after ripping, a new bag pattern, and another basket pattern, and of course a bit of fabric.
I also saw the cutest cartoon, and to all my family and friends with a tattoo, please don't take offence, it just struck me funny and I wanted to share.

Now I leave you with a parting shot. Lest you think I don't know how to focus my camera while taking photos, this is how most of them are taken...

I could ask Mr.O to pull over but there are only so many hours in a day and if I spend too much time focussing my camera, it takes time away from my shop hop. There is a method to my madness. Night night....