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| Our First Shop! |
A couple of months ago, Shelley and I were chatting (IM-ing) about her plan to attend niece Beth's high school graduation in Port Orchard, Washington in mid June. She thought that since this would be more of a pleasure trip than business, that she might actually get to go to a quilt shop or two while she was there and she went a-googling to see what she could find. Well, she found some fun for us! It seems that 55 shops in the western half of the state have an annual shop hop and we could not come up with a single reason why we should not hop there also. She went a week and a half early for the family graduation fun and I flew up there last Tuesday night. We spent night one in a hotel near the airport because I got in so late and Wednesday morning after breakfast we rented a car and began hopping.
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| Parkland Parish Quilts is in an old church building. |
The company I worked for has a production plant in Milton - a suburb of Tacoma - and a couple of the gals I worked with on the phone over the last few years wanted me to come meet the people in the Milton plant and have lunch so Shelley and I aimed our first stops in the area of Milton.
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| Jeannie, me and Ronda |
I think Shelley hit her favorite shop in the morning on this day. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite as several of them there were really fun places. So we made it to 3 shops before lunch and 4 more after. Not bad for day 1! We then went to her sister's home in Port Orchard for dinner and unwinding.
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| The Boerner Home |
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| The Boerner Girls, Mom Robin and Aunt Shelley |
Thursday was the day of adventure! We headed as west as we could get to Ocean Shores for shop number 1 and my first physical encounter with the Pacific Ocean. I love oceans! I could not wait to get my feet into this one even though it was pretty chilly. Shelley took me to the most amazing places! We headed north to Ocean City and through Copalis Beach before working our way inland to Humptulips, on toward the National Forest and to Lake Quinault. Here we stopped at the lodge and this place had me completely and utterly speechless! An incredibly beautiful lodge overlooks the most picturesque mountain-surrounded lake you can possibly imagine.
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| Lake Quinault Lodge |
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| looks out over Lake Quinault |
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| The fireplace in the lobby |
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| The seating in front of the fireplace. |
It reminded me of scenes of estates on lakes in Europe (that I've only seen pictures of). The trees were amazing. The view was almost overwhelming. I did not expect to be so awed by it all. Next we drove back toward the coast and stopped at Calaloch Lodge on the coast.
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| This coastal lodge |
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| has this view! |
This lodge looks out over the ocean where a river runs into it. Driftwood, wild life and more amazing scenery took my breath away again! I did not want to leave either place.
I was beside myself with excitement when Shelley and Robin (her sister) were talking about the possibility of us going to Forks. I've seen the first two Twilight movies - Shelley's seen none - and I have friends who are super big fans of the books and the movies. The thought of going there was pretty exciting for me. Shelley didn't get it but it was on the way so off to Forks we went.
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| Lookin for Sparkly Vampires |
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| Bella's Truck! |
She took my photo in front of the Welcome to Forks sign and then I took one of Bella's red truck. Very heady stuff!!
From Forks we continued on to Port Angeles where Shelley went to high school. Here I got some beautiful views of The Straits of Juan de Fuca. I got brave enough to climb the observation tower but then a breeze moved the tower and since my death grip on the railing was limiting my photography (not to mention regular breathing) I promptly climbed back down. Sometimes being a chicken has drawbacks! Shelley's dad and step-mom, who live in the next town over, came and met us for dinner and it was just delicious! Shelley and I split a plate of grilled salmon, halibut and shrimp - my kind of meal! Because the shops in the hop keep extended hours, we were able to hit one more just moments before they closed in Port Townsend. That was only 3 for the day but with all the sight-seeing, it was a small price to pay. We went back to Robin's to crash and get all geared up for Day 3 and that's when I got to meet Shelley and Robin's mom Jackie. We stayed up pretty late chatting but what fun! For Day 3, Robin and Jackie decided to see what this hopping thing was all about and the 4 of us had a wonderful breakfast at Uncle Dave's (restaurant, not relative) and then went to a really cute little town called Port Gamble for our first shop. From there we went to Kingston, Poulsbo, Silverdale and Bainbridge Island. Then we went to the shop in Port Orchard where Robin lives and then back to her house for a quick break. Shelley and I then headed to Shelton for another shop and then we went to her grandmothers home. Now this place was really amazing! Shelley's grandmother, Virginia, and her mom and aunt have the most wonderful piece of heaven. They have birds, chipmunks, fish and other wildlife to feed and the most amazing flowers, trees and plants you can imagine. Virginia has a hothouse where she raises veggies and propagates her outside plants and there are lovely sitting areas all over the place to enjoy the scenery.
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| Robin and Shelley, mom Jackie and Gramma Virginia |
We went to dinner at Applebees with more family members and then to the casino at Little Creek and then back to Virginia's to sleep. Now here's the part I didn't quite get. In the morning, all the residents collect on a covered porch to watch the wildlife have breakfast and play - only this porch is outside! It was 44 degrees and they are all covered with down blankets, drinking coffee and counting how many finches are on the thistle feeder. It was a bit beyond this Texas girl's comprehension for sure. . .
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| Okay, so it was almost 50 by the time this was taken. . . |
Oh well, the company was wonderful the breakfast Aunt Carolyn cooked for us was out of this world and then it was time to get back on the shop hop trail. This was Ferry Ride Day! On the way to take Robin home we hit shops in Olympia and Yelm and after getting my stuff packed up, we took off to catch the ferry out of Bremerton and enjoy an hour long ride to downtown Seattle.
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| Feeding the gulls from the ferry. |
I think I spotted one sea lion in the bay but I really only saw a moving lump in the water so I can't be sure. Once in Seattle, we tried to go to a shop right downtown but is seems several, several thousand people had already arrived at Pike Place Market and had taken every parking spot for miles around. We had one other shop in the area so we just went there and it was totally worth it. Shelley and I had a great time at the different shops when the people stamping our passports would ask where we were from. Saying "Texas" got us lots of "Oh, really!!" responses. At The Quilting Loft, in the passport room, there was a quilt pattern designer named Laurie Shifrin. Not only had she heard of New Braunfels, she's been to our guild meeting and taught a class there (before Shelley and I were members, but still). She was so excited to have people from NB up there hopping that she was just bubbling. She also has developed a really cool technique for curved piecing that I think Shelley and I are going to try really soon. I really enjoyed meeting her and I hope that our guild will look into having her back some day.
From downtown Seattle, we made our way to Bothell for two things. Thing number one was a quilt shop and thing number two was MY family in Washington! The shop was cute but we were getting a bit road weary and it was good to get to the Kramer home. Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob, cousin Doug, his wife Shari and their cutie pie daughter Megan all welcomed us into their home and then took us to a fabulous dinner where I had dungeoness crab stuffed shrimp and Shelley had paella. Dessert put us over the top and not long after we got back to their home, we crashed.
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| The Kramer's and me |
Day 5 meant I had to go home. I was not really ready to do that but I had a plane ticket so I kind of had to go. Shelley and I actually hit 4 more stores on our way back to Sea-Tac. This brought our total to 26. She and I are wondering how on earth anyone could possibly hit all 55 in the same number of days. We are also not above trying someday to do just that! Sunday travel had some real highlights too. From the moment I arrived in Seattle, Mt. Rainier stayed hidden in the clouds. I got some pretty good views of the Olympics and some of the other ranges around us but the big one remained hidden. I began referring to it as "the alleged mountain." Well Sunday weather was so beautiful that I was finally able to lay eyes on Mt. Rainier and it was just - well, you're tired of all my adjectives - pick one! I could see part of it from gate at the airport but the pilot was kind enough to give me a really great view when we got in the air. We flew to Las Vegas and after an hour layover (and some time on the slots - wink, wink) we took off over Lake Mead and I could see the Hoover Dam. Then, a few minutes later the pilot announced that out the left side of the plane you could see the Grand Canyon. I just happened to be on the left side of the plane!! How cool to see the alleged mountain, the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon all in one afternoon! Mom insists they are all even more impressive from the ground - guess I still have to check that out. Do you think there are any quilt shops in Vegas or on the road out to the dam?
The final best part came upon arrival at home. Hollis picked me up at the airport just a bit after 10:30 and we got my luggage and headed home. Harris and Kristin were in the living room to welcome me home and then Morgan and Desiree popped out of the kitchen for added surprise. It was very cool to have them there though I felt bad for the ones that had to be at work early the next morning like me. Des said "we have an early birthday surprise for you - follow me." She took me to my studio and showed me this:
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| The closet in my studio! |
Desiree spent all of Sunday afternoon unloading my fabric from plastic storage bins crammed into this closet and Morgan and Clayton constructed this piece of furniture. She then arranged all of the fabric into it. I was totally speechless. This was no small undertaking and I am beyond blessed that people (Desiree) would do something like this for me. I am overwhelmed! A fairy tale trip with a fairy tale ending. Someday I will put up a carousel of photos of the quilts because I took lots of those too!
