Monday, June 2, 2014

Here to There and Back Again


Yes, the silence on my blog was due to the fact that we have been away for the last few weeks – on a little business and lots of pleasure.

We first headed off to the big island of Hawaii.  This was our first visit to this island.  We enjoyed many beautiful sights – vacant beaches, black sand beaches, warm waters, palm trees, glorious sunsets, fragrant flowers and even a volcano.

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They had a lovely Hawaiian quilt hanging at the hotel and I found the different patterns and the border fascinating.  Pardon the glare, but it was behind glass.

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The center with the dolphins was great.

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We returned home, emptied the suitcases and headed up to the beach to check out the new remodel with my sister, brother and their spouses.  While there, we collected clams for dinner, visited the pier to see the freshly caught fish that was being brought in for sale and then hit the Santa Barbara Farmer’s Market to collect our dinner ideas.

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Leaving there we did a quick stop at home to add more clothes to that suitcase and headed out for a few days on the road – our favorite thing to do on vacation.  We enjoyed the historic mining communities in Nevada, the Sawtooth Mountains in Stanley, Idaho and the budding of spring in Wyoming and Utah.

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Although it appears to be snowing in this photo, it is actually the blowing of the seeds from the Cottonwood trees in Bishop, CA.

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Full streams were everywhere.

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A natural sandhill…..makes you want to grab a slide and climb to the top.

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Wild mustangs.

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A frosty morn in Stanley, Idaho – 22*.  This was the view from our cabin.

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Spectacular red rocks of Utah at 10,000+ feet elevation.


Along the way I had fun stitching some easy little projects that the amazing and creative Wendy sent me a link.  I figured they would make cute gifts.
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It will now be back to the regularly scheduled program!

32 comments:

  1. Wow! What a time you had! Thanks for sharing your journeys with those beautiful pictures. Your little sleds are adorable too!

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  2. You really have been traveling! A great scope of the West (and Hawaii) Lucky you!

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  3. Wow, what a lot of traveling. Love your pictures! Thanks for sharing them with us.

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  4. Great pictures! You covered a lot of miles. ;o)

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  5. OMG Mary!!! You had a wonderful couple of weeks!!! I loved seeing all the pictures - I can't imagine just how awesome it must have been to see all of those amazing things in person. Thanks so much for sharing - and welcome back :)

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  6. What a GREAT trip you had! So happy for you. Love your little cross stitch gifts. ;)

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  7. What an exciting time you had! I'm glad you were able to get away and enjoy yourself. Thanks for sharing all those marvelous photos with us.

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  8. What a marvelous series of trips! Thank you for sharing the photos. The snowy cotton wood photo reminds me of here the other day - I truly thought it was snowing until I noticed all the little fuzzies on my screens. Just adore your little sleds, too.

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  9. You could just keep a suitcase packed and grab and go! I think leisure road trips to unexpected places are best. I love your adventures. We, too, have been snowing cottonwood.

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  10. Such a great time tripping around all over the place. Always love your photos and you stitched cute little gifts...

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  11. What a great time you've been having. Thanks for sharing those fantastic photos with us.

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  12. What beautiful places you visit! Thanks for sharing such amazing photos! And I love those little sleds...they're adorable! :0)

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  13. what a wonderful trip Mary!! Your pictures are fantastic! good to have you back though

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  14. A lot of variety in your travels! We had 2 cottonwood trees by my childhood home. That photo brought back memories.

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  15. Fabulous photos! Thanks for sharing your travels and stitching ... :) Pat

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  16. Beautiful photos, Mary! I think You had a lot of pleasure.
    xo
    Gosia

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  17. Oh my what gorgeous pictures!!!! It almost makes me willing to take the trip again to Hawaii! If it weren't for such a long trip and an 8 hour time change I would hop on a plane and head there just from seeing all the wonderful things you saw!!! Will e-mail the rest of the comment just in case this won't go through. xoxo

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  18. Hummmmm....that went through just fine, I wonder why? I didn't even have to sign in through Blogger. Go figure! The quilts were gorgeous, I think you should have taken close ups of the blocks and recreated them at home! :o) The little sleds are adorable! Is that cross stitch or what? Where did you find the little sleds?
    The kitchen in your beach house is beautiful Mary!!! What a wonderful post, it just perked me right up and made me feel like I could start sewing again and get R to take me on a road trip! ha! I've always wanted to do the Amish country in Penn and see the quilts and horses and buggies. Plus we have a niece and family there. I'm waiting for the farrier to get here, the vet was here this afternoon and did shots so I have been in the barn most of the day. Hope this goes through!!!!

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  19. Looks like you had a marvelous time, from the beginning to end! You've included some incredible landscape shots from your trip -- it never ceases to amaze me how diverse the landscape is of this great country!! The sleds are darling! Great way to spend travel time, right? Welcome home!! :)

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  20. Wow Mary! What a trip! I would love to see Hawaii someday but that will probably never happen but I have traveled to some of your California places! My son and his wife lived in Bishop for 3 years and I loved visiting there! There were roses just everywhere and the bristlecone trees are amazing. They are the oldest living organisms known. I hope you managed to see Lake Sabrina and Convict Lake also. They are breath-taking! Also hope you got to visit Whiskey Creek...a great restaurant. Thanks for reminding me of all the good times there! Wish I could go back to that part of the world!!!

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  21. Thanks for sharing all the beautiful photos Mary! There are so many places I would love to visit.

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  22. Wow , what an incredible vacation , loved all your photos and the little sleds are just so cute .

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  23. Mary, amazing places you visited. I know you take road trip every year and each year is special for you. Time to relax and be with loved one. We hope to go back to Hawaii again one day - Hugs Nat

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  24. Wow - I wish I'd been a fly on your shoulder for both trips, Mary! Looks like a great time! Too bad you weren't just a little bit farther west than Stanley, you could have popped in for a visit!
    Cheers!

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  25. Oh my goodness, those sleigh ornaments are SOOOOO cute! Now I want to stitch them too! Hahaha...
    Love all your vacation pictures. I love that Hawaiian Quilt too. So pretty, and the colors are quite unusual.

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  26. I'm so jealous of your travels! blessings, marlene

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  27. Oh wow, you have been busy girl!

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  28. It's lovely to roam and explore and you seem to do quite well with the traveling. There is an amazing world out there waiting for us to discover all of it's unique beauty.

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  29. Absolutely beautiful pictures Mary!! Those amazing scenes give me the travel bug, and made me hungry for fresh food. =)

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  30. My goodness have you been busy!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time and your beach house is beautiful!

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  31. You sure have been having a good couple of weeks! Hawaii is definitely on my list of places to take the kids on vacation. Loved the photo of the "Bucket of Blood" saloon. It took me a while to find out why it's named that, but I think I got my answer. Did you stop in?

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  32. You sure have been having a good couple of weeks! Hawaii is definitely on my list of places to take the kids on vacation. Loved the photo of the "Bucket of Blood" saloon. It took me a while to find out why it's named that, but I think I got my answer. Did you stop in?

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