A very rainy Tuesday

Just under 1/2 inch of rain and temperatures under 60` for our high on August 31. Can you believe it? So what's a girl to do?









I bought this book before we left for vacation. On the drive through Montana I stopped at my favorite flour store - Wheat Montana, a huge cooperative outside Butte. And today was the perfect day to put the them together, in the oven.




Not normally much of a bread baker but this stuff is hard to ignore as it comes fragrantly out of the oven. So will keep practicing my baking skills.

I really wasn't sewing much on the vacation, but tomorrow I'll show you what I've been doing and what I've "played" with since we got home. Oh it is such fun. AND - I'm really excited to report that I will get to go to the Houston Quilt Show with friends Ronda and Alayne. You're gonna hear about this one! Life is good!

Saturday at the Ocean

Our RV group is having their August event at a campground in Westport, Washington. A very cute little town with a very nice campground. It also happens that there is a lovely quilt shop quite nearby, which I have managed to visit a couple of times, already.

This is a town of fishing and lumber. A visit to the docks on Thursday managed to lead us to some fresh caught Dungeness crab - oh my gracious - that was fabulous. The main contingent of the group arrived yesterday afternoon/evening and we began the program planned for us. :-) We are playing Survivor. Last night's games consisted of shooting large red rubberbands into wastebaskets in various positions. Today we are to gather at noon and we'll learn what we are doing today. My group, the Blue Devils, is sure to be enthusiastic even if we are lacking in skills.

I mentioned the Quilter's Stash - the little quilt shop in town. They are struggling. I'm sure it is a similar plight for small town businesses where the majority of their traffic is transient. The gal in the shop said they are going to 'go back' to having an online presence and see if that helps 'fill in' a bit during the winter months. I would love to be nearby as it is such a sweet little shop and their buyer does a great job of selecting fabrics and they have lots of classes. I bought a few things and yesterday took two other RV gals there and they spent a bit. So it all helps, I guess.

Next week is the annual camping with the grandkids trip - #10. That's a long time and DD reports much excitement in their house. GS has been carefully counting down the days until we go. Isn't it amazing how we can bring such joy with something really pretty simple. And you make it a tradition and viola! And then we will actually be going home - to my own computer, a better selection of clothes (maybe not better but different) and a larger refrigerator.

This has sure been an adventure!

Heading West

Our marvelous journey continues, although finding reliable wi-fi is not always as easy as it might be (along with the one campground that wanted to charge us $10 per day for wi-fi). We had a great 3 days in Yellowstone National Park. There is lots and lots of road construction going on so at least on the Norris to Madison loop (if you know where I mean) there can be up to 30 minutes wait. Bring a book! But the park is, of course, just fabulous. No wolves or bears sighted this time, but lots and lots of elk and bison. One morning we got up and were in the park by 7:30am. We took one of the little side roads (cars, only) and got a very up-close look at what we believe was an osprey. Fascinating. And then, for something "completely different" we got rain - and hard rain at that. However, by the time we were heading out of the park it was starting to think about clearing. Spent the night in Missoula, Montana - what a charming little town. And the weather there was perfect: light breeze & sunny, under large shade trees. Another pretty drive and we are now in Coeur d'alene (sp?) Idaho. A splendid lake if you have not had a chance to see it. Today we will do a scenic drive around the eastern end of the lake - never done that before.

I forgot to mention, on the way west, in Montana we stopped at my favorite flour store: Wheat Montana. (it is just about in between Bozeman and Butte). It is actually a cooperative of wheat growers and they pride themselves "We sow it, we grow it, we dough it" - or something like that. This time I bought all-purpose white flour. In the past I've bought whole wheat and spelt flour. The all-purpose is to try out the "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day" book that I bought just before we left on this trip. Should be a fun momento.

Happy sunshine Monday.

Learning about our history

This has been such a fascinating journey - learning about many of the stories we learned in school but had little real contact with. Today was a visit to the grave of Sacajawea. Depending who is telling the story she is buried to the west of Fort Washakie, up in the hills somewhere, or she is buried in a marvelously unique graveyard in Fort Washakie. Reputedly a local minister who had known her identified her and attested to her burial. She has a tombstone beside that of her son and adopted son. Also in that graveyard is her granddaughter. As a Washingtonian, I am well aware of the unique part that one young woman played in the "opening" of the west, by her work with Lewis and Clark, and native tribes from Missouri to Washington.

After we left her "apparent" grave site, we continued on the Wind River Indian Reservation. My gracious, but our government was not very generous in providing tribal lands of much value. Tonight we are staying in a lovely campground south of the town of Dubois (Wyoming), just off the reservation, and looking at the Wind River. We are heading north tomorrow past the Grand Tetons and into Yellowstone Park. We are actually staying in West Yellowstone and will travel through the park to get there - as other roads around are not plentiful. We were here two years ago and it will be a pleasure to enjoy its majesty again.

On the Road

I cannot believe so much time has gone by. We have been without email/internet/phones for almost 2 weeks. We are so used to having these little gadgets at our 'beck and call' that when they are not available, it is a bit of an adjustment. But we are back into flatland and should be able to keep connected. I have managed to find a couple of quilt stores along the way and perhaps may find more - you never know. I take photos thinking of my blog readers, so one of these days I may even get them uploaded. Oh well - you have been in my thoughts. Life is so good!