vacation

Well, Fillmore was a bust. I wanted to go back to St. George! The owner met us at the door of her office in dyed red hair with gray roots showing and gigantic curlers. She said she was leaving on the 8pm flight out, but she forgot to tell us that there was no coverage for her. The office, store and laundry were closed! We drove to a marsh to look at birds, and when I stopped the truck we were immediately surrounded by baby black flies--more bugs than we saw on any of our arctic trips! We also saw lots of birds, including American avocets, which we had never seen before.

Next stop was Provo, with Palm Sunday at an Episcopal Church, our first this trip. We prosessed 3 blocks singing All Glory Laud and Honor to the accompaniment of a trumpet. It fulfilled all my hopes and expectations. I even wore my red shirt.

The 18th was at Hot Springs resort near Garland, UT. Wonderful large 94 degree pool and 2 hot tubs over 100. No laundry and no toilets where the RV sites are.

On the 19th we found our first diner of the trip! It's in Snowville, UT, almost to ID. Red stools at the counter, booths along the walls. Great food, grown-up waitresses, one from Bellingham.

We "camped" in Glenns Ferry, ID, then on to Boise, where we had to pay $35 per night in the KOA. We hadn't spent more than $13 since Ventura. Gas was cheaper in AZ, UT and ID, too. We went to Boise to visit my friend Maryann, who has just moved there from Seattle. She and Roger were the most gracious hosts, feeding us dinner both nights. On Thurs eve, we went to the quilt guild meeting, where the program was the Boise Peace Quilters. Started in 19980 or so, they make quilts for individuals and organizations who have promoted peace and justice.

ZION

April 15, 2011 Today is my brother's 63rd birthday. Happy birthday, C.L.!!! We're in the best RV park this trip--it's small, with very friendly staff who are professional singers. Heated pool and spa. I've been sewing in the clubhouse. We are sorry to leave today and miss Nickel's country western show tonight. Yesterday was Zion National Park. We took the shuttle tour in the park, and walked a 2 mile trail to the end of a canyon. The park is as beautiful as Rainier, but in a different way with all the orange, rust and coral peaks, interspersed with white and black. It's breathtaking. We stopped in St. George on the way here, and I bought some of Kaffe Fassett's shot cottons in the colors we saw around us. I will use them in the class I'm taking with Jean Wells in Sisters at the end of the trip. Before this we spent a night on Lake Mead after driving up to Hoover Dam. I bought a postcard of the dam to show grandson Julian what his great-great grandfather Mead made. We spent 4 nights in Parker,AZ with C.L., and bought an RV resort membership. The last 2 nights and the next 2 will be $13 per night instead of the $30 to 40 we would normally pay. So far we have been the smallest "rig" in every park. Tonight and tomorrow we will be in Fillmore, UT.

NOEL AND CINDY'S EXCELLENT VACATION

April Fool's Day 2011 We're finally back to blogland! We left Seattle March 28, spent the first night in Portland camped in our good friends', Ken and Jeannie Prier's driveway. We headed for Tillamook on Tues, visiting the Latimer Quilt and Textile Museum. The museum offers a tour of the permanent collection to groups of 6 or more. The quilt shop has a retreat center, so this could be a destination. It rained all day. We spent the night at the Thousand Trails campground in Newport, after shopping at BJ's quilt shop. Still raining the next day. Shopped at Noel's favorite quilt shop, Quilter's Cove, in Newport, then headed south. Again it rained all day, and the visibility was so poor that one of us suggested we head over to I-5. The other person said he didn't want to drive through the Siskiyous, so we continued on to California. When we got to Brookings, the young woman at the Subway Shop said that 101 was closed before Santa Rosa due to a mud slide, and wouldn't be cleared for several days. A man said we shouldn't take Baby across 299, but we continued on to Salmon River, CA. The next am someone told us we could take Hwy 199 and end up in Grant's Pass, so we did that and stopped at a nice fabric shop there. Then we continued south through the Siskiyous, and camped last night and tonight in Redding. I visited 2 quilt shops today while Noel biked through some beautiful country. One of the shops had Kaffe Fassett fabric for 65% off! I bought a little. We have white crowned sparrow singing to us, and ?scrub jays making less nice noises. We have a view of Shasta and Lassen.