Road trip, NY journey...

Trying to blog from my phone, so will keep it short.

We are in New York.  It was unseasonably warm when we arrived yesterday, but rainy and cool today.  We got out this morning, and found our way to Niagara Falls.  Sadly, the lack of cool temperatures until now means that the leaves haven't turned yet.  The falls are still impressive.

As we have travelled north, the Sonics have gotten fewer and further between.  But we found one here near Buffalo so had to stop.

Y'all know how I love my magic Sonic ice.  :)

October travel highlights...

Well, our two-week trip may be over, but I'm enjoying going through the photos.  Here are a few.  I decreased their size for the blog, so they may have lost some quality, but I hope they look okay.

It may be odd to start a vacation with a trip to a cemetery, but this was first on our list.  My sister (who took the journey with us) and I hadn't been to Nebraska (almost 900 miles from my home) to visit our parents' graves in a long time, so we started with that at the top of our list.

They are buried in an old cemetery along with previous generations of family, so I took the opportunity to take some photos to document dates, names, and locations.  The one above is the monument marking the graves of my great-great-grandparents...it dates from 1889...there is a group of little headstones near the foot of their monument belonging to their five children who died in childhood.

From there we headed east into Iowa and began seeing a bit of autumn color.  We stayed two nights in Lake Wapello State Park near Drakesville.

After that we went on to Indiana where we spent two more nights at Chain O Lakes State Park near Albion.  We took a day trip up to Shipshewana to visit their Amish and Mennonite shopping district. 

Then onward to Ohio.  We passed this landmark office building in Newark, Ohio which was (formerly?) Longaberger headquarters.  We stayed three nights at Dillon State Park near Nashport, Ohio.  As our trips progressed, the cabins we stayed in got better at each park.  We really liked the one at Dillon.  My sister and I agreed that considering some of the odd rent houses we had each lived in early in our marriages, if we had come across a little house like the cabin we stayed in to rent back then, we would have been in heaven.

We took day trips during our stay there, and saw lovely Amish communities east of Columbus.  There were great Amish thrift shops, and I wish we had been able to visit more of them, but our time was short.

We took a full day to drive up to Cleveland and visit A Christmas Story House Museum.  We love that movie so much, and this has been on my bucket list ever since I heard about it years ago.  I wouldn't describe myself as a 'fan' of very many things that would warrant making a visit a high priority, but I associate this movie with so many special memories and wonderful times with friends and family.

From Ohio, we headed south to Kentucky, and spent the night with my friend the other Kathleen.  She had dinner in the works for us, but I was a thankless guest, and asked her if we could please go out instead.  (Not that I don't like her cooking...when we lived in the same town, we used to prepare multiple meals at a time for the freezer and trade them with each other regularly to add some diversity and happy surprises to our menus.  In fact, she called me recently to tell me she had broken the last of the bowls we used to trade back and forth filled with meals.  We had shopped for the bowls together for our freezer meals, and we each had maybe four or more originally.  I still had four, two of which were in an upper cabinet never used, so I took them with me on this trip to deliver to her.)

Back to the dinner out.  Since we would only be in her town one night, I wanted to celebrate my birthday eve with my favorite sushi roll from my favorite sushi restaurant.  That's my favorite roll there wrapped in foil amid the flames!  SO good and SO much fun!  :)

On the morning of my birthday, we went to Berea, Kentucky where I started out a very lucky birthday by finding the perfect parking spot on their busy main street.  We got some shopping in at the shops featuring beautifully crafted handmade items...I only spent $9...there wasn't much room in the car for souvenirs.  Berea College is a tuition-free school, and claims a tradition of educating the head, heart, and hands of its students.  Craftsmanship, design, and marketing are alive and well, and many students work in its student crafts department.

photo credit:  Boone Tavern website

We stepped a few doors down and had lunch at the fabulous Boone Tavern. 

photo credit:  Boone Tavern website

We really weren't all that hungry, but who could pass up the opportunity to celebrate turning 60 in this luxurious setting? 

I started with a yummy cup of Creamy Pimiento Soup.  

    

photo credit:  Boone Tavern website

Carey and I shared a beautifully-presented Hot Brown, and he had coleslaw with his.

Then we proceeded to our last state park at Cumberland Falls inside the Daniel Boone National Forest.  The cabin I booked had 26 stairs to get to it, so I opted to change cabins.  They had a more access-friendly cabin that was two bedroom (one with two queen-sized beds which was super as the other Kathleen stayed with us one night) and two bathrooms.  It was a higher rate than the originally booked cabin, but they gave us a discount, so it was affordable and gorgeous.  And the scenery was definitely the prettiest autumn scenes we saw on the trip. 

 Beauty beckoned to photograph distant vistas...

 ...and spontaneous vignettes.

The falls were teeming, and though we weren't there during a full moon to see one of its famous moonbows, the sun played beautifully in its mists.

 We had gorgeous weather during the entire trip.  Cool and sunny, just like I'd hoped for.

To quote Anne Shirley (and L.M. Montgomery) of Green Gables fame, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

Frugal Friday File 2017, weeks 42 and 43...

SOOOO happy to be home.  We just got in from being away for two weeks.  We logged over 5,000 miles during that time.  Here's a bit about the frugality of it, even though it is Saturday.  :)

Successes:
1.  The only things I forgot to pack were a shower cap and shampoo.  The first hotel (first night) had both in the room, and they both lasted me for the entire two weeks.

2.  Out of 14 nights away, we only spent 4 in hotels, and they were surprisingly less costly than I had expected.  We all (Carey and I and my sister) shared one room with 2 queen beds.  Three of the hotels offered breakfasts.  We spent one night with my friend, the other Kathleen, and she fed us breakfast as well.

3.  The other 9 nights we spent in cabins at various state parks...very private and peaceful as there weren't too many other people at this time of year.  We stayed at least 2 nights at each location.  All but one of the cabin stays had been paid in full before we ever left home.  Since all the cabins had kitchens, we mostly ate in.

4.  I had planned and packed the food to take with us.  I pre-cooked meats for soups/stews and vacuum packed them and froze, and we borrowed a Yeti cooler which kept things mostly frozen between locations (when we got to each destination we moved everything from the cooler to the fridge/freezer in the cabin...including the bags and bottles of ice which refroze and were ready for the next leg of our journey, so not much spent on ice, and I didn't worry about refreezing the meats that had already been cooked ahead of time, since they were for soups and refreezing didn't affect the taste or texture).  For the foods that didn't need refrigeration, I packed each recipe's ingredients in a separate zip lock bag (canned goods included) and placed them all in a single box 'filed' in order that they would be needed.  That saved rummaging through everything, as each time I was ready to start cooking I could just grab the next bag, and then add its items to the matching ingredients (also labeled) from the fridge/freezer.  I also packed a 'breakfasts and snacks' bag.  We didn't eat many meals out, but we splurged on a few really nice ones.

5.  Foregoing souvenirs was not much of an issue, as we were very limited on space in the car.  I did buy gifts to bring home to the family at A Christmas Story House, as everyone in the family loves that movie.  I did buy some fabric as I had planned stops at some great quilt shops, but truly, I limited myself.  And we did stop at some thrift stores and picked up a few small things which I will blog about later.


Keep Tryings:
1.  We worked on the jigsaw puzzle one night (who knew my sister wasn't a fan of jigsaw puzzles?), and the puzzle board I made did work.  However, a cooler bag leaked on it in the car and I'm waiting for it to dry out to see if all is lost.

2.  We never got around to playing cards that I bought to take along.

Frugal From the Kitchen This Week:
Saturday:  stew and cornbread at my sister's
Sunday:  *pizza and salad buffet
Monday:  No-Peek Chicken
Tuesday:  Roast and Dumplings
Wednesday:  Virginia's Taco Soup and cornbread
Thursday:  Old Fashioned Goulash
Friday:  Jambalaya
Saturday:  leftovers
Sunday:  i can't remember
Monday:  *sushi
Tuesday:  Lentil Soup and cornbread
Wednesday:  Frito Pie
Thursday:  leftovers
Friday:  *dinner out

(*not-frugal takeout or dinner out)

You can't go home again...

...and if you do, they may give you a ticket.

Since our anniversary this past April, my thoughts have often turned to our first home together.  It was a pretty terrible little town.  It was rundown and lacked everything.  It was forty miles from the nearest medical help, and the big annual community event was a rattlesnake roundup.  It's been the butt of so many of our jokes and I-can-beat-that stories over the years, that we thought it might be fun to go back and look around.

Why would we move there if it was that bad?  Carey landed a good job there just a couple of months before we got married.  The first time he took me over to look at the housing possibilities, I came home absolutely dejected.  It was truly abysmal.  The one possibility that I remember most vividly was an apartment above a restaurant.  I'm being kind to call it a restaurant.  The apartment was filled with the smells and sounds coming up from downstairs (and probably the vermin too).  I considered postponing the wedding if not calling it off altogether.  :)

We started out living in a kitchenette in a tourist court...the type of place you see in movies from the 1940s.  We were there a few weeks when we heard about a small house for rent.  We rented the house and stayed in it for about six months, when the house across the street from it, which was nicer, came up for rent.  Let me tell you it was not fun moving just across the street...you end up carrying a box at a time from door to door.  Thankfully we were newlyweds and hadn't acquired a lot of possessions.  

We stayed in the second house which we were very happy with for only about six months, because the day after I gave birth to our first child we were told Carey was being transferred.  So we moved again, about three hours away, to a town that I had always thought was very picturesque, and I was in heaven.  I didn't have much time to settle in, because seven months later we were transferred back to the very same awful little town we started in.  

At least this time we had made some friends there, and I immediately started calling them to ask if they knew of any houses for rent.  One sweet friend called me back a day or so later about midday with news that a young electrician in town had been killed on the job that morning, and the house he and his wife rented was clean and decent and I should call the landlords immediately.  And I did.  I have never felt like such a vulture in my life, but that's how real estate worked there...the early bird got the worm.

We were approved by the landlords, but of course they couldn't give the poor young widow the bum's rush.  She naturally needed time to decide what to do and where to go and pack and move.  So while we had that house in our sights, we had to rent another really awful place for a few months until it was empty.

Now if you were counting, that was four houses that we lived in.  Today we drove around the town.  It's a little bigger, a few more businesses, but still terribly run down.  One thing we noticed was that there were way more trees than there used to be.  It used to be pretty desert like.  The trees really threw off my sense of direction.  And being that there was no home delivery of mail when we lived there, and basically no need to memorize your address, not to mention that we were in each house for such a short time, we couldn't definitively remember any of the streets that we lived on.  Oddly I clearly remember that our post office box was number 555.  I think because it always sounded vaguely fictitious to me, being that on American television all phone numbers start with 555.  

Anyway, we never found even one of the houses we used to live in.  They probably have all fallen down by now...seriously!  As we were getting bored with the search, and about to head back out of town, we turned a corner and within a block there was a police cruiser with lights flashing behind us.  We were going 27 miles per hour in a 20 mile per hour school zone.  I'm not even sure it was possible for us to have gone from a dead stop to 27 miles per hour in the after-school traffic.  And the blinking school zone sign was still in front of us, meaning we weren't even IN the school zone yet unless there was another one behind us.  Who knows?  Carey just wanted to get out of there.  He wouldn't even circle around the block to let me take photos of any school zone signage or get a better idea of what we did or didn't do, so we could decide whether to pay the fine or fight the ticket.

Anyway, sometimes you look back on things and let sentiment color it in shades of rose.  Yeah.  We never have, and today assures that we never will.  Back in the 70's we couldn't get out of there soon enough, and today we DIDN'T get out of there soon enough!  :)

Long day, but a good one...

We got on the road this morning at 7:00, drove 4 hours to see Carey's mom, stayed about 5 hours that included taking her out for lunch as well as having a great visit with her and Carey's younger brother, then said our adieus and drove 4 hours back home.  No packing.  No nights away from our own comfy bed.  No imposing on the hospitality of family or charging hotel bills.

I'm so glad we live close enough to make trips like this.  It was a fun day.

Home again, home again...

Oh so happy to be home!  I've toured Kasey and Beau's newly finished house...gorgeous!  I've stocked up on hugs and kisses and cuddles from the kidlets.  And Jared must have missed me, because it took almost no effort to get him to play Scrabble with me...two games...one win each.

The trip was very smooth sailing.  Rain was forecast for the first leg, with possible dangerous thunderstorms, large hail, and tornadoes.  We saw barely a sprinkle.  Made it to our destination, and then were in for a special treat.  A few days before heading home, when I knew we would be spending the night in Little Rock, I emailed a couple of my favorite bloggers from the area and was able to meet them for dinner. 

left to right:  the other Kathleen, V & C (The Stick Horse Cowgirls!), and me

After reading their blog for years, I just knew we would enjoy being with them in real life, and we did.  It was like having dinner with old friends.  Thanks for coming out to see us, V and C!  Hope we can do it again sometime.

Goodbye Kentucky...

Goodbye new friends.  In the spirit of going out with a bang, our final gathering featured a flaming sushi roll.  It is a good thing I did not discover this delicacy at the beginning of my stay, because it was seriously the most delicious sushi I have ever had, and it would have been an irresistible temptation to indulge...frequently.

Today I completed packing the car...except for a couple of last items that will go in in the morning.  I took the photo in case of a flat, thinking it would all have to come out to get to the spare, and then be fit back in like a puzzle.  But I just remembered that the spare is affixed under the car, accessible from exterior.  The tools are under all the packing, but I think in case of emergency, I would call for assistance.  The weather is supposed to be atrocious tomorrow, and I do NOT want to haul all that stuff out in the rain on a muddy roadside!

And here's my last Kentucky sunset for awhile, going down behind a bank of clouds.  See that forsythia in the foreground?  It is blooming all over the last week or so.  Spring has sprung finally.  (I didn't know what forsythia was until a few days ago.)

Packing for the return trip...

 

I started packing all my stuff and even got some of it into the car today.  It seems that I may be going home with a bit more than I brought!  

I may need to find one of these little guys to run along behind the car.  :)

It's a winter wonderland...

We don't see much of this down home.

A trip of a thousand miles begins with a single phone call...

I arrived in Kentucky on Tuesday, and was welcomed by my sweet friend, the other Kathleen (she's the one in gingham).

We are using this visit to focus on getting healthy.  She is taking on chemo, and I am taking on my weight (too much of it) and my fitness (too little of it).  Today we both exercised and bought healthy things at the grocery store.

I will stay as long as she can stand me...we're playing it by ear.

Another road trip...

Today I'm packing.  Tomorrow I am driving.  Tuesday I should be in Kentucky.

Laundry is in the washer and dryer.  I meant to be very organized about this pack, as I will be gone awhile.  Alas, I have not been, and I may end up throwing things loose in the car.

Note to self...don't forget: computer AND its cord, cell phone AND its cord, both Kindles AND the cords, sewing machine AND its cord.  See a pattern here?  

I'll be blogging while I am there hopefully...if I remember the cords.

Freaky Friday...

We are off to visit the in-laws.  On the way, Carey wants to stop to eat. He picks this place...a breakfast-all-day chain.  Never been my thing.  I think they are over-priced dens of crummy food.  But there wasn't a lot of choices in Podunkville.  So we waited (and waited and waited) to be seated. First clue.

Waiter was very friendly...in a big-dumb-slobbery puppy sort of way. A bit overly chatty. Kept asking if everything tasted okay. Like...those hotcakes tasting okay? How 'bout the eggs, they tasting okay? That burger tasting okay? And the fries...the fries taste okay too? (And this was all asked in just one of his many trips to our table.  I mean we were eating it, so...  Second clue.

Now here's the kicker. He made the round of the dining room to tell each of his tables that he was on his way to the restroom, so if we needed anything one of the other servers would be happy to help us, because he was on his way to use the restroom.  (His repetition, not mine.)  Picture a sparsely populated dining room...announcement made at each table...each time heard by the entire room.  I kinda wanted to ask just how long he was planning on being in there.  He left the dining room followed by quiet, unbelieving chuckles. Third clue.

Somebody tryin' to tell me, loosen up, girl.  It's gonna be a goofy day.

Seven random thoughts on the 7th...

Selected segment of original art by D. Eckert

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Caitiebug!

2. We made it to our destination safely.  SO thankful.

3. I'm blogging from my phone.

4. Writing a blog post on phone keypad is a pain.

5. Being with friends is a blessing!

6. I love GREEN! Green trees.  Green grass...except I am really in the land of bluegrass.

7. I'm not a party person...not a mingler...not much for small talk.  But the gathering today was really wonderful. People I care about. People I think about.  Enchanting child who has grown so big since I last saw him...equally enchanting sibling who was born since I last visited. Names who now have faces. Faces who warm my heart. Such a lovely time spent together. Such a great way to remember a friend.

Road trip...

My bags are packed.

My route is plotted.

I'm off in the morning for about a week.  I'll be picking up a friend (and great travelling companion) in the Dallas area, and then on to Kentucky.  

I probably won't be driving after Dallas, so I may try to figure out my new phone and see if I can do a short blog post from it.

A Map Of The World by Jane Hamilton

Oh, and this is what I'm reading at the moment.  No sure I'll get a lot of reading time in, as we will probably be talking non stop.  

Weekending in style...

One of the reasons for my trip to Dallas this past weekend is that my friend, the other Kathleen, was visiting there too.  She is such a good Girl Scout, that she took her camper with her.  When I decided to go, I asked her if I could sleep in the second bed therein, and she said, 'Sure.' 

 

What she forgot at the time was that the key part of making up the second camper bed was left behind at her home, several states away.  She didn't want me not to come, so she decided to book a night for me at a bed and breakfast!  She makes rather grand gestures occasionally.  So instead of sleeping in a somewhat cramped camper...

 

...this was my warm, comfy nest. 

 

I wasn't sure that I would be able to find my way on my own through the dark urban neighborhoods, so I made her come with me.  She feigned reluctance nicely.  :)

 

 

I would never look a gift horse in the mouth...unless she started it, of course...so we spent a few minutes pointing out the flaws around the place.  A) It was upstairs...an outdoor, steep, set of stairs that was not kind to our out-of-shape knees;  B) There was a lovely pedestal sink in the bathroom, but nowhere to set down makeup etc, and no other mirrors in the entire suite;  C)  The furniture was more reproduction than authentic;  and D) said furniture wasn't very comfortable.

 

We got a good giggle when we were talking about the difficulty of putting on makeup with no counter in the bathroom, and no mirrors anywhere else.  Kathleen said that she preferred pedestal sinks that had a counter top around them.  Ummm...wouldn't that basically make it a vanity?  :)

 

 

For the second night, I asked to be allowed to ditch the b & b and choose and pay for my own room.  I chose the Holiday Inn Express, where I had stayed once before and happened to know that they had the most comfortable beds in my recent memory.  She decided to stay with me there too.

 

Maybe because of the nice counter top around their sink.  :)