Back from our road trip......

I had a four day weekend this past Saturday - Tuesday, so my husband and I headed down to Oregon. We first stopped at Powells (a HUGE HUGE) bookstore, that mainly is used books. The store we went to takes up an entire city block and I think it is five or six stories high. They also have new books, but the majority are books that are sold back for resale. I managed to pick up a quilting pattern book there, however, they did not have the Quilting Academy series for which I was looking.

We had our seven year old grandson, Ashtyn, with us as we were dropping him off with his dad who lives in that area for a short visit. He knew we were going to the bookstore, so he was quite excited! The first book that caught his eye was one to do with Legos. He picked out a couple more, and then he found a hard board book called 'Harold and the Purple Crayon'. Well, that caught his eyes and he sat down w/Boppa and proceeded to read it to us! Now, I don't know who was more excited....Bobba because Ashtyn is such a good reader, or Ashtyn because the story was so cute! He also found it quite entertaining that my dads name was Harold, but he never knew him because my dad died before Ashtyn was ever thougth of or born.

From there we headed south......Seaside. Not the place to be with a knee scooter when there are many many many thousands of people in a coastal town for a professional volleyball tournament! Aye yi yi......needless to say, we didn't stay long.

From there we headed south to Tillamook, arriving late in the afternoon. Well, it seems the fair was also in town and everything (almost everything) closed up by 8pm, which means we didn't get to have dinner where we wanted. The next morning we headed out, stopping by the Tillamook cheese factory (I don't like cheese, but it was interesting!), the Air Museum (has the largest freestanding wood structure in the world - an old blimp hanger from World War 2 and it was ginourmous!!), and managed to pop in a quilt shop for about 15 minutes before continuing our journey. And no, I did not buy anything on this stop!

Made it to Lincoln City and stayed at a beautiful hotel call the Inn at Spanish Head. It looks deceiving because when you pull up to it, you see only two stories. These consist of the lobby and the restaurant. The hotel is built on the face of the cliff, so the floors for the room counted down from the lobby, which was nine, to one which was the beach. It was very confusing to me. All the rooms faced the ocean and they all had balconies, so it was quite nice, even though it was rather cloudy. We had stopped at the outlet center before checking in and I was quite proud of myself for not buying the Coach purse I drooled all over, even though I know it wanted to go home with me!

The next morning we hit the road a little earlier and went out for breakfast at a place the husband thought sounded fun - Pig and Pancake. Reminded me of Sambos back in the day and the food was pretty good. We continued on to Newport, which is a fishing community. Hit a shop there called Quilters Cove. Boy! That lady was big on applique! And she was really good at it! Not a lot of fabric, but what she had was very nice. She did have a crapload of applique patterns though......I'm sure there were over 200 of them! I bought one. Once we got down to the waterfront, I hobbled around a bit and my husband bought me a print by Paul Sloan. If you have never seen his artwork, check it out. It's very interesting! After lunch, we head to McMinnville......

It was hot and the sun was shining on my side of the car and I dozed off. Just as we were driving thru a small town named Philomath, I woke up to see a sign w/an arrow that said 'Quilt Shop'. Turn!!!!! He started laughing and asked how I managed to wake up for that when I'd been asleep for a good hour....hahahaha. Anyway, that store was closed, so we were on our way again. Next city was Corvallis and there is a shop there that made me want to move to that city (quite a nice city by all appearances). It's called 'Quiltwork Patches' and I fell head over heels with that shop! The only bad part was, they were closing in 18 mins!!!! I still managed to buy fabric and a couple gadgets before time ran out.

I could barely sleep that night because I knew in the morning I'd be going to Boersma's!!! That is my most favorite shop in the whole entire world as far as quilt shops go. Patterns, fabrics, longarms, gadgets, sewing machines...you name it, they have it! Yes, I managed to spend some $$ there as well. After that, I picked up my husband at the air museum where I had dumped him earlier. Head north to .... yes!!! Fabric Depot! Well, we stopped at a few other favorites stores on the way, since it is tax free in Oregon. Hit Fabric Depot about 5:30pm and escaped only $117 poorer two and a half hours later. What does one expect with 1.5 acres of fabric and 11,000 bolts of quilting fabric and any notion you can think of....oh, and everything was 20% off!!!! What a long day yesterday was. Made it home about 10:30pm and I went straight to bed since I had to be at work by 0700 this morning. I did not get any pictures taken but when I get home, I will snap away and hopefully get them posted later tonight.

So much fun to be had in Oregon! Especially when looking for fabric! Sounds like you had a great time!

Loved your adventure story. I'm laughing and giggling reading it. Glad you enjoyed your road trip.

Sounds like you certainly made the most of your trip!

We, well at least I, had a fantastic time!!! Working six day weeks makes it hard to do anything, so when I get the four off in a row, heck, if I get two off in a row, we celebrate! Normally we just go to our lake place, but I wanted to really get away this time. Best part next to the quilt shop visits, was that the man drove the entire trip!!!!

You made me tired. Glad you had a wonderful trip.

Sounds like a great weekend get away! Can't wait to see your bargains!

Sounds like a wonderful Road Trip and one you needed to escape. Wow, he drove it all gr8 news and I can't wait to see what you bought! I'd love to head up there... No Tax???!!!! oh my gosh you escaped with treasures and -0- tax! Good for you :-)

I never would have made it to work on time after such an event filled trip. I salute you. I also can't wait to see what you got.

I loved vacationing with you, vicariously.

What a great trip. Can't wait to see what treasures you picked up along the way. I don't know how you made it into work today though.

Sounds like a fabulous trip, and I was tired when you got home too! Whew, you really packed alot into 4 days.

Sounds like you had a ton of fun! I am amazed at how much you packed into 4 days. Can't wait to see all of your goodies!

Oh my, I LOVED that account of your trip! I love 'Harold and the Purple Crayon', I read it every year to my Preschoolers when we learned the color Purple. I also giggled when you described how you woke up just in time to see the sign for the quilt shop! Hahaha!
And yes, I confess, I was tired by the time you got home too, Whew! What an awesome adventure.

I just posted the pictures under 'Show and Tell'....enjoy!