Spokane with Heidi

My pictures are backwards. We visited a winery towards the end of the day. It was at an historical site on a hill overlooking Spokane and the Spokane River.
This is the original home built in 1924. There are lots of rock structures attached to the house and on the grounds. The flowers were beautiful.

Here's another view from on top of the hill at the winery.

The gatekeeper's house.

Where the wine tasting takes place.

Riverfront Park where the World's Expo was held in 1974.

Flowers at the park.

Alan and Heidi on their big red wagon at Riverfront Park.

There was a carousel at Riverfront Park. This horse was hand made by the original carver, Looff. It is inlaid with gemstones.

Heidi is riding one of the 6 armored horses hand carved by Looff. There was a ring game where the rider can lean out a grab a ring then toss them into the clown as they go around. I tried taking pictures of Heidi leaning out and grabbing the ring but my camera wouldn't click that fast. When the ring makes it into the clown a bell rings. She made the bell ring! Go Heidi.

Alan and Heidi at the water park at Riverfront Park.

Alan and Heidi walking downtown when we were shopping.

So this post is of our first day in Spokane. This morning we're all tired from all the walking we did yesterday. Oh yeah, I DID get to visit one quilt shop while Heidi and Alan stayed in the car. What a find--Fat Quarters Thursday--$1/fat quarter!!!!! Plus we also found a butcher shop that had all kinds of spices, smokers, books, knives, butcher equipment. We picked up lots of brochures and bought several BBQ rubs. Yum.

So hope you enjoyed our visit to Spokane downtown.

'til next time....

from sea to shining sea......

mimi

pictures from Arlee (near Missoula)

Here are some pictures from our visit with Adam and La Rue. They live in Arlee in the mountains, not far from Missoula. The road from Missoula to Arlee is being widened, and there is lots of game. This tunnel was the solution to allowing the animals cross the road when it's complete. This tunnel will have dirt and banked up to it on each side so the animals will cross there. On other places on the road further north where it's been widened already, tunnels under the road were made so elk and other wildlife could cross there. The tunnels under the road are working--the animals cross there. Now they'll have to learn to go over the road. We're teaching our wildlife migration prepositions!
Look at the beautiful mountains in the background. Beyond this picture and a little further north the Mission Mountains begin.

Construction on the road. It's supposed to be complete by end of October. Hmmmm.

Picture of Adam and La Rue, our dear friends. We love them and enjoy visiting with them!

We often bring out maps when we're visiting with them. Love it!

from sea to shining sea.....

mimi

first night in washington

Last night we boondocked in the parking lot at a casino in Spokane. Boondocking--parking without electricity, sewer, water hookups. We rely on battery power, LP, and the inverter. We don't suffer, believe me. I looked up what dining rooms or buffets were in the casino, always something to discover, and lo and behold, there's a sports bar with a 30ft x 10ft screen with 3 smaller screens attached to each side, plus multiple screens all around the room! So we decided to watch Monday night football while eating supper! Alan loved it, but couldn't hear the plays cuz remember, he has hearing only in his right ear, and that is only at about 40%. So he could hear everything on the same level that was going on in the sports bar---and it was loud. But he enjoyed watching it on the big screen. If you are reading this you probably know I don't watch football, don't know much about it. I've always either watched a good movie on another channel, sewn, or gone to a fabric store when a football game is on. So here I am at the big screen, and I'm having stimulus overload, so I'm more concerned about what funny looking shoes the man next to us has on, where is that hostess seating people that they can't see the big screen, what are all those men in jackets and headsets doing, look at those football shaped glasses, look at the posters featuring all the specials of the week, wow, look at those other games showing on the smaller screens, look, you can sit in a booth and have your own smaller tv on any channel you want. Poor Alan, I think he was ready for me to walk back to the motorhome! I did try to watch the big game but I'm hopeless. I left at halftime but he stayed and watched. I took a picture of the big screen with my cell phone but forgot to 'save' it so it's not here. In an hour we move to an RV park--we didn't go last night cuz we wanted to check them out first. And we like to boondock when we can. We'd rather stay in a state or national park but this big parking lot looked inviting yesterday.
And yes Jan, Mom flew home Saturday Sept 5. Now Heidi flies in tomorrow and stays with us for 5 days. We're going to drive in the countryside near fruit orchards. Apples, pears, peaches, blackberries and raspberries are in here. Wow our growing seasons are different! Can't wait to see all that fruit--plus there's lots of vegetables to pick.
til then.....
from sea to shining sea.....
mimi

travelin' time again

This morning we're leaving for Spokane, WA. It's only 3 hours west from here, so we're taking our time this morning. But yesterday was "putting it all away" day. My sewing to put away--so many boxes to re-pack, all our books and magazines, all my lotions and potions, toaster oven, vegetables on counter, food boxes on counter, all the shoes on the floor by the driver's seat, the extra table we carry, do all the laundry, clean bathrooms, wow I was tired by the time I went to bed. But I got it all done! Alan's doing his outside stuff right now--cleaning windows and making sure everything is secure in basement compartments. I love love love traveling!!
Heidi is joining us Wednesday so pictures will soon be posted.

from sea to shining sea.....
mimi

one lap quilt complete!

I finished our lap quilt top last night. I can hardly wait to get home and finally quilt these tops! I don't know if the photo of this quilt really shows how pretty it is, but the black print and red print are really nice. Plus the beige print really ties it together. Oh well, Alan and I like it and it goes well with the interior of our motorhome. I guess that's all that matters, right? It was fun and easy to piece.

Nothing else to post about. Nothing else going on except we're busy putting things away since we're leaving Missoula Monday morning. We're heading for Spokane, WA for 1 week. Heidi is joining us there for 5 days (from Wednesday to Sunday) to stay with us and see what Spokane has to offer. Then we're off to start our homeward journey. We're figuring on about 2 weeks to get home. I'll post more about that upcoming trip on a future post.

Til then.

from sea to shining sea....

mimi

lots to tell, no time to tell it

Well, we've been busy with new friends we met here in Missoula! There was an RV parked next to us, nothing unusual, but this time for some reason the couple inside the RV caught our attention. Both Alan and I had the same feeling--we were supposed to meet them and invite them to do something with us. We've never done that before, but I walked over to their door and asked them if they wanted to go out to eat with us sometime. I know, that's just plain weird. I assured them I wasn't some wacko knocking on their door. Why would they believe me? I told them if they weren't comfortable going out with us they could say no. But they agreed! But they did take their own vehicle--don't blame you. Their names are Marce and Bob. We had so much fun with them! We got to know them quite well in just 3 or 4 days, and ended up going out to eat more than once with them. In fact, we spent a whole day with them, then after they left Missoula, we met them 3 days later in Phillipsburg to spend the day there just walking the town and visiting together. They live in Salt Lake City and hope to build in Montana in about 3 years. So we plan on keeping up our friendship and hopefully getting together somehow somewhere. You never know when you RV who you might meet and when you

might get together again. Below are some pictures of us during our day in Phillipsburg, MT.

Marce and Bob, we had so much fun getting to know y'all and we want to spend more time with you in the future! You never know, one day I might just fly to SLC and spend a few days with you. Can't wait 'til you retire! You are always welcome in Texas and come stay with us whenever you want!
So until my next post......

from sea to shining sea........

mimi

whew......tops are done

This is Berte's quilt top, Seeds of Riverbend. I started this quilt this past Spring, and finished the top yesterday!!!!
This is Nathan's quilt top, Love You Bunches, and I started it this summer and pieced it as a leader/ender to Berte's quilt. (I picked up 2 pieces of fabric of Nathan's and sewed them together, didn't cut the thread, and fed 2 pieces of Berte's into the machine, didn't cut the thread, and fed 2 more pieces of Nathan's into the machine, leaving it under the presser foot. Then I cut the pieces behind the machine and take them off the chain. Sometimes the chain can get pretty long before I clip it off) .I finished Nathan's quilt top today!!!!
I've decided to quilt these myself instead of mailing them off to the quilter. I will rent the quilter's machine and she can teach me how to quilt them.

PS: The hand on the left of each picture is Suella Kaiser's hand. She asked for credit. It was very windy. Alan took the photos.

from sea to shining sea........mimi