Home Again!

We arrived home last Thursday, just one week ago, and I left on Monday for a Quilting Retreat at Prairie Star Lodge. Now, I am home again!

The retreat was wonderful - there were 11 of us and we enjoyed lots of laughter, food, 

Have you tried these? Oh my!

and fellowship. We also sewed! Let me share some of the projects made by Barb, Becky, Betsy, Deb, Gail, Pauline, Polly, Ritarose, Sandy, Val, and me.

Here are some small blocks/pieces

and an iron caddy.

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When I arrived home today, the landscapers were here. After the driveway and garage work, we need to 'repair' some gardens and build a retaining wall. We also have a few other laborious yard jobs so we decided to hire the work done. It is hard to admit we are getting older and that neither of our bodies want to do the heavy physical labor.

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My list for tomorrow is long - I have the normal things to do after a vacation like laundry, bills, etc. I stopped and picked up produce at our favorite farm on my way home today so I need to deal with that. We also need to have a garage sale now that we have a garage and are here. And the list goes on...  yes, we are home again!

We are in Illinois but we aren't home ...yet!

It's been another beautiful day. We began with cloudy but not dreary weather 

and then later, we were in full sun. 

corn fields in Illinois

We still have excessive heat and evidently it's only going to get worse according to the weatherman on TV.

We left Indiana and ignored the interstate highways for a while. Our first stop was Arcola, IL, home to the largest Amish settlement in Illinois. It was also the home of the creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy.

We went on another 10 miles or so to Arthur. On the way we stopped at Beachy's Bulk Foods. I enjoy visiting Amish and Mennonite stores. 

We had lunch in Arthur at Country Cheese and More. The sandwiches were delicious and the hand pies were fantastic. They only had two left so Ray had peach and I had cherry.

We found a fabric shop - Stitch & Sew Fabrics! Most of the ladies working were Amish or Mennonite and so friendly. I found some flannel for the border of a quilt I'm making and also flannel for the backs of two quilts.

Next stop was Tuscola but we didn't spend much time; the temperature was in the 90s and we didn't like being in the bright sun.

We are staying is a small town just 2 1/2 hours from home tonight. We have a cool loft - cool as in neat AND cool as in great A/C! The space is very open and comfortable.

We love the ceiling.

Ray was unpacking coolers in the kitchen.

Notice the barn doors on the bedroom in the back of the photo.

Tomorrow, we'll probably drive the back roads and should arrive home sometime midday. By the time we get unpacked, buy groceries, get the mail,... we'll be tired! We have lots going on throughout the weekend. On Monday I leave for a few days on a quilting retreat - guess I'd better get ready for that too! 

We still have a number of hours to relax so it's time to put my feet up!

A Great Hike

It's been another beautiful but very warm day. We got an early start and headed to Brown County State Park. 

At the North Gate entrance, you have to go through this covered bridge. However, I took the picture as we were leaving instead of arriving.

It was foggy early this morning and the fog was almost burned off when I took this photo. Notice the little cloud of fog in the center of the picture. You might be able to tell that it was a little hazy from the humidity.

Many of the roads in the park are well shaded by trees. We both loved seeing the sunlight peaking through. Ray was walking back from our parking spot to get some pictures.

It felt so good to be wearing our hiking boots - we hiked around Ogle Lake and saw some gorgeous reflections.

It was in the 70s with high humidity as we began the hike and in the 80s with high humidity as we ended. Come with me around the lake but beware of the mud and puddles.

It was very quiet and peaceful.

I loved this light shaft.

There was moisture on the leaves and in the air. We were both drenched when we finished.

Can you see the spider web? There were many webs but it was really hard to get a picture of them.

Sometimes I could see the reflections on both sides of the lake.

This little toad was guarding his doorway. 

We headed 'home' for much needed showers and lunch. Just as we were ready to eat, we had a visitor in our yard. Can you see the deer? Sadly, he saw us in the house and left.

This afternoon we went into Nashville for a little shopping and some delicious ice cream!

We are thinking about going back to Brown County State Park tonight. If it looks like there will be a pretty sunset, we'll try to get pictures.

Tomorrow we'll continue traveling toward home.

Nashville... but not that one

Today was another Interstate travel day - definitely not our favorite kind of travel day but thankfully, the traffic wasn't too bad and we had some good country music playing for company.  We left West Virginia and crossed the state of Kentucky to Louisville. I love seeing the horse farms, especially the ones with the white fences. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of horse farms this time. Here is just a neat shot on the way.

We headed north on I-65 into Indiana

to just south of Columbus. Then we traveled west on a much less traveled road, State Road 46, to Nashville, Indiana. We have visited this area in Brown County a number of times and always love coming back.

We usually stay at Brown County State Park but found a rental place this time. We are only about 1/2 mile from downtown Nashville. We are delighted with the rental - the outside is as nice as the inside. 

As I write this, Ray is in the massage chair. He is loving it! We are going to stick around here for another day - maybe we'll go for a hike or wander around Nashville or sit outside and take photos of the finches, cardinals, woodpeckers, morning doves, ... Ray will be the one taking photos; I might just kick back and do nothing!

Huntington, WV

Yesterday we visited friends in Durham, NC. Yoshi was our minister a number of years ago when their daughters were quite young. We got to be acting-grandparents for the girls because they didn't have any grandparents who lived close. 

We had a wonderful time. We visited all day into the evening - we haven't seen them for over a year and a half. We introduced the girls to Mexican Train and visited more - it was fun to catch up. We enjoyed some great food - lunch at Guglhupf, a European Bakery, popsicles at Locopops, Did you know there are gourmet popsicle shops?! We didn't. and Amy fixed a fantastic steak salad for dinner. 

Today we began heading towards home. We drove across the Piedmont section of North Carolina and headed north  past Pilot Knob,

and on through Virginia and most of West Virginia. Tonight we are in Huntington, WV. Our rental is very close to Marshall University. For the last three days, the weather has been uncomfortably warm. Today it was in the mid 80s - still quite warm but bearable. On the news tonight, they said it was now okay to take pets outside for a walk on the sidewalk/street. It's been so warm, the paved surfaces burned the pads of their feet. Tomorrow, we will travel on...

Hillsborough NC

We said goodbye to our son and his family yesterday and headed south to Staunton, VA on the backroads. The quilt shop I remembered was still there but much smaller and, well, it didn't take long to see.

We then drove more main roads for a while until we had to take a road less traveled to get to Crabtree Falls, "the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River". This is the lower part of the first falls - it's pretty difficult to get the higher falls in the picture from where we were. And it was much too warm to hike even a mile.

We traveled on enjoying a gorgeous but very warm day.

We arrived at our next rental in Hillsborough, NC. It is very nice, especially the wonderful air conditioning! Have I mentioned that it is very warm - the heat index today was in the triple digits. Outside our door last night, I noticed a couple of deer. It is very quiet here.

We both went to bed early last night and slept in late this morning. We used a lot of energy last week and we are catching up. 

Today we visited the Hillsborough Visitor Center. 

Even though we found interesting things to do, we stopped by the yarn shop, bought a few groceries, and came home to read, nap, knit... It is just too warm to be outside.

Have I mentioned that it's very quiet here - I already miss those 5 grandchildren.

Tomorrow we will visit some friends in Durham.