Still on Vacation! Woohoo!

I'm still on vacation, but I have a few minutes of internet access, so I thought I'd post a bunch of pics from the vaca so far!  We are on the last stretch of it.....should be home in about 5 days.  I just love how driving vacations can linger......and I am making sure we are taking our time!  :o)

We started in late March with a drive from our home in Maine, to Philadelphia.  I'd never seen 'the bell' before, so it was a perfect first destination!

First signs of spring in Philadelphia!  Yay!

The Liberty Bell and the statue of George Washington in front of the State House!

The room where 'those guys' signed the Declaration of Independence!  lol

Philly was fun, but we had golfing to do......so we headed to Fort Lee in Virginia, Fort Bragg in NC and Fort Stewart in Georgia.  Woohoo!  It was so good to get to play again.  Our local course closes the middle of October and doesn't open until the middle of April each year......so we are just about to burst waiting for it.  And golfing on bases is really cheap......my kind of golf!  Ha!

Then we headed for Tampa, and then got on our cruise!  Woohoo!  Royal Caribbean to Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico for a 5 day cruise!  Totally fun in every way!  It was my 2nd cruise, but my hubby's first, so I wanted to make sure he had a fantastic time......so he'd want to do it again!  AND HE DOES!  Yippee!

 My hubby, John.

Me on the deck, waiting for our room to be ready.  It was a lovely ship, but I didn't get many pictures......I guess I was having way too much fun!

This was a floor medallion on one of the decks......a beautiful Mariner's Compass.  Quilty inspiration!

 Yep.....I love towel animals......had to take a pic of each one!  Too sweet!

 This was the puppy dog towel that I made for our room steward with his tip envelope on the last day.  Hubby and I had just taken a 'towel animal making demo' and it was the one I really liked!

 MONKEY!

Here's the turtle our steward left for us.....next to my puppy!

And hubby and I also took a napkin folding class.......so naturally I left an elf shoe at every table I sat at from that moment on!  :o)

Our excursion in Cozumel was taking the Xtrail dune buggies through the jungle to the Jade Caverns.  It was awesome!  The ride through the jungle was amazing.....and you totally get covered in mud from the tires on the dune buggy.  FUN!  Then you get to the caverns, and you can swim in the pools.  It was a little murky looking for me.....but hubby and a bunch of others jumped in from the top of the caverns!

When we went to Costa Maya, we took an excursion to the Chocchobean Mayan Temples.  Our guide was really good, and gave us so much history and information about them.  There were several temples that had already been excavated (just since the 1990's), and many more that are just hills with trees on them, until the government can come up with some more money to fund more excavating.

Here we are at the top, looking down at the next group!

These were some really cool trees there.....have no idea what kind.  But very cool!

When we finished the cruise, we visited a bit more in Tampa with our cousins, April and Drew.  Did we get any pics of them, or the new grandson?......No!  Sheesh!  But I know April was taking a bunch of pics, so maybe I'll post one when she sends one along.  Speaking of April......she just started a blog......here's the link......Life Without a Tagline.  April is awesome in every way......and as I like to say, she's the 'voice of reason' in every group, especially when the family gets together!  lol

While we were in the Tampa area, we took a quick trip down to Ft. Myers to visit my sister, Alison.  Three words.......Norman Love Chocolates!  If you've never tried them, you are truly missing out!  If you are ever in Ft. Myers or Naples Florida, or a Godiva Chocolatier, then definitely get several!  They are little works of art, and totally yummy!  I even got to talk with Norman, himself!  :o)  And then we went next door and had some of his gelato......Holy Cow!  The best!

And did I mention that we had pretty much turned this into a Krispy Kreme vacation!  LOL  You know, we don't have any KK anywhere near us......and there is nothing like an original glaze Krispy Kreme donut!  YUM!  My favorite!  And all this chocolate, gelato and donuts are on top of all the amazing food we had on the ship!  Oy!

Yep......hubby and I are definitely going back on Weight Watchers when we get home......but for the next week, we are still living it up!  lol  I love being on vacation and eating every yummy I see!

When we left Tampa on Monday, we headed for Suzanne and John's place in The Villages in central Florida. We just spent a fabulous 3 days with them, golfing, eating, visiting and checking out all the villages have to offer.  Hubby and I are in the beginning stages of figuring out what we are going to do with our winters when we fully retire in 2 years.  And this area is looking really good.  We were also told by April that the Mount Dora area (also central Florida) is a lovely little town right up our alley!  And boy, were they right!  They so know us!  And yesterday we golfed with another couple we know from Maine in another local area, and that all looked good, too!  We have so many choices to consider now.  We just need to figure out what is really important to us.....and go from there.

Right now, we are in Atlanta, a good stopping point on our way to Mary Jo's Quilt Store in North Carolina tomorrow!  Can't wait!  Woohoo!

Speaking of quilting......I managed to mark and cut a bunch of civil war repro fabric for my 8-pointed star quilt......my next hand work project.  I saw the inspiration antique quilt on the Museum of the Confederacy's site.....www.mocquilts.org.....The Shelton 8 Pointed Star quilt.  I just love the striped fabric for the sashing, and I've always wanted to do this in small size......so these are going to work up to just under 3 inches square.

I made most of these while at Suzanne's; we spent Tuesday morning at her quilt guild meeting.....a very nice group of ladies.  I'm still deciding on what background to use......an off white/beige, or maybe a small shirting print......still don't know.  The 7 on the right are just half done.....still need the center joining seam, but my light wasn't great, so I didn't want to chance a crappy join.

And.......still on a quilty note......when I saw this car in the parking lot of our hotel in North Carolina......all I could say was......"That's a perfect cheddar color!"  Ha!

My pic reads more yellow......but in real life.....it was CHEDDAR!  ha!

Hope you have a great weekend.  I'll post more when I'm home!

regan

Home Sweet Home!

We arrived back from our vacation on Monday......we drove a total of 1,968 miles!  And my hubby stayed awake and kept me company the entire drive!  I love him!

Let me just say that I am the worst picture taker ever!  And the whole vacation I kept thinking I was getting really great shots!  Sheesh!  Out of 80+ pics, I have just a handful that are not blurry!  I'm really hoping that the other people that were clicking away will email me some of their shots!  I don't have a single one of our grandson at his graduation!  I barely have any from Colonial Williamsburg, none from Kitty Hawk, a few from DC, and nothing at Maureen's (although, those two her son took.....so it's really not just me!  HA!)

Our first day in North Carolina was hot hot hot!  We had just come from Maine, where it was in the low 60's!    And what did we do in that heat.....headed for an outdoor festival!  Crazy!  But it was fun, and it was on the harbor, so there was a slight breeze (very slight!).

We had a ball at Colonial Williamsburg.....none of us had ever been!  I had expected it to be a little corny, with the actors getting way too 'into' their roles......but that was not the case!  It was really done well, and all the 'in period' people were amazing!  They really knew what they were talking about, and were actually 'doing' what their profession was.  We watched the shoemaker for a good half hour.....and he was actually amazed at how into it I was.  But heres the thing......the amazing thing......he split a boar's hair to use as a needle to sew the leather......a real boar's hair!  Not any bigger than a cat's whisker.  And I watched him split the hair down, then shave off the end of a strand of flax for the thread.....take this ultra fine thread of flax and splice it onto this boar's hair.....cuz there is no eye on a boar's hair needle!  You have to splice the flax thread onto it so there's no bump when pulling it through either!  Ok......if you aren't amazed by this.....then I'm not explaining right!......Because it was AMAZING!   AND.....the whole time he's doing this.....he's talking away, in period mind you, and giving all sorts of info and little tidbits!  WOW!  I was thoroughly impressed with this guy, and the whole day was just as impressive!  The wig maker lady was making wigs, and talking away about all sorts of fun stuff, as was the basket maker, paper maker, printing press guys.....everyone!  They were all so good!  Then we went to the Courthouse building, and the woman there gave the most amazing tour.....complete with history lesson, and doing 'in period' and about that day's date back then.....fabulous!  I would go back in a minute!

Of course, my only picture is of a gigantic magnolia tree (at least 80' tall) blossom on the grounds.  These magnolias are all over the place in this region......and they look so much different to the magnolias I'm familiar with.  Gorgeous!

I also got a couple of pics of the quilts that were in the Museum there.  Gorgeous quilts, but the lighting was so dark, it was really hard to get pics.

Here's a pic of something I'll never see in Maine.....blechk!

People actually order that!?!  I just can't imagine!

We also went to Kitty Hawk and I got to fly my kite on Kill Devil Hill, where the Wright Brothers first flew!  So cool!  Do I have any pics?......no.  Our son got some, and I'm hoping he will email me one!

Then we went to DC and had a great time!  I got to spend the first day meeting a blogging friend, Maureen from Pursuit of Quilts.  She is just as wonderful as her blog!  And her quilts are to die for!  I got to see so many beautiful quilts and her current projects, and her sewing room.  She made a lovely lunch, and then we popped on over to the local quilt shop, and I bought a pair of Machingers gloves for free-motion quilting.    We exchanged some canned goods that we've put up.....I had made salsa and sweet pickle relish, and she presented me with her homemade tomato sauce and a copy of the Ball Canning Recipes Book.  Sweet!  Thank you so much, Maureen.....I had such a great time!

While in DC, we also went to the Smithsonian, and several of the monuments.  The reflecting pool is under renovation.....it was so odd to see it like that!

I didn't take any pics in the different museums.....to busy seeing all the amazing art.....but I did get a pic of this really unusual plant along one of the walkways......I've never seen it before; the blossoms create a kind of tower with 4 sides.....just like the Washington Monument, come to think of it......and then these wispy, feathery petal pop out here and there.  Does anyone know what this is?

When we got home, I was so happy to see that I hadn't missed my peonies blooming.....almost, but there was one bloom still at prime time!

And my Sum and Substance Hosta had totally popped out while we were gone.....it's about 5 feet across!

And the iris were in full bloom......yay!

We love to go on vacation, but we definitely love returning home again!

Have a wonderful day!

regan