Finished - Quilt!!!

Romantic Charm Quilt

Happy Fifth Anniversary to Doug and Leigh Anne!  To celebrate this occasion, I made them a quilt.    Most of it was done while I was still in Franklin, but I brought it with me to finish hand sewing the binding on.  The pattern is "Romantic Charm" and is one of the patterns Kathy and Kay from the Quilting Squares designed.  The quilting I did on Cathy's long arm  machine- she recently opened The Dancing Bobbin in Spring Hill, TN.  She keeps telling me I'm going to learn this machine.

I really like the two-colored borders with the piano key detail.

Doug had a busy week!  Even though he is licensed in the State of New York, he had to take the Texas Bar this past week.  I'll be meeting up with Doug, Leigh Anne and Caden in Durango in a couple of weeks for the wedding of one of Doug's best friends.

Look how big the little guy is getting!!  He is five months
old now and starting to sit up.

Virginia City and Nevada City, MT

Drygoods store in Virginia City

Earthquake Lake

On a recent day off, I headed through the park into Montana to see the old "ghost towns" of Virginia City and Nevada City.  This was a day long adventure through an area changed by a massive earthquake in the 1950s.  I made a quick stop at the museum about the earthquake on the way.  Virginia City has many old buildings that are original to the town.  You can look in some of the doors and windows and see stores exactly like they were years ago. My favorites were the dry goods stores with the fabrics, ribbons and notions on display.   One ladies' shop in Virginia City is exactly the same as the day it was closed.  Nevada City is a few miles away.  Even though the buildings have been moved in from other locations, it has been set up like a town would have been in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Driving back to Fishing Bridge through the park, I stopped at sites I hadn't seen yet and took all sorts of little side rodes.  Great fun!!!

License plate:  "GoGrandma"  I like it!!!

YNP; Walked around and saw
the activity.

Another female moose!!  Saw her
on my way through the park.  A
tourist got to close trying to take a picture
and scared her off.

Internet connection continues to be a problem.  There are days I can't get on to post or get booted off constantly.  Very frustrating!!!  Cell phone service is a five mile drive down the road.

Mud Volcano/Old Faithful

We have about a dozen young adults working at Fishing Bridge from Taiwan.  They have been here about two weeks.  With no transportation, it is hard for them to see the park.  I took three of the girls on my visit to Mud Volcano Friday morning.  We walked all the way around and saw the different thermal features and the bubbling mud.

Later in the day, I drove four of them over to Old Faithful for the rest of the day.  They took off and did their own thing and I met up with
them later in the day.  From the sound
 of it, they had a great time.  On the way back to Fishing Bridge we saw a beautiful elk which was another first for them.

Stopped at the Continental Divide for a quick pic

Elk we saw on the way back to Fishing Bridge

I have also been on the lookout for moose.  Several people have seen a bull moose over at Bridge Bay Marina nearby but after several trips I still have not timed it right.  This morning I tried again with no luck but driving around I did see a female moose.  Really awesome!!!  The fires in 1988 destroyed the vegetation they eat so it is really rare to see one in this area.

Exploring!

Heart Mountain

The last few weeks I have explored the Yellowstone area on my days off.  One day trip was to see the Heart Mountain Japanese Relocation Camp between Cody and Powell, WY.  This was one of the camps the Japanese Americans were sent to during WWII.  Several years ago I read a book about this camp but didn't realize it was so close until some friends were talking about it.  Very interesting - hard to imagine being sent here in the dead of winter.  Desolate!

Grand Tetons

Jackson Hole, WY was my next destination.  I have two groups of friends that will be staying in Jackson Hole so went to check it out.  Very nice:)  It is a little over two hours from Fishing Bridge and is a beautiful drive.  My first stop was for some good coffee and fast internet:)  Very definitely a tourist town but there is lots to do - biking, rafting, horseback riding, etc., etc.  I'll spend more time there in the next few weeks.

The barstools are saddles!!

The Northeast Entrance was the only entrance to Yellowstone that I had not seen so I remedied that.  I drove through the Lamar Valley and out the Northeast Entrance with stops at Tower Fall and Roosevelt along the way.  Tower and Roosevelt both have historical lodges/buildings I wanted to see.   There are two very small towns near the northeast entrance but I didn't see anyplace I wanted to stop.  The Lamar Valley is known for animals sightings.  I was there during the middle of the day so missed out.

Lamar Valley

Elk - saw this guy on the way back from
Jackson Hole 

We have about a dozen new workers from Taiwan so the dorms are full, we are working less hours, and it is almost impossible to get on the internet!!!  One decided to see how her bear spray worked and shot some off in the dorm one night.  Not good:)

FYI:  Photos should enlarge if you click on them.  There is a link to the Heart Mountain site if you click on it.