Week Two; More Firsts!

A Stop Along the Peak to Peak Highway in CO

Our last day in Colorado saw us traveling the Peak to Peak Highway in the Rocky Mountain National Park, the scenery was breathtaking. Sadly, the entire time we were there we found the views altered by the haze from the wildfires in CA at the time. The highest elevation along this stretch of scenic byway was 9,300 feet and it was very breezy and cool (59 degrees) when we stopped at the Visitor Center. I'm unsure about the reason for the sturdy logs on the roof there-- perhaps to help with snow control, alleviating avalanches off the slope of the roof or maybe to keep the roof on the building during heavy wind; maybe both!  One thing that the Coloradoans are serious about is snow fencing. It, like the log grid on the roof, is sturdy and built to stand up to heavy snow drifting, or at least to help keep it at bay.

Our journey from there took us across Kansas as far as Abilene, our destination for Friday and Saturday nights. 

We stopped along the way at this quilt shop in Hays. I raved about their customer service in a post last week. If this shop is your vicinity or on your travel itinerary please do stop in! You'll be happy.

We ate lunch in Hays too, at Whiskey Creek. Now that I am a horse-woman, naturally, I can't stay off! On Saturday morning in Abilene we were up and ready for our first stop of the day: The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.

This was a fascinating stop, I learned so much about Eisenhower, both personally and from the historical perspective. Eisenhower was president when I was born. I recall reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, with my hand over my heart, in my first and second grade classrooms, where we then sang "My Country 'Tis Of Thee", all under an American flag and a framed picture of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, both of which hung prominently in the front of the classroom above the chalk board.

The tour began at Eisenhower's boyhood home. Unbelievably, the Eisenhowers raised six sons in a home that, at the time, was a mere 818 square feet! A family of eight; without indoor plumbing.

Mrs. Eisenhower made the bed quilts that are still displayed on the beds today; this bedroom also contained her original treadle sewing machine, the machine she used to construct them.

This picture was taken in the kitchen. The original "dough box" (lower right of photo) was used for rising bread dough-- she made bread three times a week, nine loaves at a time! Imagine feeding six growing boys! Indoor plumbing and the downstairs bedroom were added in the later years, after the boys were grown and gone.

This was the family in 1902 (l) and a recreation of the same photo (r) in 1926. President Eisenhower is pictured on the far left in both photos.

It was a short walk from the boyhood home to the Library, all are located on the same grounds. The Museum itself is closed due to a massive, ongoing, renovation. We toured the highlights of the Museum which have been temporarily moved to the Library; honestly, I didn't feel as though we missed much, but I guess we'll have to return one day to find out. 

There were so very many artifacts of interest. This one, above, puts perspective to where we are today in terms of communication, comparatively. Both President Eisenhower and Mamie are buried on the grounds. After learning so much about them I now want to go to Gettysburg, PA to visit the farm. It's always a good thing to be planning our next adventure! Also in Abilene, we discovered, is the Greyhound Hall of Fame where we learned all about breeding Greyhounds and the history of racing. We met two retired dogs there, they greeted us in the entry area, Ginger and Gary. One more site of interest, especially to Mr. Goodneedle, was the Russell Stover Outlet Store w/ ice cream shop!

We couldn't buy chocolate candy while traveling by car but that didn't stop us from sampling the chocolate in melted form, over ice cream!

On Sunday we worshiped at Trinity Lutheran Church in Abilene. We have dear friends who have been relocated here, in fact he is the Pastor at Trinity. We enjoyed being together again for the day. I loved this old, historic church and beautiful sanctuary. I'll bet you can't guess what I thought the ceiling looked like. 😉 After a lovely dinner with our friends at an historic hotel in town we headed east, with Missouri in our sights for the night. 

⭐Stay Tuned⭐

We started the next morning off in Hamilton, MO. The home of Missouri Star Quilt Co. I will save my adventure there for another, separate, quilty-post.😀 It will be worth the wait.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 By afternoon we were in Independence for another stop at yet another Presidential Library. 

I must admit that I had forgotten much from history classes in my past, this stop was full of facts.

 The tour, and accompanying films, were most informative and of great interest. This tour concluded at the point where Eisenhower took office; we were working backwards, time-wise on this trip. This was the first Presidential Library that I have visited that predates me; giving me all the more reason to learn as much as possible.  

From the desk of Harry S. Truman.

Both President Truman and Bess are buried here, at the Library site in Independence. 

We continued our journey east from there, toward St. Louis, we spent our last night on the road in southern Illinois; from there it was a straight shot home. Thank you for allowing me to post this summer wrap-up, it helped me to revisit our trek across this great country of ours and reminded me of two more quilt-related posts to come! Missouri Star, as promised (and teased) and my visit to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, CO. Stay tuned~  

Life is Good!

EPIC Road Trip- Installment #5

~ The International Selkirk Loop, Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes Provincial Park~

We left Spokane, WA in the morning bound for Sandpoint, ID via the International Selkirk Loop. The "loop" encircles the Selkirk Mountain range. We headed north on the western side along the Pend Oreille River and happened upon the Box Canyon Dam; it has an incredibly fascinating history.

We continued on to (and through) the Canadian border where we loaded our car onto a ferry to cross the beautiful and scenic Kootenay Lake; a magnificent black bear crossed the road in front of the car on this route before we got to the ferry. We slowed to a stop and watched him continue down a driveway(!) and disappear out of sight. (Wouldn't you know it, my camera was out of reach!) The ferry crossing took approximately thirty minutes, we drove off and continued on our way around the loop and the panoramic lake.

Kootenay Lake - British Columbia, Canada

We arrived in Sandpoint, ID in the afternoon; we have been there before and loved it. As we had done two years earlier, we passed through Bonners Ferry on the way to Sandpoint and revisited the Bread Basket Bakery for Marionberry pie. This local delicacy tastes like a combination of raspberry and blueberry; it is THE BEST. And, even better, this pie was half the price of the Olallieberry pie in CA!

The next morning we left bright and early for Glacier National Park. This time we were able to pass through the park from west to east (Apgar to St. Mary) on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Two years ago this highway was closed for repairs. Our National Park "do-over" was well worth it, not only was the navigating much better but the weather was lovely and significantly improved over the cold, misty days we had in 2104; I am so happy that we returned!

The Going-to-the-Sun Road is, literally, clinging to the side of the mountain. Some passes are really tight and the drop-offs are vertical!

But... the views! This is so reminiscent of Switzerland, the only thing missing here are the cow bells ringing in the distance!

On the first day here we traveled halfway through, going as far as the Logan Pass visitor center (above).

I spotted this friend chilling on a steep bank above us as we were driving out of the park; from a distance I thought is was a huge chunk of snow. Then he turned his head!

The photographs above should give you a feel for the rugged steepness of these narrow mountain roads; they are shut down for repairs from rock slides often and closed for the winter from October through May. This highway is 50 miles in length and simply put: offers some of the most spectacular views that nature has to offer!

These iconic red tour buses are a part of Glacier's history and have been showing tourists the sights since the 1930's.

Saint Mary Lake, on the eastern side of Glacier, is serene in its majestic splendor. Sadly, we drove a few miles through an area burned out last summer; the Reynolds Creek fire was first reported in the afternoon of July 21, 2015 and spread to over 4,000 acres in a single day. While the blackened trees stand out as an ugly reminder of the devastation there is already much fresh, bright green, reforestation occurring as well as brand-new views of this lake.

Just before exiting the park and heading north to Waterton this fella stepped out in front of the car; this time I had the camera in my lap; I was granted a second chance from being unprepared two days earlier. Another successful re-do! Thanks for sharing the magnificence of your home with us, Mr. Bear. Isn't he handsome?

Remember in the second installment of this EPIC Road Trip series I mentioned a retired National Geographic photographer who mentioned three top sights to see before one dies? Well, here it is-- the third sight: Waterton Provincial Park in Alberta, just north of Glacier. That "bucket" list is now complete; however, for the record: I am feeling just fine and have no plans of checking out anytime soon.

This is Upper Waterton Lake, it was a cool and windy day. I could have stood in this very spot forever; this location on earth seemed nearly sacred to me.

This is the historic Prince of Wales Hotel, it sits at the confluence of Upper Waterton and Middle Waterton Lakes: I do believe that National Geographic photographer knew what he was talking about when he included this picturesque park on the list of must-sees!

Middle Waterton Lake: the color in these pictures is unaltered, who could improve on nature's palette?  

Leaving Waterton we encountered herds of roving free-range cattle; not a fence in sight anywhere. The long road home was about to begin after this stop on our itinerary. We traveled from here to the extremely windy city of Great Falls and on into Glendive, MT.

I'll end this installment at The Enchanted Room in Glendive; of course, another state another quilt shop! I found this shop to be a lovely one: a refurbished old home containing oodles of notions, patterns, books and fabrics all artfully displayed and beautifully organized with a cheerful sales staff. The next installment of our EPIC adventure will be the final one. It will include Theodore Roosevelt National Park and a wrap-up of odds and ends that I couldn't fit into the previous posts as well as tips and tricks that we have discovered for traveling with a fur-baby (thanks to SueSS for this idea in the comment section of a previous post)! One more Snapple fun-fact as a reward for riding along this far: "A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group of geese in the air is a skein."

Life is Good!