Vacation by the Numbers

1 Wedding.
1 Minor Fender Bender.

1 Lunch with a Super Librarian. Pie was included. What a treat to meet Wendy and I thank her for taking her lunch hour to make time for me.
2 National Parks. The Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde.


7 States slept in. Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Arizona, California, Arizona (again), Colorado, New Mexico.

7 Quilt Shops visited. My personal attempt to aid the economy.
8 hot air balloons sighted in the cool morning air over Albuquerque as I rode to the airport on Saturday. Practice for the annual balloon fiesta?
11 books read. Several candidates for my monthly Phaves list.
11.5 yards of fabric purchased. Plus one kit and 2 notions. If you look closely at the picture you'll see some fabric with the Route 66 logo. Since we were on or parallel to Rt. 66 from St. Louis to LA it seemed appropriate to buy some Rt. 66 fabric. I also got some Southwest Indian-style fabric and have a great idea to make a quilt with it. Then just some general yardage that struck my fancy.

26 degrees. The difference in yesterday's high temperatures between Albuquerque and Columbus. What's up with that? It's July. It's supposed to be hot here. 70? No thank you! I want my heat back.
1769 miles flown. Someone in the family has to go back to work. The boys continue to explore New Mexico. Hmm. I may go to work tomorrow, but I think it feels like I'm still on vacation!
3946 miles driven. Well, I probably drove a total of 60 miles while DH did the rest. That's how I got all those books read.

Billions of stars viewed. I thought the skies over Flagstaff were clear, but that was nothing compared to the sky over Durango where there was much less ambient light. Amazing and Awesome.

Comments

  1. WendyJuly 20, 2009 at 1:10 PM

    One should always have pie at lunch. It should be mandatory.

    Sounds like you had a wonderful, exhausting vacation. One of these days I'm going to take a trek along part of Route 66.

    ReplyDelete
  2. PhylJuly 21, 2009 at 8:27 AM

    Yes, if you can, you should try and drive it. Large portions are now interstate, but not all of it. Great fun, especially if you like tacky souvenirs. And there's still good road food to be had (more pie!), despite all the Micky D's and other chain restaurants that have sprung up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ChristineJuly 21, 2009 at 5:54 PM

    Wow, Phyl!!! What an AMAZING vacation! Aside from the fender bender, that is. I love the photos and the way you listed your trip in numbers... very creative.

    We drove part of Rt. 66 in August 2005 driving from the Grand Canyon to Vegas to fly home. We had been vacationing at several National & State Parks in Utah, ending at the Grand Canyon. What an amazing part of our country, don't you think? Anyway, I think that's so cool that you found quilting fabric with Rt. 66 motifs! How fun! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. PhylJuly 21, 2009 at 9:57 PM

    Thanks, Christine! It was indeed a fun time. And the southwest is an amazing part of the country. I feel privileged to have visited there. Now with all this time home alone I hope to get some sewing done later in the week once my chores are done. I'm getting there!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beth GrayJuly 31, 2009 at 2:21 PM

    I have made most of this trip and enjoyed it very much. It brings back memories

    ReplyDelete
  6. bethJuly 31, 2009 at 3:36 PM

    thanks for sharing the pics and memories. I'm new to your blog! how do you decide on your reading list for the month? I like to read also and will be checking out your august's list. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. PhylAugust 1, 2009 at 1:43 AM

    Thanks Beth Gray!

    And beth, I keep a running list of books I want to read based on whether the author is already a favorite or from reviews and comments I find in other blogs and reader forums. I get a lot of books at my local library. I also buy quite a few--but I'm on a strict budget. I like to buy ebooks from Fictionwise and read them on my Ipod touch.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I think I have ADD

Image
I'm one of those people who constantly moves from project to project. I do finish things, but midway through one project I'll stop and pull out fabric to start another one. Or something will come up that makes me start in on something else--a challenge, a class, a need to make a gift, or a new fabric purchase. All of those things change my focus. I don't want to admit how many UFOs (UnFinished Objects) I have here, but if I were totally honest, it's probably at least a dozen. Here are 3 I started this summer. And I'm not including the one I started the other night because I couldn't get a decent picture of it. This first one is from a class I took in June with 2 friends. I still have 4 more flowers to add to it. This is funky and fun, but it's large and appliqueing down the flowers is awkward at times. A while back I posted a picture of some flower blocks that I'm doing as part of an exchange with the same 2 friends. I had another set of blocks to finis
Read more

TBR Day. Conor's Way / Laura Lee Guhrke. 1996

Image
Back in the early 2000's, when I began lurking at the old AAR  boards, I heard talk of this book. And according to Amazon, I apparently broke down and purchased a copy for myself via Marketplace in 2004 for a "mere" $4.75. Today a used print copy goes for about $25. I don't know why I waited so long to read it. I'd keep seeing references to how good it is, especially from KristieJ who has been nagging our TBR hostess to read it forever. I think I was saving it for a day when I knew I needed to read a really good book. But when I saw that this month's theme was "Recommended Read" it was clear that this was the book I had to read. I was really, really stupid to wait 8 years to read this. Frankly, I should just end this review with that statement. I am writing this Tuesday evening. Earlier today I saw on Twitter that at least 2 other TBR participants are reviewing this for today as well. And they'll probably do a better job at it than me. B
Read more

57, 3, 15

Image
57 years. 3 months. 15 days. That's how old my sister was when she died on December 30, 2015. Char spent four and a half years in a tug of war with cancer. For a while there she seemed to be in total control. But that insidious disease came back and this time would not let up. Here's the kicker. She had uterine cancer, just like me. Only hers was Stage 4 when they found it. Mine barely qualified as Stage 1. Life is often unfair, but that seemed the cruelest irony of all. As I wept that she was dying, she wept because I was not. It's taken me a long time to process this and to be willing to talk openly about it. Some of you reading this have been very open with your own struggles with health, grief, death, and dying. I've wanted to be, but I think I needed for the worst of it to be over first. Every time I tried to write about it, I'd sit paralyzed at the keyboard. I just wasn't ready I guess. Char decided to suspend further treatment last August. It wa
Read more