Tuesday, May 28, 2013

While on Vacation... (Part 1)

Caution: Long and picture heavy post!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend. My husband and I have been on vacation on a rather large road trip since last week Tuesday. I have been without cell or internet service for the past few days, so I thought tonight would be a good time to write a blog post. Currently we are in Seattle, Washington, but I should back up to our first stop along our Great Western Road Trip (as we fondly call it).

We packed up and left Madison, Wisconsin last Tuesday night and made our way to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We were going to stop at Falls Park there, but it was completely blocked off by road construction. So, the only things we saw in Sioux Falls were a bunch of strip malls with tiny casinos in them.



From there we made our way to Mount Rushmore National Park. It was the first time that I had seen the monument, although my husband has seen it at least 3 times now. We only stopped for a little while at the park. It was very scenic going in and out of the park though, so we took quite a bit of time on a few scenic drives. We also stopped at Devil's Tower and Wall Drug on our way out of South Dakota. Then made our way to Billings, Montana.



That's a sarsaparilla in my hand... ;)

We then drove from Billings, Montana to Spokane, Washington. On the way we went through the Rocky Mountains. I felt like a little kid seeing snow for the first time while we went through the mountain pass. It was so cool to see snow on the trees. We had heard earlier that morning that they just opened up the last road/pass in Montana, so finally all of the roads were passable. Lucky for us since we didn't really plan in advance to even ask about that!


While in Spokane we walked along the river front to see the falls. Spokane also has a lot of sculptures along the river walk, so we took our picture in front of the large Radio Flyer. :)



From Spokane we made our way to the Sasquatch Music Festival. We did have a small diversion to Dry Falls which was amazing. If you're ever near Spokane, Washington you should stop there. The view is to die for and the drive to and away from Dry Falls is filled with stunning scenery and scenic turn-offs - just spectacular!



At the music festival, we camped outside at a beautiful gorge for 4 days while we listened to fantastic music. It was so much fun. We were a little cold since it got down into the lower 40s outside. I've never camped before when I could see my breath in the air! It only rained a little bit on one day for us while we were there. Unfortunately it was while we were waiting right up front at the stage for Cake to play. We got pretty soaked, but it dried out later that evening, so not too miserable. The concert Cake put on more than made up for it. Besides them we also saw Andrew Bird, Imagine Dragons, Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and tons of other great bands. We had a blast!

Our little set up :)

View from the main stage - this picture doesn't do it justice!

We packed up the tent this morning and then made our way to Seattle, Washington. After a much-needed shower and short rest, we had a great lunch of crab cakes and crab chowder (yum!). Then we headed off to see some sights of Seattle. We went to the public library, the Smith Tower, (made a stop at the stadium the Seattle Seahawks play at for my husband), Pike Street Market, and the first Starbucks.


Of course we are from Wisconsin... :)




I tried to go to a quilt shop called Undercover Quilts, but they closed about 3 minutes before I got there. I'm hoping we might be able to go there tomorrow, but here are some pics of their windows outside:



An art quilt made of Puget Sound!!!

Loved the look of these fabrics, especially the sea creature one!

Tomorrow we're hoping to take a ferry somewhere (we haven't exactly narrowed down where yet), and then explore the place around the Space Needle for a bit (maybe) before making our way down the coast to Portland, Oregon. :) So - that's it from us for a while, hope you all are having a great week!

4 comments:

  1. I went to Undercover Quilts when I was in Seattle. Great little shop. Really nice people.

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  2. Looks like a great time :) Hope you make it into the quilt store next time, lol!

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  3. Looks like a great trip! We camp here in Newfoundland, Canada...we often see our breath first thing in the morning!

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  4. Oops, you wrote this in May. I'm even more behind on my blog reading than I thought. Ah well, it's your blog's turn today, so expect lots of comments :)
    This looks like a great holiday. Well, except for all the driving. I'm not really a fan of being in a car. But if it's the only way to see such great places..
    Seattle is a place I want to visit. I see nothing here that changes my mind. Now, I just need to add that quilt shop to the list of places to visit while there :)

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