A Road Trip and a Geography Lesson

Hello Everyone,

When Mr. Joe starts humming Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show by Neil Diamond, I know we are going on a road trip.  Pack up the baby - that would be Mazey, and grab the old lady - I think you can figure out who that is!  We were headed up to Susanville for a visit to Country Pines Quilt Shop.  A visit to this shop is a must if you are in the area.  It is a destination quilt shop.

We wanted to go earlier in the summer, but all of the fires blocked our route.  I'm preparing for my booth at the Independence Hall Quilt Show, and I needed reproduction fabrics.  Laura, the shop's owner, has a HUGE selection of fabrics that are just my style. She has many older bolts, and I love the vintage reproduction fabrics just as much as the newer ones.

Not only does the shop have a nice selection of "my" fabrics, it also has just about anything you want or need under the sun.

Laura fills every inch of the shop with quilted goodness.

There's an explosion of color in the Kaffe section.  Laura also has a large selection of Aboriginal fabrics.

The Batik section is very well stocked.

When we returned to our hotel room, I put all of my goodies out on display for Mazey and Mr. Joe.  I'm going to cut all of this up into half yard, fat quarter, and fat eighth bundles for my booth.  You can tell how impressed Mazey was with my purchases.  As soon as I get everything packaged into bundles of cuteness, I will post a picture.  They will be a nice addition to my booth combined with a few kits, and bundles that I've already assembled.  This was Mazey's first stay in a motel.  She was such a good girl.

To give you an idea of where Susanville is in relation to Arnold, I made a map of our route in Google Maps.  We took Ebbetts Pass over the crest of the Sierra, and dropped down briefly into Nevada, before crossing back into California.  This road is a narrow, windy mountain pass, that tops out at close to 9,000 ft. elevation.  On the map you can see some areas of red.  The pass closed yesterday at noon in anticipation of the first snow of the season.  That's why we drove over on Tuesday, and back on Wednesday.

This is a beautiful, yet at times harrowing route. There are some curve so tight, you meet yourself coming and going. If you hit is just right, you can be there when the cattle are herded out of their mountain meadows in the high country, down to the cow camps.  The road isn't littered with bread crumbs like the Hansel and Gretel story.  In some areas, the route is marked with "meadow muffins" left by the cattle.  Our friends have been stuck right behind the herd as they meander their way to the cow camps.  I wouldn't mind getting stuck, because I love looking at the cowboys.  You know, those Wrangler butts, drive me nuts!

This Cow Camp was established in 1881.  When I was taking the picture, I could hear the cattle "talking" in the distance and I loved hearing the sound of their cowbells.

The storm clouds were gathering.  Right on cue, Glenn Yarborough's song, "Baby the Rain Must Fall" came on the radio while we drove through a short shower or three.

Before we got to the Cow Camps, we drove through the Carson Valley in Garndnerville, NV.  I love this picture of the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  I just can't imagine the force of the tectonic plates pushing this range up to the heavens.  Lake Tahoe is right on the other side of the range.

On our trip back, we were greeted with an explosion of color from the cottonwoods in the valleys, and the aspen trees in the mountains.

I thought the bark on this tree was so interesting, minus the graffiti carved into the tree.

While I was tromping out in this grove, Mr. Joe hollered a warning to me about watching out for rattlesnakes.  I was already on the lookout for them and their menacing rattle.

It's been a fun week traveling through some spectacular and majestic country.  The vistas just filled my heart to overflowing.....until next Fall.

Soon,

Lynn