Flashback to the mid 80’s.  Melissa is in high school and I’m hooked on MTV!  Melissa’s favorite band–Bon Jovi!

Fast forward to a few months ago when Melissa tells me Bon Jovi is touring and the number one thing on her Bucket List is to see them again before they’re too old–or she’s too old!  I tell her to buy us tickets and she does–fourth row.  FOURTH ROW!!!!

Bon Jovi’s first stop–Seattle.  Melissa and I spent the weekend at my parents condo.  Here’s the view from First and Spring.

Mount Rainier over Safeco Field and the Quest Center.

The waterfront.

Tall buildings.  Hey, I’m from a really small town.

Of course we had to go to Pike’s Place Market.

Aren’t the flowers on the rooftops beautiful?

Years ago when the Market was being refurbished, they had a buy-a-tile fund raiser, and my mom and dad bought tiles for the whole family.  Here are ours!

But, come late afternoon, we’re ready to go!

The concert was at Seattle Center.  Here’s a view of the Space Needle over the top of Experience Music Project.

Great public art on the way in.

Past the International Fountain.

Quick mother/daughter photo op.

Now here’s the cool thing.  A semi-circle comes out from the stage–about four feet wide.  We’re in The Pit–the area inside the circle!  That’s VIP section, baby!

Another peek at the Space Needle before we go inside.

Of course everything is in Melissa’s name–and her name is on the list–BUT, she took her ID out at the airport and put it in her carryon.  It’s not in her purse!  Must be nice to be young and cute.  She just smiled, batted her eyelashes a few times and the guy said No Problem!

We were escorted to a special reception room and the band was there to greet us–well, paper cut outs of them!

The appetizers were waiting for us.

As was the open bar–always high on my list!  As you can see, I did my part to support the cranberry industry.

Soon dinner was served–the pasta bar was yummy!

And who could argue with a Build Your Own Cupcake station!?!

The band didn’t join us, but one guy I nicknamed Phony Bon Jovi was loving having his photo taken with all the cute girls!

I know you want pictures of the real thing, but that will have to wait until Part 2!

A few days ago I was having lunch at the Port of Ilwaco.

As I drove away, I saw some local crabbers getting the pots ready for the upcoming Dungeness crab season.

I wonder if these guys would be good quilters?

As I pulled over to take some pictures, I heard, “Hello, Karen.”  It was Ed–a guy I grew up with and went all through school with.

This is what they’re hoping to catch.  Dungeness crab.  In my book, there’s none better.

Every fisherman has his own color buoy.

The season starts near the end of the month, and right now the crab pots are stacked up everywhere.

If I were a crabber, I’d want buoys this color!

Crab is a traditional Christmas treat in our family.  I can’t wait!

I have to preface this post by saying that I was born in Pacific County in 1953, my mom was born in Pacific County in 1923, my grandma was born in Pacific County in 1894.  Her mother (Anna Lena) moved to Pacific County in 1890.  Anna Lena lived here the rest of her life, my grandma lived here her entire 90 years, my mom and I still live here.  We’re kind of fond of Pacific County!  I live on the beach side of the county, but my forbearers lived on the east side–not all that far from Falls Creek, where we just had our retreat.

This is the creek view right across from the gym where we did our sewing.

Our county is still 80% forest.  My grandpa was a logger here.  The native forests were mostly cedar–and in many places you can still see the old stumps from the first logging–even though it was probably a hundred years ago that they were cut down.

Lots of them have turned into “nurse logs,” providing a base for seedlings that have grown into magnificent trees of their own.

Even under this tree there was once an old stump.

If you look closely, you can see where the loggers notched out a place for the springboards.  These boards got them up high enough to saw through the trunk where the diameter wasn’t so large.

Even though our weather was very rainy, I decided to walk along the creek to the falls–about a mile.

It started out as an easy, flat walk.

There were so many cool trees along the path. like this one with THREE trunks!

And this one with two trunks.

I just love the little ferns that grow out of the trunks and branches of the trees.

At first the path was a one lane, gravel road.  It crossed a bridge and opened into a lovely meadow.

There was a tiny cabin there.

It must have been there a long time judging by the maple trees in front of it!

The trees were bare, but there was plenty of “evidence” on the ground that these were maples!

I was always told that if you were lost in the woods, you could find North by looking at the trunk of a tree.  There would be moss growing on the north side of the tree.  Well, here’s one of the maple trees.  Side 1.

Side 2.

Side 3.

Side 4.  Hmmm, I’m thinking this isn’t going to work for finding North.

This snag looked as though it could star in a horror flick!

The farther I went, the more rapid the creek was flowing.

Soon the gravel road ended, and it was time to start the climb to the top of the falls.

The trail was strewn with leaves.

And snugged the side of the hill.

The vine maples were so pretty with the vibrant yellow leaves.

Even though it had quit raining, everything was dripping.

The path climbed pretty steeply.  I could still see the creek below.

When I rounded this corner and reached the top of the nexts rise, I could really hear the falls.

The water was cascading over stair-step looking rocks.

But that was just the lower falls.

It was hard to get back far enough to get good photos, but you can see how much water was flowing here!

Here’s looking straight down from the top of  the main falls.

It was definitely worth the walk.  Twice, since I forgot my camera the first time!

Pacific County is a pretty good place to live!

Take a deep breath, grab a cup of coffee and sit easy–this is going to be a long post!

I got home at midnight last night from Quilt Market in Houston.  I had a fabulous time!  Here’s a recap of my days there.

I presented two talks at Schoolhouse.  One was one my new Redwork line and the other on a new Quilt Shop Program called Stash Pot Pie II

Karen Montgomery did a couple of Schoolhouses, too.  Here’s she’s showing her new fabric with Timeless Treasures.

Debbie Welsh (one of my two roomies) did two–Beginning Quilting by Machine and one on numbers–i.e. business stuff (eye’s glazing over here!)

Saturday morning, everyone was anxious to get in and see what was new!

Here’s my other roomie, Kris, hard at work ordering fabric.

Having fun at the Me and My Sister booth.

After a tough day on the Market floor!

Here’s how my quilts looked in the Timeless Treasures booth.

One year Houston had painted cows.  Now it’s painted globes.

Fun except for the 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity!

Tow Vehicles

Some of the tow vehicles were as cool as the trailers.  I’m sorry I don’t know models and years, but enjoy looking–Bob was!

This panel truck was really cool.

Nice blue Chevy on the left.

This trailer was really nice.  And check out the two vehicle that went with it!

I believe it’s a Ford Fairlane.

Another old station wagon.

I posted this teardrop the other day, and you can see the tow vehicle in the background….

….and here’s a better shot of it.

Appliances

Wow, some of these trailers, in fact, lots of these trailers, still have their original appliances!  I don’t know what year my parents remodeled our house when I was growing up, but this is the color my mom chose for our kitchen – copper!

But I’m in love with the aqua ones. Even the hood is aqua!

And the sink!  How cool is that?

The fridge matched, too, of course.

Here’s a white stove, but this person must love aqua, too, she chose it for her curtains.  And do you see the holder on the back of the stove.  It says Aluminum Foil, Wax Paper and Paper Towels.  Lola has one of those, too!

I think the red here may be a recent addition, but it looked sharp!

More aqua.  I don’t remember ever seeing aqua appliances in anyone’s home, although Monica says her mom had an aqua fridge–which she had painted harvest gold in the seventies!

Lovely matching stove.

Even the white ones are pretty cool.

Teardrops

Teardrop trailers are just so darned cute.  And we saw from new to old.

This one was quite old, although I don’t remember seeing the year on it.  The most amazing thing was the all the canvas “add-ons.”  There was a huge one in the back, and two on the side.

One of the side ones was tall enough so you could stand up inside.  It was a changing room!

All the comforts of home–just outside!

Isn’t this adorable?

Believe it or not, it was built in 1946!  Somebody has lovingly restored it.

Cozy sleeping quarters.

This one is also from 1946.  I love the wood on it.

Another beautiful restoration job.

This setup really brought a smile to my face.  I never saw anyone around it, but doesn’t it just remind you of an old miner’s set up.

Ah, he never found gold, but he’s liking the lifestyle–thinks he’ll just stay put!

Shiny Ones

Airstreams weren’t the only shiny, aluminum trailers at the rally.

This is a 1959 Streamline.

Even the inside was shiny metal–shiny PINK metal!

This cool trailer with the corrugated sides is an Airfloat built in 1952.

There were several Airstreams, including this 1951 Flying Cloud.

This 1950 Silver Steak Clipper looked like something out of a science fiction movie!

But the most amazing of all was this 1936 Bolus.

Talk about your space age look!  And it has a front entrance.

Just inside the entrance is the tiny little galley kitchen–all aluminum.

And here’s a shot of the living/sleeping area.

Two weekends ago, Bob and I went to Lynden, Washington for the Tin Can Tourist Rally.  Oh, what Fun!

There were lots of vintage trailers, like these painted ones!  This one is a Mercury.

Here’s an old Aloha.  Check out the pineapple lights!

Great space age detail!

I love the matching awning on this one.

And this one.  It’s a Shasta, a very popular brand.

This one was painted to match a vintage Ford Fairlane.

And how about this Pumpkin trailer!?!

This aqua beauty is a Masterbuilt.  I love the windows.

Here’s an Aloha with a Tiki theme.

It’s hard to beat sunny yellow, like on this Aladdin.

More tomorrow!

Who would have ever thought that neon signs would evoke feelings of nostalgia?  But lately I’ve been noticing them when I travel.  The town of Prineville, Oregon was full of them, like this Real Estate sign.

And this men’s ware shop.

Even the jewelry store had a cool old sign.

Mitchell, Oregon is just a wide spot in the road, but look at this cool hotel sign.

Bend, Oregon has been a boom town in the last couple of decades, but this old sign is still shining bright.

A few weeks ago in Fife, Washington, we passed this cool old sign.  I only saw the sign, but Bob saw the little hamburger stand.  When we went that was again last weekend, we decided to try the burgers.  Good choice!  They’ve been in business 60 years, and boy, do they have it figured out!

Nearby was this old motel.

You can tell I’m starting to obsess about these old signs.  Ah, well, another harmless addiction.  If you love them, too, send me photos of your favorites!