Sausalito

We really hadn't planned on visiting Sausalito. It's a small,

touristy kind of place near the Golden Gate Bridge, across the

bay from San Francisco. However, I wanted to get some good

photos of the bridge and since the fog was socking in the

bridge (as usual this time of year), we had time to kill while we

waited for the fog to lift. We visited Sausalito over ten years

ago and it really hasn't changed a lot. Lots of little shops, some

interesting and some not. However, there's lots of pretty

scenery and photo opportunities. Lynn even found a really nice

yarn shop. Go figure! We found some good coffee, a fun book

shop and generally has a good afternoon of hanging out.

Sock Summit

The main purpose of this trip is so that Lynn can attend the Sock Summit.
This is a large convention of knitters with a sock emphasis. If you'd like to
know more about it, Lynn will have more details on her knitting blog.
I've never seen more knitters in one place. It's estimated that there will be
6000 knitters attending. I'm sure there will be others here like me though.
Interested parties that are here to support the knitters, and as in my case,
act as sherpa for all the yarn and goodies that Lynn will be picking up. I've
been to a lot of yarn stores with Lynn, but this is the largest amount of
yarn, knitting supplies, etc. that I've ever seen in one place. These folks
take it very seriously. It was fun to watch Lynn have such a good time
amongst her peers. We have three days here and besides visiting the
marketplace (in the photos below), Lynn will be taking several classes.
I'm sure she'll have a great time!

Good Music For A Good Cause

This evening, we attended a benefit concert at the Western Colorado
Botanical Gardens' Elizabeth B. Harris Amphitheatre. The concert was
being held to support the Dream Catcher Therapy Center and End of
the Trail Horse Rescue and Sanctuary.

The mission of Dream Catcher Therapy Center is to foster an environment
to effectively rescue and rehabilitate horses and empower people with
physical and mental health challenges through interaction with horses
in a unique, clinical setting.


Three separate bands played, but I especially enjoyed the Native American
Flute playing between each set.


Lynn donated two knitted caps for the silent auction.


Adjacent to the amphitheatre is the Colorado Riverfront Trail. During a lull
in the music, I took a short walk down the trail to do some exploring. It really
is very pretty and it's the perfect place to take a walk, ride a bike or just watch
the Colorado River flow by.


The Colorado River is still running pretty high. The large amount of snow melt
from the mountains and the recent rainfall we've had have definitely filled its
banks.

We had a fun time at the concert, visiting with friends and enjoying the music...
all for a good cause!

The Mesa County Fair

We visited the Mesa County Fair this morning. On a positive
note, it wasn't very crowded since it was the last day of the
fair. On the other hand, there weren't very many animals left
since all of the judging had already been completed. We did get
to see a few goats (including one that "attacked" me!) He was just
very excited and I must have had a friendly face. I felt bad though
because he was limping a bit after he jumped out of the pen.
One of the highlights for us each year is checking out the crafts
that have been entered. Besides 4-H participants, Mesa County
has an open division, including one for knitting. Lynn always
thinks about entering, but never gets around to it. I may be
biased, but I think she would have easily won this year. There
are a lot of talented folks though and it's always interesting to
see all of their hard work. We managed to see everything before
it got too hot and another Fair season has come and gone.

Tierra Wools

In north central New Mexico, lies the small hamlet of Los Ojos.
It's sheep-raising country and home to Tierra Wools. It's been
about five years since we've been by here, but it's a favorite place
of Lynn's. Lots of natural yarns, weaving, spinning, etc. All done
by local artisans and students. They offer a number of Fiber Arts
classes here and Lynn would like to take someday. It's a pleasant
little area and so far out of the way, it's very quiet.

Bothwell International Spin-In

Almost by accident, we attended the Bothwell International
Spin-In, located in the Central Highlands. I saw an advertisement
for it on television and then saw signs advertising it in Hobart. We
didn't have much planned for this afternoon, so we made the scenic
90 minute drive through the Central Highlands and found ourselves
in the tiny town of Bothwell.


The Spin-In was dedicated mostly to what else...spinning. However,
this was what Lynn really came for! There were also sheep and
alpaca exhibits, weaving, knitting and other fiber arts.


Lots of displays were dedicated to finished knitted products and
there were several speakers as well as several tents and many booths
with artists selling their wares.


The Spin-In was held at the local elementary school which was
adjacent to the community swimming pool. I got a kick out of this
sign!


When we started back to our car, we ran across these nice folks who were
very excited to show us their knitware!

GJ Art & Jazz Festival

The weather was perfect for a late spring evening. We attended
the Downtown Grand Junction Art & Jazz Festival. It was very
similar to the Summer Farmer's Market, that is also held on
Main Street. However, being a art festival, there were a lot of
booths set up for folks showing their works instead of the
typical informational booths. There were a few small jazz bands
playing on the center stage and we ran into our friends, Christine
and Valerie, who were working as volunteers, serving Beer and
Wine. The was even a large number of knitted projects being
displayed on the sculptures throughout the street. Lynn has
photos of the projects on her blog: knitsonice
Overall, it was a fun time and it made me look forward to the
Farmer's Market next month.

Fun With Milk Crates

Several dozen years ago, in a life far, far away,
I obtained many many milk crates through a former
employer. Illegal, probably, but that's another story
for another blog. Today, Lynn decided to clean the
laundry room. Not fun for her, nor for me as in our
laundry room are lots and lots of crates. All awaiting
what I suspect will be lots and lots of yarn. I got
good and practiced (is that proper English?) at hosing
all of them down, removing cobwebs, dirt, and even
large amounts of spilled hand soap. Gee that was
a lot of fun...NOT!

The East Valley

We've been driving around a bit since we've been in Phoenix
and most of it has been spent in the East Valley since that's
where I used to live and we know the area better. We went to
a yarn store and this was outside of it. I doubt it's the world's
largest chair, but it's probably the world's largest "Pink" chair!


No Cub fan would feel that a trip to Arizona was complete
without driving past HoHoKam Park in Mesa. HoHoKam is
the Spring Training site for the Cubs. I drove around the
entire park and couldn't find anyone that might be able to
open up the gates so that I could look around, but at least
it was interesting to see even if the team is playing badly
back home in Chicago.


There was a pretty good view of the field from past the
outfield fence.


At the entrance to the field there were round batting circles
for each of the players that have had their numbers retired
by the team...including my favorite, Ryne Sandberg.


We drove to Chandler and took a look at the condo I used to
rent. Surprisingly, very little had changed in almost 14 years!


One of my favorite flowers is the Bougainvilla. The state Department
of Transportation has chosen to use it on the sides of many of its
freeways. It brings a lot of color to an otherwise tan landscape.

Time on Our Hands

Combine the fact that it was a cloudy morning with the fact that
my back was almost as red as my Oklahoma t-shirt (too much
pool), it was a perfect day to drive around the Valley and see
some things that needed to be seen. In our case that means
things that are cheap (free?) and what we might stumble upon.
Finding the Desert Botanical Gardens ($15 admission each) and
the Frank Lloyd Wright House ($30 admission each) a bit beyond
our price range, we opted for old standbys. Lynn wanted to visit
a yarn store in Mesa called the Fiber Factory. No, not the place
where Metamucil is made, although that might be an interesting
trip for another time...but one of the "best" yarn stores in the
Southwest. I have to admit that it was pretty nice if you're into
that sort of place, which Lynn is and the people working there
seemed very knowledgeable about Antarctica and Colorado.
However, they thought Colorado was cold all the time...shhhh...
don't tell them it's not!


While I was waiting for Lynn to peruse the yarn store from top to
bottom, I sat on the "man couch" and read a small newspaper
distributed by the Downtown Mesa Association. In it, they talked
about a "favorite" local Mexican restaurant just down the street
named Mangos Mexican Cafe & Bakery. In a word, it was
AWESOME! Lynn had the Chimichanga and I had Enchiladas and
even the chips and salsa beforehand were great. I found out later
that it had received 5 stars on several internet sites. I especially
liked having to walk through the kitchen to use the restroom.
All very authentic and real comfort food. As much as I love Mexican
food, we hadn't had any real Mexican food in a restaurant since
we came back from Ecuador. I love Taco Bell, but that doesn't
really count...neither does our new discovery, El Pollo Loco.


One of the main goals as we headed out the door was to
visit some used bookstores. We've visited both Bookman's
in Phoenix already, so we wanted something less commercial.
We found it walking back to the car from Mangos. The Book
Gallery. A really nice used bookstore, all of the books are
in good condition and don't smell of mildew. Something we've
run across quite a bit in used book stores. Lynn found a few
knitting books and I found a good book on Colorado
geography and then I stumbled across the "Flag section". Yes,
they actually had a small section of flag books. In it, I found
"Flags Through the Ages and Across the World" by Whitney
Smith. He is the man who coined the term "Vexillology".
I used to check this book out of the Naperville and Denver
Libraries and have seen battered versions of it for sale over
the years but never found a really good copy of it. Here it
was. Only problem...$35...Ouch! However, since the book is
already 34 years old and has been out of print forever...plus
the fact that this copy was in pristine condition...I had to bite
the bullet and buy it. Maybe I can sell some plasma or
something down the road to afford it. Later on, I looked it
up on Amazon and the cheapest copy is available for $106.
Definitely not a price I would pay for a book. I definitely
made a good purchase.


I drove by my old condo in Chandler and took a few pictures
since I didn't have any digital copies (yes, that sounds weird to
me as well) and even past the place where I wrecked Lynn's
Camry leaving the Dairy Queen in 1995 (no photos here
however). Afterwards, we were driving up I-10 toward
downtown Phoenix when there appeared an IKEA in Tempe
on the right hand side of the highway. We'd never been to
an IKEA before and we felt like browsing. For those who
don't know, IKEA is a huge (store size) Swedish-owned
household goods store that has locations around the world.
Everything in the store is VERY reasonable and affordable.
We're looking at making some updates to our house in the
next five years so we were really encouraged that we could
shop at IKEA and make some of the changes we want down
the road without bankrupting ourselves. Only trouble is, the
closest location to us is in Salt Lake City. Not very convenient,
but maybe someday.


Lastly, we stopped at the Barnes and Noble (sorry Ben) at
the Chandler Fashion Mall. Mainly because they have free
internet! They've made a deal with AT&T (boo) for free
internet access in all of their store cafes around the country
and if we get a small coffee, I don't feel so bad about
abusing their bandwidth. I'm finding that more and more
places are offering free Wi-Fi although here's the part of
this post where I complain. Our hotel only offers it in the
lobby for free, not in the rooms. If you want access in your
room you have to pay $9.95 per day. How is it that
seemingly every Motel 6 or Super 8 across every interstate
highway in America can offer "free" Wi-Fi access in their
motels, but a "resort" charging much more charges a
ridiculous price to do so. There...that's been bothering me
for the last 4 days and it's off my chest! And yes, I'm
smiling as I type this!

Visiting the Hospice

I have been wanting to visit the hospice where my Dad
stayed last year and also to go with my Mom to see the
bricks that we had placed there to remember my Dad.
They did a really good job placing the bricks and they
are right outside his window. There is even a small bench
there that I can picture him sitting in, admiring the
beautiful garden and pretty flowers.


Lynn and several other women on the Ice last winter were
working on another "Warm Up America" afghan and Mom
was contributing with her own squares on this end. Lynn's
spent the last few days putting them all together into a really
pretty afghan. The "Warm Up America" project is aimed at
contributing these projects to hospitals, shelters, etc and
Lynn felt that the VNA Horton Hospice Center. Two of the
women that were there when Dad stayed there greeted us
and were thrilled to see us and to receive the afghan. Both
very nice women, it was great to see them again.