Days 5-7: Alma AR

After visiting some family graves in Red Oak Cemetery, we drove north to Laurel Land Cemetery to visit the graves of The Husband’s mother and step-father. 

This is a huge cemetery and we haven’t been here since October 2001 but TH went straight to the right area.  He must have a fantastic sense of direction because he is able to do this all the time.  To me, every row looks pretty much the same.
It rained a bit last night and today is cloudy and promises to be humid.  But we are headed north to visit my brother in Arkansas.  I haven’t seen him for about 15 years and I’m really looking forward to seeing him again.
We stopped for lunch in Atoka, OK at a new restaurant called Adam’s Grill.  It isn’t actually open yet but the woman planting flowers by the front door says, “Come on in.  The cook needs the practice!”  We ordered hamburgers and fries; the fries were a little soggy but the burgers were really, really good.  I think they need to crank up the heat on the french fry oil. I think they’ll do okay, though, as they are on Highway 71 which is a pretty busy road.  The address is 807 S. Mississippi Street.  They also plan to have free wi-fi, which is always a draw.

Mural in downtown Alma, Arkansas

The view from the patio.  So bucolic with the two horses in the green pasture and the pond in the background.  You just don’t get this in our part of California.

The GPS took us straight to my brother’s house even though it’s pretty far out in the country.  Brother and Sister-in-law made us feel so welcome, it was like we’ve been seeing them all the time.

On Saturday afternoon, my two nieces came over for dinner.  It was the first time I’ve seen them since they were quite small and we spent Christmas at my Dad’s house in Paradise, CA.  The younger sister is married with two little girls of her own.  The little one is five and just starting kindergarten as is my GS.  When she was asked how she likes school, she did a thumbs up.  The funny thing is that’s the same thing GS did when he was asked the same question. Must be some kind of 5-year old code.

My nieces seem quite interested in the family history, although they only know about the Arthur Harper line.  So I’ve decided to write something up for them about the Lamb and Trott lines as well.  I tried to tell them about Walter Harper and the Aunt Frances letters, but I got so emotional that I couldn’t talk.  Old age seems to have had that effect on me.  I get all choked up so easily. Of course this is such a sad story that it would probably reduce anyone to tears.

Brother had to leave on Sunday for a job in California, so S-i-L took us sightseeing in the Fort Smith area. 

Downtown Alma, Arkansas. 

Spinach Capital of America/The World

S-i-L is in the Master Gardener program and these herb beds at an historic house in Fort Smith are her project. 

The labyrinth at St. Scholastica’s in Fort Smith.  I’ve always wanted to walk a labyrinth but this was my first opportunity.  It took a lot of concentration as the paths are pretty narrow.  And when we got to the center, we discovered that we would have to retrace our footsteps to get out again.  Since it took us a good 15 minutes, and it was a somewhat humid day, we decided to just walk straight out.  Is a half-labyrinth as good as a whole?

Road Trip 2009: Day 4 Vega TX to Red Oak TX

At Amarillo we left Interstate 40 and headed southeast on US 287. Shortly after that, we started seeing acres of cotton plants. All I could think of is yards of quilt fabric.

We stopped at a roadside rest near Medicine Mounds.

Very clean and modern. This is near the town of Quanah which brought to mind the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped by Indians in 1836 when she was 9 years old. I am undecided as to whether her story is truly a sad one or not. Read it and let me know what you think.

We’re on our way to Montague County (pronounced Mon-tegg) to do some genealogical research. The Husband’s great-great grandfather Spencer Stout lived here for a while and is supposedly buried here. His mother Eveline Maurine Witt Stout, who lived to be 97, also died and is buried here.

The Montague County Courthouse was built in 1912.

This chute is apparently still used as a fire escape. TH has told me about a similar system that was used in Lincoln School where he attended kindergarten through fifth grades in Centerville, IA. That one, however, was totally enclosed and a couple of times a year all the kids had to bring waxed bread bags and sit on them to slide down. That helped keep the surface smooth in case it was needed, which it wasn’t during his time there.

Spencer’s death certificate says he is buried in this county but we couldn’t find any mention of it at the library in Nocona. The book there did say that Eveline is buried in Montague Cemetery, but darned if we could find a stone. We did find an interesting Probate case regarding her at the courthouse.

Our research here was finished by mid-afternoon, so we decided to head south through Dallas and find a motel in the Red Oak area. TH wants to visit some family graves there and then visit his Mother’s grave at Laurel Land Cemetery nearer Dallas.

Road Trip 2009: Day 3 Gallup NM to Vega TX

Ever since Flagstaff, the weather has been fair and much cooler.  I don’t know if it’s the altitude or what.  New Mexico seems to be working on all their roads.  Probably those stimulus funds.

Our extra for today was the Sandia Peak Tram in Albuquerque.  The distance is 2.7 miles and it rises to over 10,000 feet.  I’m usually leery of heights but this didn’t bother me a bit

We took our jackets because 56 degrees is pretty cool.  But when we reached the top either the temperature had  gone up or the altitude made a difference because we didn’t need the jackets at all.  It was mild and not at all windy.  The Albuquerque area was very hazy, so our view wasn’t as spectacular as it could have been.  But amazing even with the haze.

 

  The base station as seen from our tram.  The ride was smooth and not at all scary.  Might have been a different story if there had been any wind.

We had lunch at the High Finance Restaurant on the peak.  Despite the name, the prices were reasonable.  And the food was quite good. 

At Exit 47 on Interstate 40 in New Mexico we cross the Continental Divide.  From now on all rivers we cross will ultimately flow into the Atlantic Ocean instead of the Pacific. Now I really feel as if I’m away from home.

We had planned to stay the night in Amarillo TX but were a bit behind schedule, so decided to stay in Vega, TX -  just a bit short of Amarillo.

Dinner at Boot Hill in Vega TX.  Old West theme with the servers dressed as dance hall girls.  Our server however was dressed as a gunslinger.   But she was good.  Since we are now in Texas, I have to order Chicken Fried Steak. 

  Yummy, but the portion was so large I could only eat about half of it.  Notice the lack of veggies, other than parsley.  To be fair, they did serve me a salad before this.

There was a table with several Texans who were talking football and going on about how good  the Cowboys are and how badly the 49ers are going to get beaten in their pre-season game this coming Saturday night.  As we were leaving, the Husband walked by their table and said, “I don’t want to spoil your fun, but………………. Go Niners!”  You should have heard them scream as we got out of there fast.

For the last couple of days we have been seeing signs advertizing Dairy Queen’s Blizzard.  The husband has been salivating but I convinced him that this treat would be best saved for when he actually was in Texas.  Wouldn’t you know that this tiny little town would have a DQ!

Road Trip 2009: Day 2 Las Vegas to Gallup NM

We did manage to get to Hoover Dam on the second day. Didn’t want to take the time for a tour, so we just goggled at the immensity of it and then headed out. They are building a new bridge that is set to open in 2010 and, even now, is a thing of beauty.

Just to prove we were really there!

Lunch at Kingman AZ at the Roadrunner Cafe. Actually we ordered breakfast at lunchtime, something we do frequently when we’re travelling. Love those eggs and hash browns!

At Kingman we joined I-40 which would take us through the next three states. Somewhere south of Flagstaff we ran into a major hailstorm. The hail was small but there was so much of it that the road was covered at times.

The traffic slowed down to a crawl and we exited at the next rest stop.

Summer Hailstorm

That’s when we discovered that we hadn’t brought any umbrellas. So we sat in the car hoping for the rain to stop; instead it just got stronger. When I finally decided to brave it and run for the bathroom, I was stopped by a lake-sized puddle that I couldn’t get around. So back to the car and north to Flagstaff.

Last year we stopped here at a little coffee shop (can’t remember the name but it was at the Little America exit) and it was really good. This year we managed to find the same exit but the shop was closed for some reason. However, we did find the Mojo Cafe in Winslow AZ – super coffee and free Wi-fi.

We had planned to stay the night at the Best Western in Gallup NM. We stayed there last year and really liked it. This year they were full up, as were several other motels that we tried. Finally found a small, less luxurious motel and were happy with that.

Dinner at the Ranch Kitchen where I had tamales. These New Mexico tamales were quite different from the California tamales I’m used to. The masa wrap was very thin and the filling was definitely spicier. Thank goodness for sour cream.

Road Trip 2009: Day 1 from Home to Las Vegas

We got an early start today and headed south on I-5 towards Las Vegas.  We stopped for lunch in Mojave.  The restaurant was decorated with a collection of children’s cars, so The Husband was happy.

The last time we went to Las Vegas was in 1994 on Day 1 of our first big road trip to the Midwest.  We arrived on a Saturday at about 5pm and found that there were no rooms available in the entire city.   Apparently the Grateful Dead were performing in Vegas, there was a major prize-fight scheduled and the economy was booming – so everything was booked well in advance.  Also, there were a lot fewer hotels fifteen years ago. 

So we kept going, stopping at every motel along I-15, to no avail.  We ended up in St. George UT where we rented the next to last room in that town.  That caused us to visit the Grand Canyon on the North Rim instead of the more popular South Rim.  No problem there because the Grand Canyon is magic from wherever you see it.

This time we didn’t think we would have a problem – we arrived on a Monday, the GD are no more and the economy is also not so good.  In fact, we got a very good price at the Best Western Mardi Gras.

The Monorail was over the street next to our motel, although the station was a few blocks away.  That’s the new moon in the center of the photo.

The weather was fairly cool for Las Vegas – upper nineties instead of over 100 degrees.  I had wanted to see the Strip with all the big glamorous hotels, but it didn’t happen.  By the time we got settled in and had dinner, we were too tired.  The Husband didn’t even do any gambling.  The next morning we were going to drive down the Strip but we took a wrong turn and were past it before we could figure out what to do.  We never backtrack, so that’s it for Vegas.

Lace Shawl Finished! except for blocking…

The 2009 Goddess Anniversary Shawl

This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten on a lace shawl. Everyone says that it will look totally different after blocking. I think I’m also going to add a little crocheted edging at the neckline as it looks a bit fragile. But, all in all, I am really pleased with this shawl. Even before blocking it’s large enough for me.

This is the 2008 Ravelry Block of the Month CAL afghan. I wanted it a little bigger so I crocheted three extra blocks to make it 5x3. I am currently working on a six-row border to finish it off. I was hoping to be able to just use stash yarn but I’ve already had to buy another skein of lavender and just may have to buy one more.

I’ve started a pair of socks for The Husband and am also working on charity hats. I plan to pull out one of the hibernating lace shawls, probably the 2008 Goddess Anniversary Shawl. I am on the final clue but have quite a lot of 500+ stitch rows to do. This is a circular shawl and has a border all around. I haven’t done a border yet but I think I can do it.

I’m also thinking about starting the Half-Square in Trinity Stitch shawl from Victorian Lace Today if I can figure out the directions. Just looking at it, the numbers don’t add up; but there is no errata for this pattern, so I’m probably wrong. I’m going to do a swatch using Paton’s Grace so that I don’t mess up the silk yarn that I really want to use. More about this later.

The yarn I would like to use is the one on the bottom. It is 100% silk and was bought in Arkansas last summer while we were on vacation. It should give this shawl a nice drape. Of course, I will do a swatch before casting on.

Midweek Break

Mom went home to SF Monday and we decided to take a break for a few days. The Cambria area in San Luis Obispo county is one of our favorite places and only a couple of hours’ drive from home. This time we found a hotel in San Simeon, about 4 miles north of Cambria. It is the Best Western Cavalier Resort and is on the west side of Highway One. That means no crossing the road to get to the beach. This is also a dog-friendly hotel. No extra charge for the dog and the only rule is that he mustn’t be left unattended. This is the view from our deck, looking north.

After our morning walk, we had a good soak in the spa,

then went to breakfast in the on-site restaurant. The weather was great, blue skies and no fog, until about 11am; then the fog started rolling in and stayed pretty much all day. But, surprisingly, it rolled back out around 6pm and we had a really gorgeous sunset.

The hotel has three fire pits along the bluff above the beach, each with chairs for the guests to sit and watch the sunset. Tonight it was really windy which blew the smoke every which way, so we moved to a bench closer to the beach and I must have taken 50 photos. It was one of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen.

Cambria has a dog park at the north end of town. Master found out about it last time we were here, so this time we stopped yesterday on our way in and again today to take a break from checking out all the neat shops in Cambria. Unfortunately, the yarn shop that I visited in February is closed, hopefully temporarily. I did manage to find a quilt shop and bought some Insulbright for making potholders.

Then we drove up Santa Rosa Creek Road to Linn’s Farm Store to see what they had. We had driven by in February but they weren’t open then. We bought a few tasty items to take home and plan to stop at their town shop tomorrow morning to buy an olallieberry pie to take home.

Then we decided to drive down to Morro Bay for a fish dinner. Needing to work up an appetite, we stopped at the Cloisters Park which seemed to have a lot of walking paths. At one wildlife viewing point, thirteen ducks appeared as soon as we arrived. We didn’t have anything to feed them, so they eventually started wandering back into the reeds. Some of them had blue beaks which I’ve never seen before.

There were lots of folks walking dogs, big and small. This Irish Wolfhound was one of the former. The owner was not a small man despite what it looks like in the photo.

We had a very good dinner at Dorn’s Restaurant in Morro Bay, overlooking Morro Rock which we couldn’t see because of the fog. But by the time we finished the fog was starting to lift.

All in all, a very good day. Tomorrow it's up early for a walk on the beach, a soak in the spa and another yummy breakfast that I don't have to cook. Then it's home through Big Sur on Highway One. I much prefer driving north on this road - it's that much farther from the cliffs along the ocean.