Pittsburgh trip--Part One

This past week dh had another business trip to go on and invited me to tag along. Who could pass up a vacation?! Especially since it meant seeing new country. We flew into Pittsburgh and immediately found our rental car. Got on the turnpike and headed east to Gettysburg. We weren't really sure where we were going to end up but that made it even more fun for us. Years ago we had been in eastern PA and loved it so we were excited to be heading back that way. Here are some pictures of our trip. I will break it up into a couple of posts.

Boyd's Bear Country. What a sight this was when you turned the corner and saw the side of the barn!

 

 

Inside the store there were 4 stories of shopping!

 

 

This was taken outside of Boyd's but it depicts what PA looks like. Lots of rolling hills and trees. Just beautiful country!

After lunch at the Boyd's Country Restaurant, we headed to the Battlefield of Gettysburg. I highly recommend going to see this amazing area. Splurge and take the 2 hour bus tour. It really helped to know what everything was in and around the area of battle. We spent 1 1/2 days there and could have easily spent 2 more full days in the area. We had visited this area years ago but it was so much more interesting this time. I think the tour and the visitor center were amazing!

 

 

 

 

On Monday, we drove to Intercourse, PA to visit the Amish area. Monday must be wash day. It was starting to cloud up and rain but all the Amish homes had clotheslines like this one where they raised high above the ground.

 

Tuesday afternoon, we toured the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History. Also saw the Music Hall that is so famous.

 

 

University of PA in Pittsburgh---what beautiful old buildings!

 

By the time we got back to Pittsburgh, rain had started coming down but that was not going to stop us from playing tourist. I had been searching the internet for things to see and do while in Pittsburgh and riding this incline came up. One magazine said it was #2 of beautiful sights in the U.S.A. I don't know if I would rank it that high since I have seen some beautiful country but it was breathtaking. I wished we could have seen the same view at night.

 

 

 

Beautiful Pittsburgh! You have to drive across bridges to get downtown.

 

to be continued.....

Minnesota to Wyoming in 2 days!

I feel like a truck driver.

Oh wait. I was one. Or I should say my dh was one for 2 days this past week.

I got a call from dh and he told me to pack our bags because we were leaving town. Of course my first question was "where are we going?" I was suppose to guess. Hmmmm. Elko, Meeker, 4 Corners??? Finally he said we were heading to Minnesota to pick up a sewer truck. Oh. Is it new? Please tell me it is new. Yes. It is new. Nice and shiney.....and clean. Very important, that word clean. If you don't know what a sewer truck is, well, just imagine a truck that can pump out all unknown matter to man from a sewer. Actually this truck is for port-a-potties. Yeah. I know. Yucky! And I was going to be in this truck for however long it took to get to Colorado to drop it off at one of our offices. Can you imagine how thrilled I was?!

Here's some pics from our quick trip. I knew I needed (wanted) to be back by Friday to head to the cabin so we booked it coming home. I could have driven the truck since it was an automatic but dh did it all by himself. This is a man who says he hates to drive and always wants me to be in the driver's seat. I think he was having a good ol' time.

Just to show you we really made it!

 

THE TRUCK--you can't tell very well but I had to climb up a couple of steps to haul my body in there. It's as tall as a semi.

 

Famous Dave's Restaurant--we love BBQ!

 

Mall of America

 

In the center of MoA are lots of rides to go on--the kids loved it when we were here before.

 

Couldn't get lost in this parking lot, even if we wanted to!

 

Clear Lake, Iowa. Cute town and I wish it wasn't in the middle of nothing so I could go back there again. This is the view outside our hotel balcony. For you trivia folks, this is where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson played their last concert and then took off in a plane that crashed outside the town killing all of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died

 

Saw this car driving down the interstate. Yes it really is filled with frogs!

 

Elk Horn, Iowa--yea a quilt shop!

 

I want to make something quick and simple in flannel for the cabin so I bought this quilt kit.

 

Elk Horn is a dutch town and here is a windmill to prove it!

 

Stopped to see the kids in Colorado before dropping off the truck.

 

What a quick trip we had but it was fun to get away for a few days.

Landscaping......

Here is another reason I have not been sewing. I hope this week will be different! Life should start settling down now and I have lots of plans and ideas to get going on!

Side yard


Future garden area


Front side yard


Looking towards the front of house


Bark will be placed on all mounds


Rock fountain


More plants


Lilacs along the back fence and new table with chairs

Another week in pictures......

Off to school!


Skydiving!


Bear Lake!


Family!


Lil guy!

More getting ready for fall

This is what the lil guy and I made the other day. You might have seen these on some other blogs. I found the crows at the Dollar store and decided I needed to make one too.

The lil guy is staying at our home this week. He has been so much fun to have around! I had forgotten what it was like to have a constant little buddy around me all day long. It has been pure joy and I am so thankful his parents let us have him while they are on their cruise. It's going to be hard to give him up this weekend.

We had some family pics taken in May....finally got to see them!

Don't you just LOVE these?!

What I did this summer!

I haven't been blogging much. It has been a very busy and quick summer. I'll try to recap in pictures........
First off lil' sis graduated from high school! The whole family cheered that night!

Lil' man left for a 2 year Church mission in Tennessee. He loves it there even if it is hot and humid.


The summer is also filled with lots of birthdays and anniversaries in the family!


Saw a hometown circus!


Went to Girl's Camp and survived and also took a short trip to Denver to see our oldest and his darling wife. I was even able to house hunt with them! Too fun!


All summer long we searched high and low for a cabin to buy at Bear Lake. We made one offer on a cabin in July but the home inspection did not come back positive so we kept looking. Finally closed on our new getaway a few weeks ago! We are loving it! It is the perfect size for our family and we hope we can have lots of good memories there.


This is what we did last weekend!


Now Labor Day has past and summer is ending with fall coming fast! We actually had snow yesterday at the cabin. Brrrr! Time to start getting ready for the lil' sis to leave the nest and relearning what it is like to live as just 2 people again. It's a great time in our lives!