It is Wednesday again and that means it is time for the weekly Yarn Along.  I am joining with Ginny and everyone to share yarn and books.  This week saw no knitting rather a lot of time was spent on Ravelry for a new knit project.  I'm not sure why I wasted so much time.  I have two projects on the needles and one of them has been there FOREVER!  I am working on the back of Sylvi and it is not a talk at crafting or watch TV at night kind of knit.  But I am determined to finish it this summer so I can wear it next fall!

Today is Ginny's virtual baby shower.  I love baby knits because I feel like I have accomplished something.  I made a little washcloth out of very soft cotton.  Together Miss C and I picked out the kitty with the heart for the sweet new baby.

I have been reading a lot of travel books in the past week.  I had checked out books on Iceland, Croatia and Budapest.  I check out books from the library and then when we decide, I'll buy a travel book we can write in.  We are trying to decide where to go on vacation in October.  My list of places I want to visit is very, very, long.  But we have to consider places that are kid friendly and we've narrowed down our decision to Croatia.  In the next couple of months we'll make a basic plan of what we want to see and do while we are there.

Meeting Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Rapuzel

Merida

Chewbacca

Darth Vader

Last Thursday the mama's (The Dragon's) and I left for New York and the 2015 New York Sheep and Wool Festival! Hello to the insanity!  (I didn't even take a picture of the craziness, but I heard there were 40,000 people there on Saturday).

On Friday two of the mama's took a design class and the other mama and I went sightseeing.  We drove down and toured the grounds of both Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill estate and FDR's childhood home.  Then we took a tour of the Vanderbilt Mansion.  The grounds of all three were gorgeous, the leaves just coming into color (not quite peak, but stunning) and all were very impressive.

The Vanderbilt Mansion was one of the smallest and "cheapest" of all of the mansions built by a Vanderbilt.  It had 14 bathrooms!  When Frederick Vanderbilt died in 1938 he left this estate to his wife's niece.  But she didn't want it and tried to sell it first at a price of $350,000.  But due to the times, no one bought it.  She reduced the price to $250,000 (which in those times was A LOT of money, but I can't help think that since my house is over that in todays money I would have bought it in a heart beat).  And still no one bought it.

FDR suggested she donate the house and it's contents to the National Park Service and it opened to the public in 1940.

 Saturday was the day!  First day of the festival.  We got there about 10:30 and it was Cuh-razy! We got spilt up pretty much right away.  My plan was to walk around, do a little reconnaissance and then decide what to purchase.  It was a tad overwhelming.  It was hard to get into booths and feel the yarn.  But I did manage to walk through three buildings and mark my booklet to know which places I wanted to return to later.

I got to meet up with Donna.  I love this whole blog thing.  I consider everyone a friend from the blogosphere and it is so exciting to actually meet in person.  I spent the afternoon with Donna and her friend walking around the rest of the booths.  It was a chilly day and I kind of wished I had finished my Sylvi sweater, but I was rocking the Hitofude.

Donna & me.

 Donna made mention that Sunday is a much calmer day.  She was spot on.  It was easy to walk around and I was able to go back and make my purchases.  I was torn about what to buy though for the sweater I decided to make.  So many choices!  Ultimately I decided to only buy yarn for my sweater.  I was going to purchase yarn to make Miss C a sweater as well, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to spent upwards of $60-80 on yarn to make a sweater for a 4 year old.

The Dragons with Miss Babs.

I didn't venture too far into the Miss Bab's booth (either day) as it was pure insanity.  My friends waited in line for over 45 minutes on Saturday to make their purchases.  I was able to feel it and it was very nice.  I'll do my ordering on line!  Miss Babs was kind enough to take a photo with us on Sunday.

Stay tuned for a yarn photo.  I'm still downloading everything and unpacking.

The meadow behind the hut

catching bugs

catching bugs with her good friend

to roast marshmallows of course

The water was freezing!

Moose!

On Friday we hiked (Bryan biked) in to a hut where we camped for the weekend.  There is a hut system all over Colorado.  This one, however, is privately owned.  The hike in was about 2.5 miles.  I've not been to any others huts (we had planned a hut trip as a group, but two of us had newborns so we cancelled it) so I don't have anything to compare it to.  While the hut was rudimentary at best, it had running water!  Not many of them do.  And it had solar panels so we had electricity.  The wood stove in the basement provided enough heat that we were hot!  Which was good because it was in the 40's in the mornings.

The kiddos ran and ran and ran.  They climbed rocks and hikes and waded in the (freezing) creek.  Needless to say they were exhausted!  They roasted hot dogs on sticks and we all roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  This mama also got in some good knitting time while sitting outside soaking up the wonderful weather.

Cell service was definitely spotty, but texts were able to get through in an emergency- luckily we didn't have any of those.  It was nice to unplug for the weekend.

My cousin and her family rented a house on San Juan Island and invited us to stay with them on their vacation.  Who were we to say no?  Last Sunday we flew to Seattle and drove to Anacortes to catch the ferry to Friday Harbor.   The house was in Roche Harbor on the channel where the Anacortes-Sydney BC ferry passed by.

Mt. Baker

View from the deck

knitting on the deck

BC Ferry from the kitchen window

Fireworks are legal in Nebraska.  So much so that people pay hundreds of dollars to have their own fireworks display.  Fireworks are not legal in Colorado and one must attend a stadium or city sponsored fireworks display in order to see the shows that we watched in Nebraska from the porch.  It was all very much a shock to my system to witness the amounts of fireworks being blown up across the street.  Don't get me wrong, it was a spectacular display, just not something I'm used to watching from my front porch!  And fireworks were being blown up at all times of the day!
 We also went to the Omaha Zoo.  They had two new sea lion pups that were not even a month old yet!

It was a fast and fun filled weekend.  We ate a lot of great food.  We laughed.  We cried.  We remembered other reunions and toasted those who are no longer with us.  It's always great to see family since we are all spread out (mostly in the  midwest though) and everyone is so busy with work and family life.

 This was an ore chute.  The miners used gravity to move the heavy materials down the mountain.  The ruins are covered in snow.


 This was what was left of the boardinghouse.
 This was the only cabin that was completely intact.
 Some random animal tracks in the snow.

 The cabin.
 All that remains of one of the buildings.

 The view from the parking lot.
 Buffett was one tired puppy dog after our hike.  The hike was a short one, only about four miles.  But you know how dogs are...they walk double our miles wandering about.
 It turned out to be a gorgeous day.  The wind in the camp was chilly, but once back a the car it was warm enough to shed our jackets.   The old wagon road we hiked on was snowy and icy to start but turned slick and slushy.   I think this is a hike we'd do again.  The out and back to the mine camp was easy enough that C could walk or ride in the back pack.  But there is also a loop that goes higher and comes back around to the parking lot.