Month: April 2018

You really can’t go home again

Mostly I have been consumed with moving and unpacking. My back is killing me, and I have been falling asleep by 9:00 each night. However I did take a few days to attend my 45th high school reunion last weekend. I had a fine time, reconnecting with people I literally haven’t seen since 1973. I never lived at home after my freshman year in college, and I went to a different college than most of my friends. We had just lost touch until Facebook came along. One of my friends started to “collect” people from HS, and through him I reconnected with a number of them too.

Now to the not so fun. I expected more people I knew to be there, and I was disappointed that some who lived close didn’t come. I met lots of people I knew by name, but none of my special friends. I also think that a lot of people my age must have lost their hearing since the music was so loud I had a pounding headache by 9:00 when I finally gave up to head to my hotel room. I just felt I didn’t have much in common with the vast majority of people there. I hadn’t lived in the state for many years, had a different type of job, and obviously different political leanings as I discovered from casual conversation.summary: I enjoyed myself, but I doubt I will go to another.

Now back to unpacking!

We own a house again

We were “homeless” for a few days between selling the Utah house on Monday and closing on the new Iowa house yesterday (Thirsday). Of course the bank account looked pretty nice for a few days LOL! We had hoped to leave for Iowa today, but weather came in to delay us. The truck packing got delayed for the same reason, so we are still at the KOA in Salt Lake City. We do plan on taking off tomorrow morning, hopefully about 12 hours behind the weather.

The house closing in Iowa was a mess. I really owe my son and daughter in law a lot for dealing with so much of it. I have never had a sale be so much trouble. We are literally finding things things wrong with the house about an hour ahead of closing!  The builder’s tradesmen are obviously not careful, and they added some more dents and bumps to the house since the walkthrough on Wednesday. We did get it all finished up, though we gave up on getting their cleaners to do a good job. I just hired another crew to come in Monday.

Still trying to get some sewing done too. I would love to have a baby quilt top completed by the time I have the quilting machine set up. The baby is due in May, and this quilt just might not make it in time.

 

Kodachrome Basin State Park

Last January we made reservations for Kodachrome State Park in southern Utah. Spring is the most popular time, and reservations are truly necessary in this popular spot. We were able to get a lovely site with full hookups for only $30 a night, pretty good! There was no cell service, so we kept having to go to town to check on emails and texts to deal with selling the house.We had some friends join us, and we had a lovely time. I am going to add a lot of pictures, so be prepared.

Sorry for the antenna, but this is the general look of the area. Lots of rolling hills and mountains with juniper and sage.

While this part of the country is know for its red rocks, there are some big white bluffs too. Much of the white is clay, and it was mined extensively in the area.

This is a view of the area from the scenic byway Highway 12. We took an entire day to drive the 70 or so miles to and from the town of Boulder. Absolutely gorgeous.

On another day we went to Bryce Canyon National Park. It is high enough in elevation that it has lines instead of junipers, and snow was on the ground above 8000’.

View from a lookout at Bryce.

Nice arch at Bryce.

We also drove a rough dirt road, Cottonwood Canyon Road, to Grosvenor Arch. This is a well signed BLM site with picnic tables, a toilet, and a paved walkway that went most of the way to the arch. It was quite impressive – a full double arch that just opened up before you. Quite cathedral – like.

Kodachrome Basin is definitely off the beaten path, but well worth a detour. Mostly full hookup sites, 50amp electrical service, with a few no hookup sites available. All are reservable, and you need to reserve if you want a site. Almost all the sites will accommodate a big motorhome or fifth wheel with ease. Our friends had an electric site for the first 2 nights, but had to move to a non-electric on the third night. We shared cooking duties. She made sloppy joes with a wonderful fresh salad on her cooking night, and I made baby back ribs in the Instant Pot with pan fried potatoes, onion, and peppers on my night. Yum.

 

Too much going on to post!

Well the house in Utah has sold, and we have bought a house in Iowa. The prices in the Salt Lake City area are quite high compared to Iowa, so we were able to get a really nice new construction place with better features than the one we sold. About the same size, but with granite countertops, a three car garage, quality appliances, and just all-around better construction. Of course this means getting a 5 bedroom, 2 living areas, and a huge sewing room packed and moved. Anyone who has done can agree it is a terrible job, but it is done as of 2 days ago. I have had hardly any time to do anything fun, but I did get some sewing done. Here is the baby quilt for my niece’s upcoming baby.

I like the Irish Chain design. She wanted something understated, and she likes grays and whites. The white is a bright white Moda and the gray is Moda Grunge which is shot with streaks of white. I used a pale icy blue for the quilting. I am particularly proud of my binding on this one.

I also got a bit of embroidery done on some burp cloths.

We are currently living at the KOA in Salt Lake City. Remarkably quiet and pretty nice. We much prefer staying in our travel trailer to staying in a hotel, and we need to stay here until after the Hamilton show we have tickets to on Wednesday. Then it will be off to Iowa.

Oh, and we did take a trip to Kodachrome Basin State Park a couple of weeks ago. I will do a separate post for that.