Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Photos - Mystic Cy to Burlington Vt.
Next day. October 18th 2011, Mystic Ct. to Burlington Vt.
Before leaving Mystic this morning we did a little drive through the township. How very quaint and tidy it is, nestled on the banks of the Connecticut River mouth. The area was first colonised in the early 1600’s and became a centre for clipper ship building. Now the main industry is tourism.
We then headed north to Springfield Ma. – the birthplace of Dr Seuss and home to the Dr Seuss National Garden. Like the excited bunch of kids that we are there was a race to disembark the coach and get in the gate.
Each of the marvelous bronze statues shows immaculate detail and is life-size. My favourite was the enormous book inscribed with ‘Oh The Places You’ll Go’. Even the cover (back) was exact.
From there we kept on north to Brattleboro Vt. for a lunch stop. Another charming little village with heaps of character and a good place to stroll around. Brattleboro was an English fort town in its early life.
Now we are driving North West toward Bethel Vt. to visit Garden of Stitches, a lovely little quilt store, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The store is not normally open on Tuesdays, but I’m very pleased that they offered to open for us. We all found a little treasure - or two!
The trees all around are glorious. Yellow, red, orange and a few still green. By the time we departed Bethel it was 5.30pm and we faced a drive of another hour to Burlington. Amazing how a few miles down the road the passengers get very quiet!
We are now at Green Hills Suites for the two nights. What a magnificent place. I have a suite with a kitchenette, bedroom (with two enormous beds) and bathroom complete with bath. The gas fire is flickering away as I write. Over the winter months this place will be packed with skiers, as there are many resorts in the area.
Today has been a very significant one. We have been in three different states - Connecticut, Massachusetts & Vermont.
Tomorrow we are off to Shelburne Museum and a few other little treats along the way. Thank goodness there is very little distance involved tomorrow.
See you!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Taber Inn - Mystic Ct.
http://taberinne.com/
A lovely inn with beautifully appointed rooms/suites. Several have jacuzzi and the room on their homepage is really just beautiful with its four poster bed.
Most of us dined at Avanti's Pizza Restaurant, just across the road from the inn. My baked cod was wonderful. We all had great meals.
More about Mystic tomorrow when we have had a chance to see it in the daylight.
Good night.
A lovely inn with beautifully appointed rooms/suites. Several have jacuzzi and the room on their homepage is really just beautiful with its four poster bed.
Most of us dined at Avanti's Pizza Restaurant, just across the road from the inn. My baked cod was wonderful. We all had great meals.
More about Mystic tomorrow when we have had a chance to see it in the daylight.
Good night.
Pics - NY
San Francisco to New York city - October 17th 2011
The sun rising over San Francisco Bay as we took off this morning almost made up for having the coach pick us up at 4.30am!
Our 5 hour flight across America gave enormous inspiration for patchwork. All those different coloured and patterned fields and rivers that looked like lame’ with the sun shining on them. Lakes and rivers were numerous. Some of the rivers we flew over were enormous and snaked off into the horizon. The Great Lakes are just that – GREAT! As vast as oceans. From the air NY has masses of trees. They are just starting to turn so the prospect of lots colour as we head north is very high.
We landed at JFK in the south east of the city. A fairly efficient airport, so bags were to hand and with little stress we’re on the coach and heading north to Connecticut. The expressways were starting to get a bit clogged, but heading north was easy. There was a 10km tail of traffic heading in the opposite direction. We imagined how much stitching you could get done, but how frustrated you would get.
Our coach driver for the next 11 days is Jasmin. She’s from upstate NewYork and spends most of her time driving long distance tours. I think she will fit in just fine.
Tonight we are staying at Taber Inn, Mystic CT. Mystic looks like a very pretty seaside town, complete with lighthouses. Watch out for pictures.
Out 'n About in San Francisco - Sunday 16th October 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sunday 17th Santa Clara - Pacific International Quilt Festival
First task today was to log-on to xtra to check the rugby result. You can have no idea how excited we all were - even those not interested in rugby - by the result.
Okay - now picture this..... old white (not yellow, but you'll get the picture) school bus pulls up outside the hotel and 26 very happy quilters board for the one hour journey out to Santa Clara. Our driver Monica put us through the safety drill - in case the bus should roll over on the freeway, then off we went. I'm sure that 26 school children don't make anymore noise than we did, so you can rest assured that we had a very happy/quick journey.
The show is not BIG by Houston standards, but it still took all day to just walk the floor, let alone stop and look/chat. 26 happy & tired quilters got back on the coach at the end on the day. I'm sure that everyone bought something - I certainly did. The journey back into the city was a little quieter than the journey out.
This evening several of us took the cable car down to Union Square. Much clanking and ringing of bells. So much fun! We dined at Bristol Farms - a deli/food court under the Westfield building at the bottom of Powell Street. Great food and lots of laughter. Back on the Cable Car for the return trip. More fun, more laughter.
Back at the Sheraton we invaded the privacy of a lovely couple from upstate NY who where celebrating their 30th anniversary. Surely after 30 years they've said it all anyway. They were very lovely and made us very welcome.
Have been trying to get an early night, but as the time is 9.45pm I see little chance of that. We have a 3.45am wake-up call in the morning and the coach departs at 4.30am for the airport. New York, here we come.
About time your readers started posting! Till next time, Lesley & the travellers
Okay - now picture this..... old white (not yellow, but you'll get the picture) school bus pulls up outside the hotel and 26 very happy quilters board for the one hour journey out to Santa Clara. Our driver Monica put us through the safety drill - in case the bus should roll over on the freeway, then off we went. I'm sure that 26 school children don't make anymore noise than we did, so you can rest assured that we had a very happy/quick journey.
The show is not BIG by Houston standards, but it still took all day to just walk the floor, let alone stop and look/chat. 26 happy & tired quilters got back on the coach at the end on the day. I'm sure that everyone bought something - I certainly did. The journey back into the city was a little quieter than the journey out.
This evening several of us took the cable car down to Union Square. Much clanking and ringing of bells. So much fun! We dined at Bristol Farms - a deli/food court under the Westfield building at the bottom of Powell Street. Great food and lots of laughter. Back on the Cable Car for the return trip. More fun, more laughter.
Back at the Sheraton we invaded the privacy of a lovely couple from upstate NY who where celebrating their 30th anniversary. Surely after 30 years they've said it all anyway. They were very lovely and made us very welcome.
Have been trying to get an early night, but as the time is 9.45pm I see little chance of that. We have a 3.45am wake-up call in the morning and the coach departs at 4.30am for the airport. New York, here we come.
About time your readers started posting! Till next time, Lesley & the travellers
Saturday 16th (still) San Francisco
We arrived into a very mild San Francisco in a mildly excited state - as you would. As the 'great plan' was working well, our guide & coach meet us at the airport & off we went on a tour of the city. Mike, our guide is an absolute font of knowledge (some great, some very trivial - how we love trivia). Although we were all feeling a little jaded and the odd head was seen to nod, we drove up the Twin Peaks to view the city/harbour/bay. This was my third tour up the peaks and the best view to date. Usually the fog or mist hampers the view.
Then we headed done through the Castro with it's rainbow flags blowing in the breeze. A very colourful district and I even noticed a dog and owner dressed in matching singlet tops of sparkly pink. We then drove through streets of delightful of Victorian houses. Very choccy box.
From there we headed to the famous Golden Gate Bridge. The view from the Marin side is much better and as we were headed for Sausalito for lunch we drove over the bridge before stopping for more photos. (I'll upload those tonight).
I LOVE SAUSALITO! It's a lovely Devonport-type suburb and has a few fab shops too. Pam found the Christmas shop, so she's a happy girl. I had my traditional hotdog with everything for lunch and can not even begin to imagine how many calories it had.
Back over the bridge & to the hotel which is at Fishermans Wharf - so very handy to everything.
Got to rush now as we are off to the Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara. More later..............
Then we headed done through the Castro with it's rainbow flags blowing in the breeze. A very colourful district and I even noticed a dog and owner dressed in matching singlet tops of sparkly pink. We then drove through streets of delightful of Victorian houses. Very choccy box.
From there we headed to the famous Golden Gate Bridge. The view from the Marin side is much better and as we were headed for Sausalito for lunch we drove over the bridge before stopping for more photos. (I'll upload those tonight).
I LOVE SAUSALITO! It's a lovely Devonport-type suburb and has a few fab shops too. Pam found the Christmas shop, so she's a happy girl. I had my traditional hotdog with everything for lunch and can not even begin to imagine how many calories it had.
Back over the bridge & to the hotel which is at Fishermans Wharf - so very handy to everything.
Got to rush now as we are off to the Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara. More later..............
Friday, October 14, 2011
Departure day
Goodness me - we're off!
After arriving at Auckland Airport, checking in the bags, meeting and greeting all those excited travellers I must admit I'm a bit tired. Soon it will be time to board, be fed and go to sleep.
We will be very excited to hear who wins the game tonight. Maybe AirNZ - 'proud supporters on NZ Rugby' will announce the result.
On! On!
After arriving at Auckland Airport, checking in the bags, meeting and greeting all those excited travellers I must admit I'm a bit tired. Soon it will be time to board, be fed and go to sleep.
We will be very excited to hear who wins the game tonight. Maybe AirNZ - 'proud supporters on NZ Rugby' will announce the result.
On! On!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
The final countdown!
As we near our departure date - October 15th - the excitement is building. Two of our group have already left for the US and will meet up with us in New York.
We hope you enjoy hearing how your quilter enjoys her tour! I'll try to update daily once we are on the way - ether permitting.
We hope you enjoy hearing how your quilter enjoys her tour! I'll try to update daily once we are on the way - ether permitting.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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