Day Trippin' to State College

A cold and crisp 37 degrees greeted me this morning as I began my first trip through the mountains to State College.

First stop was Marty's Quilt Shop on the outskirts of Lewistown.  A self-proclaimed "dog lady", her shop is in an old house with lots of Encore Yarns and a little of this and a little of that.  Really, really nice woman.

From there I went to Belleville to Mary Lee's Fabric Shop.  The shop is filled with patterns, samples, and consignment items as well as lots of fabrics including wools and homespuns.  They open at 8 in the morning and have lots of the fabrics that Amish and Mennonite women make their dresses with..  A lovely young Mennonite woman waited on me and told me how to get to State College using back roads.

From here I drove 305 up and around and through the mountains to get to my next stop.  Indeed, this is Amish country.  I passed two different buggies that were painted bright yellow.  Apparently there are three different Amish sects around here, and each paint their buggies in a different way.

A quick stop into Greenwood Furnace State Park - two lovely ladies in the office were talkative and informative.  I bought next year's 2018 State Parks calendar and got my State Parks Passport stamped.  Took a drive through the double loop camping area.  There's only one restroom and I noted the sites that seem the closest - site 38 would probably be the best.  Just a half mile down the road and across the street is a swimming area at the edge of what appears to be a little lake.  Loads and loads of picnic tables there, too.  Very nice.  Also right here is a little dam and spillway.  Looks like there are hiking trails and other things to explore and check out.  Big football game coming up this weekend at State College (vs. Michigan) and the campground is going to be full.

Stitch Your ARt Out is in Pine Grove, near State Collefgwe.  Thes has to be my most favorite store of the year!  Loads of Australian Aboriginal fabrics, lots and lots of projects, knitting - great yarns - and ideas galore.  The own'er name is Cynthia.  I must look and see if there's a class I can take up here.  Block of the month - an aboriginal design -started in Jnuary and is $60.00 for the whole year.  She'll mail, and it's not to late to begin.  She plans to have a workshop in March at the shop to put the quilt together.  Nittany Budget Motel is just down the road.

THE American Philatelic Center is in Bellafonte, just 11 miles up the road from State College.What a wonderful experience!  The building, part of an old match factory,, has been remodeled extensively  They even have a noriginal post office from mid-1800 West Virginia that has been dismantled and put together inside.  It's on permanent loan from the Smithsonian!  It's also a working post office.  Reminds me of the Postal History Museum in Tucson.  The have an exhibit with is A to Z of Stamp History, which was just marvelous.  The library - two floors of philatelic history  - has its own couple of librarians working here full time!  The woman who showed me around and kept checking on me has worked there for 37 years, but I never got her name, foolish me.  She was marvelous.  I loved, loved, loved this stop.  On the way out there were three baskets of old [ostcards, notecards, and first day covers - free for the taking!

Before leaving Bellafonte I found a letterbox in a Little Free Library on the top of a huge hill on South Allegheny.  The hill reminds me of San Francisco - I can't imagine what they do in the winter to traverse it!

I went up the the trailhead of Mount Nitanny in Lemont, where I found a letterbox and a handful of acorns.

I got onto 322/22 all the way to 81.  Decided to catch a movie in Harrisburg, making it a full super-fun day.  I never did get to explore State College.  Another road trip!

California Barn Quilt Trail

What fun!

In Lake County, California, 28 buildings have decorated their sides with huge, COLORFUL, quilts.  Apparently this is happening all over the U.S. with about 28 states creating their own Barn Quilt Trail!  We set out early in the morning, traveling from Novato by Sonoma, through Napa and Calistoga and up into Lake County.  What a gorgeous ride, past zillions of vineyards and winding around and through mountain roads.

Our first stop was at a deli on the outskirts of Middletown, where we had a "snack."  Thank goodness for that snack, because we couldn't find anyplace to eat for the next four hours, not even a Subway. We had a map with sketchy addresses that we'd downloaded from the internet, and started our gaping and u-turning adventure in Middletown, where there was one quilt we just had to find.  It wasn't easy., but after traveling down and around a driveway that meandered through grapes and horses and trees (with a sign that said "No Trespassing/Tresspassers will be shot/Survivors will be shot again/We aim to please") , we followed a sign advertising eggs for sale.  And on the egg-lady's own somewhat hidden barn, we found our first quilt.

From there we headed up toward Lower Lake where we found another, then on to Kelseyville,, where there are about 20 clustered around town - but it's a largish area, so many miles were traveled.  Some were easily found from the road.  Some we had to look backwards or drive back and forth.  One was covered with a ladder - it was a ladder store, but it bugged us to cover such cool art. I think I felt they had a responsibility with this art that they'd chosen to share with the world and they'd shunned their duty with it.  However, the colors were spectacular, some of the barns and settings were truly wonderful, and we had a blast.We even found three that weren't yet on the map.

We were famished by the time we finished up in Kelseyville.  Wei headed north to Lakeport, where there were three more quilts and the town looked more populated on the map.  For sure!  A few restaurants, one where we found a super ... huge ... salad complete with beets, chick peas, and bay shrimp.  It was all I could to not to inhale like a vacuum cleaner!

We didn't have time to go all the way around Clear Lake, so we missed two of the quilts on the northeastern shore.  I'll have to satisfy myself with looking at Tulip Time and Grape Basket on their website, but we did find 22 of them!

For them, this was "an agricultural and tourism project designed to promote and celebrate our community pride."  There are lots and lots .... and lots ... of grapes growing in Lake County. Very agrarian.  There was a wonderful shop on Main Street in Kelseyville that delighted us - BirdBrain Designs, where the owners design redwork and felt work patterns and display them with lovely antiques and a wall full of red  and wool fabrics. A Subway franchise in Kelseyville would make a FORTUNE!

The ride across the mountains from Lakeport to Route 101 was absolutely spectacular.  I was glad I wasn't the one behind the wheel, because for once I could gape at the scenery without worrying about dropping thousands of feet to my demise.

Check out the Lake County Quilt Trail website.  It's so interesting, and it was a fabulous day....a great "adventure!"