Friday, October 14, 2011

girls' getaway part I




Last weekend I went on a girls' getaway to Escalante. Amie's parents bought a second home there, and she invited us to escape for a few days. She warned us to have low expectations, but I thought that was just silly. What could be better than a few days of getting away from it all and having no responsibilities?

(I am posting about this in two parts—I have enough photos for more than two posts, but with the way blogging is going for me lately, I figure that's more than ambitious!)

The weather was definitely weird for our travel day on Thursday. Rain, snow in the mountains, and then even snow on the ground!

We stopped for lunch at this funny little restaurant that had model trains running. Some of the cars had baby pumpkins!

Amie realized that she had Jimmy's elk caller (is that even right?) in her car, and Jimmy was taking the kids hunting, so she stopped at a truck stop and left this envelope for him. The employees were a bit sketchy on the plan, but we found out later that Jimmy did indeed get his package. I thought that was pretty smart, I don't know that I would have thought of this plan!

The truck stop had a petting zoo, with a zebra! We thought it was amusing that there were no pets allowed, and disturbing that there picnic tables set up right by the smelly animals. As if.

We stopped in Panguitch so that Amie could show us this cool quilt-walkers memorial. I loved the way the metal looked just like a quilt being shook out, it has such movement.

Did you know this story? I had never heard it before and thought it was pretty interesting.

The road to Escalante goes right by Bryce Canyon. Now I want to go back to check that out.

Love those red rocks.

Escalante is a tiny town, with a population of about 500. This is Amie's parents' home, isn't it cute? Her mom thinks it's too far out of town, but the town is so small, it's not very far at all.

It's a nice big home, and we each had our own bedroom—what a luxury! The whole time we were there, I couldn't stop thinking about how difficult it would be to outfit an entire second home.

Amie's mom is a quilter and there were quilts everywhere. I love the colors in this one (I don't think I would have thought to add black, but it's perfect!) It reminded me of how much I want to make quilts for my own home (most of the ones I've made have been gifts).

These are the combined snacks we all brought. I totally fell off the diet wagon.

Amie took us to see Jimmy's grandmother's house. It was totally like going back in time. I swear it's a museum!

Check out the cool turquoise in this back entry! I was in love. (I'm thinking of repainting my front door in a similar color.)

Look how she stores her dishes and glasses! Holy moly, I can't imagine what a pain it must be to get things out and put them away. (But it sure does look cute.) And her cabinets are very close to the color I'm painting mine!

Her flatware is engraved with an E for Evadean. Love it.

We were all quite taken with this framed note from her father. Don't we all wish we had something like that? (I love that he signed it Mr.)

Just a building I liked in town.

Escalante has 3 restaurants, one grocery store, one bank, one thrift store, etc. We went to the thrift store. I had to buy these books, just because they are so cute! (Totally thought of you, Charlotte.) I also bought two silver lamé dresses for Eva to play dress-up. (I originally bought one, and then Jill suggested I was being short-sighted. I bought the second one for one of Eva's friends to wear as well!)

I had Amie stop the car so I could take a picture of these cows for Max (he loves cows). Don't they look like they're posing?

It was delightful to not have any plans. Jill and I both spent a lot of time reading, such a delight. Here she is on the back porch with her Kindle.

And me on the couch reading my book for book club. (A truly fascinating read.)

I brought some projects to work on, but never really got to them (other than a little knitting). The other girls set up their projects on the kitchen table.

Jill worked on a photo book on her laptop, and Melinda made tons of cute hair accessories for her daughters.

Amie worked on scrapbooking.

I made this delicious-looking mix from Our Best Bites for a treat one night. Sadly, it looked and sounded better than it tasted to me. (It was pretty good right after I made it, but then it got hard and crunchy. Less than ideal.) Fortunately, Jill's mom had sent us with a big bag of her famous caramel corn! It never disappoints.

Here Jill is holding a clump that looks like Africa.

more to follow...

11 comments:

Neighbor Jane Payne said...

Once again your photography is beautiful, Michelle. Your posts are like picture books.

I had never heard the quilt walkers story. What a great story to memorialize.

{natalie} said...

what a fun weekend with your friends. that last pic of africa popcorn is pretty funny.

how are the cabinets coming??

Anne said...

Great photos! Thanks for your review of that snack mix. I thought it looked so good that I was going to have my mom mail me the ingredients (I can't find pretzel M&M's online anywhere...at least not just a single bag). I suppose maybe I shouldn't have her go to all of that trouble if it is a disappointment. Oh, love the Africa popcorn. I live on the coast at the windshield line just above Jill's thumb. :)

Shauna said...

I totally want to Pin that turquoise porch! Have you read Gerald Lund's book, Undaunted? I am reading it right now. Escalante and the early Pioneers are subjects in the book.

Kim Sue said...

what a delight...friends and no responsibilities!

Melinda said...

I am so jealous you have started posting about the weekend. I haven't even been on smugmug yet to get the pictures! I got hammered this week with things I wasn't expecting and the computer has been left by the way side.

Natasha said...

This weekend away with friends looks like what every mom needs!

Denise said...

I'm so glad you got to have a girls' weekend! Sounds like so much fun.

Unknown said...

Sure sounds like a fun weekend. Getting away with girl friends and leaving motherhood behind for a few days is just the ticket.

It looks like a quaint little place with some inspiring history.

I love that turquoise porch too! I thought it might be a sleeping porch, which you could totally love.

Jill said...

Now I'm wishing I had created posts while we were there because it's overwhelming to think of recapping it all.

Amie said...

I kind of want to steal your post... your pictures are fabulous and I feel like I totally got away with something because you shared them with me! Thank you.

I had a fabulous weekend and am so glad you came!

I hope your neighbor doesn't steal you front door color again. (It makes me laugh just thinking about it.)

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