Return Trip - July 30 2012

Once again, I'm a lazy bum with the posting. I'll try to get better and get back to the typical Sunday update.

Monday morning came around and it was time to head back home to Utah. Of course I had to wait around until Stitchers Paradise opened at 10 before really heading out of town... I did stop in at Retro Bakery on my way past and picked up some cupcakes to share with my visiting teachees, and a dozen random flavors to split with Brother B and SIL A.

I happened to talk to one of the owners when I was choosing my order and when he found out I was headed back to Utah with the cupcakes he suggested I have Retro freeze the cupcakes and come back and pick them up in half an hour or so.  I declined because I'd transported cupcakes home from Vegas before and didn't anticipate any problems. ... Well, with my stop at Stitchers Paradise and the cupcakes ending up being in the sun, even though they were in the foot well, the icing slid off of a few of the cupcakes.  Next time, I'll take his advice and call in the order an hour or so before I want to pick them up.

I spent about an hour at Stitchers Paradise.  They have a great selection of patterns and flosses and what not.  What I really love about them is they carry a wide selection of over dyed fabrics.  I just love all the different colors and textures and what not.  However, since I am broke and unemployeed, I had to keep my purchases down to the minimum.  So I picked up Lizzie*Kate's A Little Liberty mini kit and had to call it good.

Once again I was feeling 'photo-y' as I headed out of town.  So here are a lot of pictures I took while wandering up the road.

Desolate landscape north of Las Vegas, NV

Road construction north of Las Vegas, NV.  Speed is 25 mph.

Who-hoo! No more construction! Punch it Chewy!

Road to the horizon, I-15 north bound out of Las Vegas, NV

Road, clouds, landscape. North bound I-15 in Nevada

I liked the look of these hills.  I took many pictures of them.

Road + Horizon + No traffic = Good

Rain storm coming.

Down grade with a view across the valley.

Did I mention that I like road to the horizon?

Driving bliss.  Plus some mildly interesting landscape.

Trying to capture the play of light on the mountain between the clouds.

Coming up on the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona.

Welcome to Utah (and St. George)

Getting to Red Rock country.

St. George, Utah.

I pulled off the road in St. George to fill up with gas and get a bite of lunch.  I stopped in at Wendy's and had what I always have, the spicy chicken sandwich combo.  That got me thinking about Grandma Stephenson and I decided I'd stop by the cemetery in Fillmore to say hi.

North of St. George. Navajo Sandstone bluffs in the distance.

North bound on I-15 out of St. George you can see the Navajo Sandstone formation that makes up a major portion of Zion National Park. I tried and tried and tried to get a good picture of them while moving along. I don't think I succeeded, but here are a couple of my better attempts.

Still trying to get a good picture of the Navajo Sandstone formations.

Hills south of Cedar City, Utah.

Didn't quite manage a good picture of the play of light on the hills.

Rain clouds

Wide open road.

Headed out across the valley, north of Cedar City, UT.

It was on this stretch of highway that I first started to see any Highway Patrol cars.  They were the typical white Dodge vehicles with light bars and what not inside the vehicle.  They're trying to be stealthy as I-15 is a major drug traffic route between California and points beyond.  The one patrol car that blew me away when I saw it was a baby blue Ford Mustang with white trim on side panels.  The officer had pulled some one over, which is the only reason I would have noticed it as a patrol car.  It didn't even have a government plate on it.

Down hill towards Fillmore, I think.

It was nice to get off the road again and walk around the cemetery a bit. It was sprinkling a little bit and the clouds looked like they were serious about dropping some rain so I didn't stick around very long.

I pulled the weeds out of the flower cups and felt bad that I hadn't stopped in anywhere to pick up some flowers. Then again, I had no idea where I could have bought some flowers in this little town. (The angle is funny because I took it upside down so that my shadow wouldn't appear on the headstone.)

This is a view to the south from where Grandma and Grandpa are buried. Some of my greats and great-greats, are buried in the older section of the cemetery. I accidentally deleted my Ancestry.com app from my iPod Touch, so I couldn't really remember who were my direct relatives and who were aunts/uncles/cousins/etc.

Storm clouds to the north, time to get rolling again. But not before I stopped by the cemetery in Holden. I have some more greats and great-greats burried in this cemetery. But what I wanted a picture of was one of the coolest monuments I've ever seen.

Amazing, right? I'm thinking I might need to have my stitching frame reconstructed in granite when I die.

Anyway, back on the road with rain showers here and there. I didn't take any more pictures because of the rain and wet roads. It was nice to get home and walk around again. The cupcakes made it home in pretty good shape... except for the pineapple-coconut one... I ate that puppy and it was goooooooood.

Hugs and Stitches,
Kay