Entertaining Ourselves in the Winter

We truly enjoy our winters in Gold Canyon.  But life isn't full of as many photo and story opportunities as when we travel.

I baked cookies one day.  The oven in the Airstream measures 13 inches by 13 inches so baking there is difficult.  The large oven in our house here is 24 by 18.  I can bake a whole lot more cookies in the house.





We quickly ate up my cookies.  John's efforts are producing something much more lasting.  This is an intarsia wreath he made--assembled, then finished.  It hangs on our house in the covered patio area.

Saturday we drove to the West Valley to look around the Litchfield Park art and craft show.  There were some pretty items, but nothing really inspiring.  I didn't take many photos because many artists are afraid someone will copy their ideas.  These umbrellas might be of interest to the people in our resort who have sun decks.



There were t-shirts with messages and beautiful images in numerous booths.

                                                                

And, of course, every style of jewelry you could ever want, assuming you are in the market for jewelry.  I wasn't.  There were very few booths with woodworking projects, something we would have been very interested it.

We were really big spenders.  We bought and shared this boat of french fries!

Today we were off to the Mesa library to look at the Grand Canyon State Model Railroad display.  I liked the smoke coming out of the smokestack in this section.

Lots of freight trains with coal and shipping containers.  We see lots of these containers as we travel and we were very familiar with coal trains when we lived in Castle Rock.     

                                     

 

The Burlington Northern line ran east and west through the northern part of the country as well as throughout the Midwest.  Today it is part of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe system.

Notice the two old black and white police cars in the city scene here.

There was a train station about this size in Castle Rock.  It was moved and it now a museum.

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Look at the length of this coal train.  They really hold up traffic when they pass through a town.

We decided some of the model railroad enthusiasts name businesses or towns after their wives who let them spend all that time and money on their hobby.

Really Creative

Today is the date for the Quilters, Carvers & Creative Crafts Showcase at our resort. I fully intended to visit the show and that was reinforced when I saw this line, waiting to get in just minutes after the show began.

This resort we moved to in October is only half the size of the one we stayed in for the past 6 years and it doesn't have nearly the space for numerous workshops and crafts that we had before. But that doesn't mean the folks here aren't just as creative. I was really impressed with what I saw.

The biggest exhibit was the quilts and we were able to vote for our favorite as best in show. So many beautiful quilts to choose from!

Quilts can be works of art, but I grew up with quilts my grandmother made and she usually used scraps of cloth from the leftovers of dresses my mother and she sewed for me and themselves. That is why my vote for best of show was this quilt.

Hopefully you can read this sign that explains the quilt. I was very touched with this creation.

There were many other crafts on display, as well. Here is a very interesting gourd creation and some great turned bowls.

There were leaded glass and melted glass and decorated glass items.

Also pottery and china painting.

When I saw this work, I was sure it was done with a laser. However, it is done with a scroll saw and the piece of wood is at least 1/2 inch thick. Really impressive!

And talk about creative. I found these ducks, dining in some rain runoff covering a walking path here in the resort.

Tennessee

Tennessee is a beautiful state and the farther east we go, the better it gets. Saturday we wanted to check out Gatlinburg's Arts and Crafts Community and pick up some information from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park visitor center. We missed a couple of turns while driving to the Arts and Crafts Community, so we had extra time to check out the lush green mountains and hollows of this part of the state.

The roads were curvy and narrow. We were glad we weren't pulling our RV. All these photos were taken through the windshield of the truck, so there were some reflection issues. There are trees everywhere.







In places, we also saw orange day lillies.



The Arts and Crafts Community consists of 118 artisans working from their shops close to or in their homes in an area called the Glades. There is an 8-mile loop road through an area bounded by Glades Road, Buckhorn Road and State Highway 321. At one stop, we saw this creative  waterfall.



This old wagon was in front of one shop.



We also saw this covered bridge.



Next, we drove through Gatlinburg toward the national park. On a Saturday afternoon, that was a big mistake.







If you can find a parking place in Gatlinburg, this trolley would be a good way to move through the city streets.



After finally getting into the park and stopping at the visitor center, we found a road that bypasses downtown Gatlinburg and were able to get back to Pigeon Forge fairly quickly. The traffic there was heavy, but not as bad as in Gatlinburg. Pigeon forge is one long amusement park. It must be heaven to young children.












We hope to return to the park and hike tomorrow. Hopefully, the traffic will be a little lighter on a Tuesday.

Wrapping Up

We only have two more weeks here in Mesa before we head out for the summer. We will have been parked in one place for almost 6 months, the longest we have every spent in one place in the RV, and we are beginning to get hitch itch. We will spend the month of April traveling around northern Arizona and New Mexico, seeking higher elevations to get our bodies adjusted to altitude. For 5 months this summer we will be volunteering at 9,000 ft.

In 6 months, we take more and more items out of storage in the RV, we buy new things, we move stuff around. Now it is time to find the place where everything belongs. We had the rig washed and we washed the truck. John is going to flush the hot water heater. And we had to finish up all our various craft projects. Here are the last three things we made.



The "Love" and the pig were woodshop intarsia projects we each made. For the necklace, I made the beads in pottery shop, then strung the necklace. That was fun. John has some partially created carving projects he will continue to work on over the summer.

We have one more week to tie up loose ends here, then our grandchildren Kylie and John will bring their parents Eric and Liz to Phoenix for Spring Break. We are looking forward to seeing them. We will also be busy with Holy Week services of Palm Sunday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. Then we will be "On the Road Again."