My goodness, has it honestly been almost a month? Oh well - hello!
This past Thursday and Friday the little escape I've been waiting for finally happened with Theresa and Ronnie. It was time for the yearly Washington Quilt Shop Hop and I haven't been in 3 years due to life happening (you know having babies, moving houses, etc...) I was determined to go this year whether I was on my own or now. I'm glad I was not on my own though!
We all took Thursday and Friday off work and headed off on Thursday morning. I had some fun making the girls some quilted tote bags for the shop hop, something my friend Lisa did for me a few years back. I did a bit of advance planning and progammed in all the shops to my GPS before we headed out.
No problems at the border, and down through Lynden first, then down to Bellingham. We stopped in Anacores for 2 shops and some lunch. Anacortes ended up being dangerous because I spent a good bit of money in one of those shops.
We had 11 shops to get to altogether and were done by 4:30 - pretty good for a days ride, and it was not rushed at all.
The thing I need to mention is that with typical Carole timing, I was sick. I thought I had just caught my Mom's cold at first but I now think it was strep b/c my throat hurt so bad and I hurt everywhere and me neck hurt... so I was pretty pathetic at the end there. Advil was my friend!
We had a reservation at Tulalip resort. I love it there! Oh I can't wait to go back and I hope one time I can go spend 2 nights. 1st order of business was heading down to the pool. I soaked in the hot tub for about half an hour and that helped a lot with the aches. We went up, got cleaned up and then headed out for dinner. We opted for the buffet, and although none of us ate our fille as one might at a buffet we all agreed that with dinner, pop, dessert etc... the price was not bad and the food was good. I just wasn't hungry! Probably a good thing.
We decided to go up to the room before coming back down, and had some drinks. I was actually not feeling too bad by then so we did some gambling - I spent $40 and won $76+ so I was happy. We did a bit of dancing which was also a hoot.
Next morning after breakfast and check out we went to the Premium Outlet Mall. Oh heaven! We could have spent a lot more time (and money!) there! I think if we ever decide to do this again we'll go to the mall the 1st day and quilt shops the next.
Crossing the border was the best ever - drove right up. No problems getting across. We were home just after 5.
It was great spending some time with the girls and getting away. Although I look forward to that little get away with Bill in the future. We've been there together before and really enjoy the hotel.
Actually, 2 weeks ago we spent the night in Vancouver to go see Wicked. I made the huge mistake of booking through Hotwire. We got a room at a 4 star hotel and it was the biggest let down ever. More like a Hotel 6 than a 4 star hotel. I complained to both the hotel and Hotwire that I paid for a 4 star hotel room and got more like a 2 and hotwire said well they use us to fill rooms, and the hotel said well the next time you book with us.... Um, we're not booking with you again. Duh. I know other people have had good success with hotwire, but we will never do that again. I'm not mentioning the hotel name b/c I have a feeling hotwire would get at me about that. But it won't stop me from thumbing my nose at them and the massive waste of money it ended up being.
Wicked was fun, although not what we expected. We enjoyed the Lion King more. Although Defying Gravity was an amazing song.
