I'M BACK, GREAT STASH-BUILDING TRIP-PART 1

DH and I got back on Sunday from a 2-week cruise in Alaska. What a wonderful trip! This was taken in Haines on our way home. We had gotten off the ship for a shore excursion, and saw a good shot of the ship with the mountains in the background.

I don't know how it happened this trip, but almost every stop I got off the ship and found either a quilt store or yarn/fiber shop. I am not complaining, it was wonderful!


It started out in Ketchikan, our first stop, when we met up with old friends we had last seen 24 years ago, but we have kept in contact at Christmas time. Even though it was raining that day, Kathy showed us some totems, and a totem museum we had not seen the last time we were in Ketchikan and we were able to meet up with Bob later for lunch, see their beautiful motor boat at the harbor, before it was time to head back to our ship.

Kathy also took me to a great quilt shop, Silver Thimble where I purchased this kit,







and this silk screened lighthouse print

















and some of these fat quarters. I added to these
later in Skagway at another quilt shop called Rushin Tailor's Quilt Alaska, which I had visited the last time we were in Alaska. I knew this was a short walk from the ship.












Skagway also had a great yarn/fiber shop right next door which I don't recall being their the last time we visited called Changing Threads.

By this stage, I had spent a considerable amount of DH's $$$$, although he was pretty good-natured about it.






This stash also includes a really wonderful yarn store in Seward called Skeins and Fine Yarns, I found when I was supposed to be buying souveniers for the kids and grandkids.
So I limited myself, although it looked like a great place to spend some time.

Overall, the first week we spent in Alaska was rainy, and the week we were on our way back was sunny and beautiful. DH spent all of his shore excursions except 1 on raft/float, canoe trips. I went on an evening whale watching and a daytime whale watching. I went on a raft trip with DH which was a beautiful day. While in Skagway, my photo expedition got cancelled because of rain/not enough participants, so I went with DH on a jet boat excursion through an eagle preserve and saw 8 eagles. It was raining so bad, and even though they gave you rain gear and waterproof blankets, we got back, and the backs and fronts of our pants were wet and then we cooked our own hot dogs in the rain. This was not the best trip for me. I was pretty miserable by the time we got back to the ship at 8:30 that night.

I was finally able to go on a shorter photo expedition in Haines that was fun, and it happened to bed a beautiful day, on our second week of the cruise. I have to say though, our best excursion was our last one, in Ketchikan again, it was a beautiful sunny day, and we went on a float plane, up to the Tongas National Forest, landed on a lake, and had the best crab dinner of our lives at the Georgia Inlet Lodge. That was the highlight of our trip!

We were happy to get back home on Sunday, and Kristen and the grandkids picked us up, and we spent several hours visiting and catching up.

Next post will be about what I worked on while on our cruise.