A Hike and a Quilt Shop

Good morning, my friends. We had a day of running around Branson yesterday. There were four items on our to-do list, and we accomplished all four. 

The morning started with me taking the first stitches on the third block for Grandpa's Bridges. Somehow it seems like the right trip to have started these embroidered quilt blocks.

Sadie was just settling in for her morning nap when we left the RV.

On our way to the quilt shop, we spotted this guy. Yeah...I don't know.

Someone on Facebook posted about visiting this shop in Branson. It looked like a good one to me. Certainly, it's a pretty building.

Oh...but this is a bummer.

Well, if I can't take photos, then it doesn't get its own blog post. I'm sure they're feeling the weight of that decision as I'm writing this.

So...no photos, except the ones I thought I could sneak in. This was taken from the back of the store. You can see it's a very large store.

I really liked this sweatshirt. At $55 plus tax, I didn't like it enough to buy it.

There were a few vintage sewing machines scattered throughout the store. I think I got pictures of all of those.

This featherweight had a note pinned to the right side. It said, "Machine not for sale. Please don't mess with it." Kind of makes you want to mess with it, doesn't it?

So those were all the pictures I took. It was a nice store, and big. They had lots of fat quarters cut. I liked the colors in these three I bought. They seem like colors and designs I can use in art quilts, and that was my only reason for choosing them.

I chose this one as my regional print. It reminded me of the rocks we've seen here in Missouri and in Arkansas, and it fits with the ones above. It will work well in different art quilts. They wouldn't cut a fat quarter for me, and so I bought a half yard.

Our next stop was the Waterfall Trail. It was an easy trail and fairly close to the main part of the city.

Of course I took pictures of every blooming thing. My phone tells me this is honeysuckle.

This one is delphinium tricorne.

I could see a blooming tree across the stream. It was too far away to identify it.

I thought this was wood sorrel, but my phone tells me it's ranunculus flammula. 

This is wild geranium.

About halfway to the end, we passed by this small waterfall...about two feet of drop for the water. 

I noticed this one blaze as we went. It has a hiker on it.

I stepped off the trail about two feet to take this shot looking upstream.

We passed by these structures. There was a whole row of them. They kind of detracted from the "woodsy" feel of the hike.

I recognize this as a trillium. It hasn't bloomed yet. Trilliums are among my favorite wildflowers.

Here's a picture of one blooming in our woods at home.

While we walked alongside the buildings, we noticed this guy nibbling at the grass nearby. I believe this is a marmet. He was about the size of a cat.

Farther on, we found another overhang like the ones we saw in Arkansas.

The rocks extended for some distance here.

Finally 2/3 of a mile in, we came to the waterfall.

Here's a little video so you cans see and hear it.

More wild geranium was growing nearby.

This was the end of the trail, but we were able to get up above the falls a little bit to see the pool.

If we continued walking, it would have looked like this. The trail ended here, however.

Heading back the way we came, I noticed these table rocks.

From there, we hopped back in the car and headed for Ozarkland, where they advertised fresh fudge. Did you notice the yellow airplane in one of my pictures from yesterday? I wondered what it was. Turns out it's a part of a miniature golf course. This makes me think of times we traveled with the boys. We never missed playing miniature golf if it was available. Those were fun and competitive games.

Traffic was backed up at one of the traffic lights on the main drag. While we waited our turn to get through on the green, this helicopter flew overhead and landed right beside us. 

Also, I got a look at where King Kong was climbing. It's some sort of Hollywood theme place. It's not a good picture. I was shooting directly into the sun.

Finally, we reached our desired destination. This place was a zoo. We got our fudge and then made our escape.

The fudge was wrapped up in pieces about the size of a standard brownie. I wanted to choose four different flavors. When I'd picked four, the woman behind the counter said, "You still need two more to fill the box." Well...it would have been rude not to fill the box, wouldn't it? Besides, it was priced that way. Buy four, get two free. Works for me.

So, wanna see what we chose? 

I can't remember all of them, but here goes: Top left to right: orange cream, some kind of praline, birthday cake, Bottom left to right: chocolate peanut butter (or something like that), salted caramel, cookie dough. We ate two of these with our afternoon cup of espresso. They're nice, cut into four little pieces.

After that, we picked up a few items from the grocery store, and that was our day. We ended up making one more trip into town. Mike noticed a couple of bolts had rattled loose from the RV, and he needed to replace them. We found our way to an Ace Hardware store, and saw yet another more civilized part of Branson on the way. It's a little like Las Vegas here, minus the casinos. The main drag through town is crazy busy with tourists. Get out into the outlying areas, and it looks like any other small American city.

Okay, so this is our last morning in Branson. We have a bit of a drive today to reach St. Louis. Our only reason for stopping there is to see Gateway Arch National Park. And, yes, it's probably overrated, but I want to see it. Today will be a day of driving. Tomorrow we'll visit the arch. Our next stop after that will get us in range of Paducah, Kentucky. That's right...the quilt show starts up next week. I'm looking forward to it. Attending Paducah is a big bucket list item.

So, time's a-wasting. We need to be on our way, and I need to be making Sunday morning pancakes. Fill up your water bottle and buckle up. We have a long drive ahead of us.