We had to break down the shop hop into three days due to the sheer amount of travel in between each region. Last weekend, Mom and I did the north and the south and this weekend was just one day, the shops in King and Pierce Counties. She got Yelm earlier this week after work and someone from her quilt guild would have to go do Shelton and share the pattern with everyone since we weren't going to go to that quilt store. It was out of the way for just one quilt store. Mom was okay with not going. We planned out the day.
Mom headed over to my house and she was suppose to be here by 9, she came just after 9. I checked the temperature and it was already 80 degrees. Mom arrived and backed into the open space in the front yard and unloaded the plastic preform pool and some flowers. Erika got a hold of me the other day asking about her pool. I told her Mom and Dad had it so she would have to ask Mom to bring it into town. We texted Erika to come get the pool and showed her through a picture of where it was in the yard. She needed to come get it soon before her flowers got too hot. She said she would in the next hour or so.
Ben was suppose to do a race shift at the South Sound Speedway but it was canceled due to the heat we were suppose to get this weekend. He ended up hanging out with Josh instead.
We got into the Escape with our stuff and headed to the freeway. We got onto I-5 north and hoped for no bad traffic. Our first stop was Des Moines and the quilt store, Carriage Country Quilts, off of Marine View Dr. I have been to this quilt store in the past so I kinda knew where it was. We did have the GPS with the address in it just in case. Mom saw the building so we pulled off the road and found a place to park. The parking lot was pretty small but we were the only ones there since we arrived just after 10 a.m.
We went inside and browsed a bit. Mom found some fabric she wanted to get so we went to the front, got her fabric cut, got our stamps and free pattern, a poster for a dollar and Mom paid for her fabric and the two finishing kits. I told Mom I would pay her back since I didn't have cash on me today. I used it all up last weekend. We thanked the lady and moved on with our day. I really wanted a geocache for the day and tried finding one a few blocks away but I couldn't find it. I didn't know if it was missing or put back in the wrong place. I didn't want to spend a lot of time here so I moved on after about five minutes.
The next quilt store, Running Stitches Fabric, was in downtown Kent. Mom and I continued down the hill on the 516 to Kent. We haven't been to Kent in a while but we know we're not missing much. We followed Nuvi's directions and I know I've been here once before with Mom back in the day. We paralleled the Escape into a spot on the side of the road across from the quilt store and went inside. We browsed for a little bit and I saw some flannel Kraken fabric I had to have. I haven't seen a lot of Kraken fabric yet so this was a good find. I asked Mom if she would make me a pillowcase out of it and she said sure. I paid for my Kraken fabric, we got our free pattern and got our passport stamped.
Our next stop was Buckley. It was almost noon and it was over 90 degrees.
We got onto 167 and had to wade through some traffic. There was no reason for it of course but it still hindered our progress. We eventually got to Hwy 410 and went up the hill into Bonney Lake. I decided to go to Buckley first just to get that one out of the way. We followed 410 into Buckley and the traffic was terrible. I think we stopped at every stinking traffic light. We made the turn into downtown Buckley and found a place to park.
We went inside and the air conditioning felt really good. We wandered around a bit and we both decided to use the restroom while we were here since it wasn't that busy. I went inside and giggled at the sign the lady put up. Of course I had to take a picture of it.
We got our passport stamped and our free pattern before we left. She had a candy bowl out and I took a couple small boxes of Nerds and some cherry Twizzlers for Mom. We got back in the Escape and I decided to go the back way to Bonney Lake through South Prairie. Hwy 410 was super busy. I texted Trish to let her know we were in town and if she was home to stop by. She said instead of having Ed come over she went over to his apartment in Puyallup instead. Lame.
I opened my geocaching app and found a cache that was easy to grab in South Prairie. That one was called South Prairie Park (GC6MPXZ) and it was off the main road in a neighborhood. We pulled up, I got out (it was very hot and sweaty) and looked in the tree because that's where it was leading me. I looked quickly and decided it probably wasn't going to be there. I checked one more place and saw it was hidden inside the fence post in one of the holes. I pulled out the bison tube, signed our names and put it back. It was getting hot.
I took some of the back roads into Bonney Lake via the Nuvi. I recognized where we were but couldn't figure out what part of Hwy 410 this road was going to dump us out on. I miscalculated and we had to back track anyway. Oh well. I knew where the Benjamin Franklin Crafts was because Ben and I had been here before. We parked and went inside. The air conditioning felt really good. We wandered around for a bit, got our stamp on our passport, got our free pattern and wandered around some more. I found some art I wanted to bring home with me. I got the print, the mat and the frame. It looked pretty good and all three pieces were on sale. We paid for our stuff and went back to the Escape. It was getting hotter outside.
We had to look up the two quilt stores in Puyallup to see which one to hit up first. The traffic was getting heavier. We decided to drive up to the Meridian quilt store first, The Quilting Fairy. It took longer getting there than the time we actually spent inside the quilt store. It was another quick visit, got our passport stamped, got our free pattern and browsed for a few minutes. We thanked the lady and got back in the Escape. We got back onto Meridian and went down the hill.
We got onto Pioneer and drove down to where it can connect with Main. We had to wait for a train to pass so that ate up some of our time. We found a parking spot and went inside. Again, the air conditioning felt really good. Mom browsed while I used the restroom. This quilt store, the Quilt Barn, also had a funny bathroom sign hanging up. I went and found Mom, we got in line to get our passports signed and our free quilt pattern and Mom managed to find some fabric she wanted. We went back to the Escape and made our way to the last quilt store.
The last one was another craft store, this one was called Artco Crafts and Frames. It was in the Fircrest part of Tacoma. I haven't been up this way in a very long time. We followed I-5 to Hwy 16 and then to our exit. It was right off of Hwy 16 in the first business complex. We pulled in and found a place to park. We went inside and thoroughly enjoyed the air conditioning as we browsed around. This was our last shop before 5 so we didn't have to rush. I saw some cool things. We walked to the back of the store where the fabric section was and got our last stamp and free pattern. We went back out to the Escape and I saw a Goodwill I've never been to.
The North Tacoma Goodwill was across the parking lot and we went in and browsed. I was disappointed in the selection of stuff but I did manage to find a couple of things to bring home. Mom saw a place on the corner and was like, "that's where Tacoma Boys is located, I've always wondered where this was in Tacoma. Let's go in." I turned around and we went in. It was essentially a produce store with local ciders, beers, fruit, veggies, packaged goods etc. Mom and I got a couple of apples and I got a cold drink.
We got back onto Hwy 16 and merged onto I-5 north into Tumwater. I had to check on my friend's dogs while she was out of town. It was a quick visit. I let them go potty out in the back yard, I made sure they had food and clean water. I gave them all treats and put them back in the garage with the fan blowing on them. I got back in the Escape where Mom had the AC on full blast. I asked her if she needed to do anything else and she said she had to go to the store for a few things. We went to Walmart real quick and I bought flowers so we could go across the street to go visit Grammie and change out her flowers. When we visited the cemetery, it was over 100 degrees.
We really didn't know what we wanted for dinner so I suggested a chicken sandwich from KFC since there was one close by in Tumwater. We went through the drive thru and decided to eat it at Pioneer Park. Halfway there, I realized everyone and their dog were going to be there and the parking lot was going to be packed. This is where most people go in the area for floating on the river. When we did get there, the parking lot was absolute nuts! We did manage to find a spot and ate our food with the AC on full blast. We watched a guy get his floating ready while attending to his dog. We were really hoping he didn't leave him in the truck. Luckily, he didn't.
We went back to my house and unloaded the Escape. Mom threw her stuff in the Expedition and headed back to Rainier. I spent some time working on my blog, watched some TV, did some chores and eventually ate some popcorn. It got to 104 degrees that day and as of midnight that night, it was about 80 degrees in the house. We went to bed pretty late because it was so uncomfortable trying to sleep. It never did really cool down so it was a sweaty night of sleep even with three fans going in the bedroom. This might be the new normal for PNW summers. We will have to eventually get an AC unit for the house.
Next Adventure: A Historical Pacific Northwest Heat Wave
No comments:
Post a Comment