11 States of Spring
Road tripping to Colorado and our many thrifty adventures.
As you may recall from last newsletter “The Goes Wrong Show,” I was writing from the car on our way to Colorado.
We left on a balmy 80 degree day in South Carolina, drove up through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky where we stopped to pick up a bunch of rocket motors from a private seller. (Jonathon is an avid model rocket enthusiast.) From there we hit Indiana, Illinois and overnighted in Missouri. Back on the road the next morning through Missouri, Kansas and finally Colorado.
As we hit each new state, we hit spring all over again in various stages. Ten states, all in all, with different things blooming in each state. By the end of our quest, my nose and sinuses were in grave distress. Violent sneezes were sneezed. Much stuffiness. Thankfully it only took a couple of days for things to even back out. My altitude sickness (which is something I can count on every time I go back to Colorado) also eased off in record time! Hurrah! (Well, it’s always sort of there right under the surface. One flight of stiff stairs can bring out the breathlessness in a jiffy. But I wasn’t abjectly miserable as I have been at other times.)
We got in too late on Saturday to surprise Mom right on her birthday. She’s an early to bed specialist. So, we surprised her at church the following morning when we walked in the door. Later on that evening, we presented her with a tricked out Scrabble game. My mom loves to play Scrabble and I’ve been wanting to get her one of those swanky games on a lazy Susan with grooves for the tiles so they don’t wander all over the board for the longest time. I finally found one at a good price at TJ Maxx around Christmas time, and I’ve been hanging on to it ever since so we could present it to her at her birthday. She has enjoyed it many times already. See below:
So, what else have we done? Well, I have finally met Tirian, the German Shepherd/Malinois (?) who is shared by two of my nieces and one nephew. They all board together and decided to get themselves a puppy. Tirian is an impudent fellow whose nose is in everyone’s business. Unlike my dogs who are not allowed on the furniture, Tirian has finessed his way into unlimited couch privileges and his uses of the couch are most acrobatic and humorous. Here he is with me taking selfies and sort of laying on the couch.
Do you see that impish expression in his eye? He’s full of devilment and mischief, and he’s a bonafide barrel of laughs.
I also went bin diving with my sister, a couple of nieces, and my mom. Goodwill has outlet centers where stock they haven’t had much luck selling goes for intrepid shoppers to shift through. It’s kind of loud and crazy in there. Everything is just piled in massive bins on wheels, and then you have to sort through the tangled mess of stuff as best you can. Most everything is sold by the pound, so you can find some great deals if you have the patience and stamina to look for them.
One of my nieces, Katie, has an Etsy shop where she sells all kinds of vintage items—mugs, teapots, vases, pottery, vintage needlework, vintage art prints, vintage clothes, vintage jewelry, lots of other neat things, as well as some of her own artwork. She frequents the bins, as well as many other little thrift stores, for stock, and we found quite a few things for her to put in her shop. By the way, go look at her shop! It’s absolutely delightful to peruse. If you need a birthday or housewarming gift, you’ll find it at Ladybird Vintage Decor.
I also found a big, huge bag of things to sell on my own little side hustle. I have been selling used clothing on Postmark for several years now and I’ve branched out into vintage items as well. My shop is aniftythrifty. Check it out!
We also went to a thrift store for crafting supplies called, Who Gives a Scrap, in Colorado Springs. What a fun place that was! I went with Jonathon, Mom and several nieces. We all came away with many treasures. For my part, I found tons of vintage buttons, vintage rickrack and some old but very pretty trims for dressmaking. I look forward to putting those to use on a dress or two. Jonathon came out with many things which he can repurpose for model rocket making. Everything was more than reasonably priced, and I can only say that it’s a good thing I don’t have one of these stores near me or I’d be in there once or twice a week.
On Friday and Saturday, the entire family including my mom, my sister and her husband and all the kids, piled into two vehicles and drove four and a half hours to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Now in state number eleven, my sinuses were once again assaulted by allergens. But I got over it.
Santa Fe is a very old town. It was fascinating walking around to all the old historic churches and realizing that many of them were built and being used well before the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Don’t laugh at my photos below. I’m a writer, not a photographer.
Above was the oldest chapel in the city. Below is the chapel of the wonky staircase. Well, that’s not what it’s actually called, but I can’t quite recall the full name. But the staircase has stayed up despite defying all architectural rules of staying up. I do not have a good photo of the staircase because I am not a photographer and all photos turned out wonkier than the staircase. Anyway, it was a beautiful place and I’m glad I saw it.
We found a quaint little adobe AirBnB to stay in and had a good sleep. It came complete with cats who loved basking in the sun on the porch which made it even cozier. Here’s one of them:
The next morning we got up and went to a lovely teahouse and restaurant which sold the best tea I’ve ever had. If you’re in Santa Fe, look up The Teahouse Santa Fe and be prepared to be charmed. We wandered about a little more, visited Tomacita’s for lunch where I ordered and ate tripe for the first time on purpose. It was okay. The rest of my party ordered burritos and tacos and what not. There was much groaning and holding of stomach after the meal. Then we packed into the cars and headed back to Colorado.
In just a short while, I’ll be heading home to South Carolina. I’m more than ready to be back in my own bed again, but it has been a pleasant trip, a good time visiting family, and playing Scrabble with Mom.
Housekeeping
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That’s all for now, folks. Until next time…