Patchwork Moose – Talkeetna, Alaska

We ate breakfast at a restaurant called Gwennie’s Old Alaska Restaurant in Anchorage the day before. Our waitress was so awesome. She asked if we were out of town or locals. When we told her we were on vacation, she asked where all we had been and where we were headed next. Then she suggested heading north to Talkeetna, Alaska. 

The next day we grabbed breakfast as we headed out of town headed north to Talkeetna. The waitress had given us a few different Alaska books to look at and mom and my husband did some research before we headed there. One of the things mom saw was a quilt store located in Talkeetna called The Patchwork Moose. Now, my grandma’s birthday is the same day as mine which also happened to be the week we were on vacation. Very few years have I missed celebrating with Grandma. So we decided to go to the quilt shop to bring grandma back some fabric from Alaska.

The Patchwork Moose

22262 Talkeetna Spur Rd
Talkeetna, Alaska

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TownePlace Suites by Marriott Anchorage Midtown, Anchorage, AK

We did something a couple of weeks ago… We went on vacation. Last fall hubby and I were actually looking into a vacation for us to go on when we stumbled across a really good deal to go to California. Not just California, Anaheim… Disneyland to be exact. 

Ever since my little was born, my mom wanted to take her to Disney. I kept telling my mom we needed to hold off until she was at least 5 or 6-years-old. Well, this summer she turned 6.  (Which means last fall she was 5… we were at the 5-6 time frame.) We discussed our findings with my parents and my Mother-in-law to see if they’d be interested in going with us. We came up with a game plan, a date, and booked our trip for this summer. 

THEN…

Covid-19 hit. Well SH*T. What does that mean?

We waited all spring watching the news, debating, talking, stressing, etc. Disney (both World and Land) shut down. I have a friend who lives in California and has season passes to Disneyland. I picked her brain every few days about… is it going to reopen, will this happen, should I reschedule, etc. Finally, she heard rumor that they wouldn’t reopen until January 2021. Crud. 

After quick discussion, we decided to start looking into new trip destinations. We couldn’t get our money back (side note… our lives are more important than losing money from a trip, I’m not stupid), but we could reroute our trip… This was all about the time that the one beach opened in California and 40K people flooded to it and they shut beaches back down. We decided that everyone would want the beach so we started looking for other destinations. 

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, etc. That’s when I suggested Alaska. It’s a state we’ve been wanting to go to… why not. We looked into Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau. We eventually landed on Anchorage. 

TownePlace Suites by Marriott Anchorage Midtown

600 E 32nd Ave
Anchorage, AK 99503

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Going on Vacation: Alaska – July 2020

Let this be known… I’m not here to debate if going on vacation was the right thing to do or not. I was stressed out in the weeks prior to leaving. Stressed beyond belief. I had a few meltdowns. I might be 2. Anyway… the point is… we went on vacation, we had a great time… And here’s what lead us to head to Alaska. We’ll call it the “backstory.”

The initial plans

Alaska wasn’t our first destination.

When my little was about a year old, we were planning a summer vacation. My mom kept mentioning that we should go to Disney World or Disneyland because the little loved Disney so much. I kept saying, let’s hold off until she’s at least 5 or 6. If we’re going to spend that amount of money, I want her to remember it.

Jump forward to last fall.

My husband and I were looking for a vacation for the 2 of us. I don’t know why I think we were just killing time one evening. That’s when he spotted that we could go on vacation to Disney fairly cheaply. Then the debate was on World vs Land. Eventually, we fell upon land because we’d never been to California. Okay, well he had for work, but does that really count?

We talked to my parents and his mom about going to see if they’d be interested. Yup. Got the older daughter on board… and plans started moving forward. (more…)

Sweet Corn vs Field Corn

Isn’t all corn the same? Well, no. Sweet corn is the type of corn that you grow in your personal garden or you buy at the store, Farmer’s Market, etc. Field Corn is what you’ll see in fields as you drive through Nebraska (or Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, etc). You’ll see the Farmer’s out in the field planting with a big planter and harvesting with a combine. The other big difference is when it is peak harvest time.

Similarities and Differences

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The Farmer’s Daughter – An Ozark Eatery – Cassville, MO

This picture and the next were taken during our first visit to The Farmer’s Daughter restaurant back in the Fall of 2018. That was the first and last time we’d eaten there until last night. There are a couple of reasons behind that… one we don’t live in Cassville. We usually just pass through on our way to the lake. And it’s not just right around the corner from our house either. And 2, our first experience there wasn’t so great. But that all changed last night! (more…)

North Platte, Nebraska – Kohler Trailer Sales, Holiday Inn Express, Good Life on the Bricks, Scout’s Rest Ranch, Canteen Grille

So… From Ogallala, Nebraska, we headed toward North Platte. Hubby spent the morning in Ogallala trying to get the trailer fixed, but it just wasn’t going to happen. We used a chain to tie up the back axel and off to North Platte we went. We turned off I-80 onto some back roads. About that time the little asked where we were. I jokingly said I don’t know… On a road somewhere in the middle of Nebraska!?!? About all I knew. I wasn’t even sure where we were headed other than North Platte which was 50 miles East on I-80.

Now if you don’t know why it matters that we lost the wheel bearing… here’s why… Do you see that gap in the wheel? That’s where the bearing sits. Now, I’m no expert! Trust me. But basically, that’s metal on metal plus the axel can be bent if you don’t take care of it properly. I won’t go into the details because I’m no expert. From Ogallala, they sent us to North Platte to Kohler Trailer Sales.

Kohler Trailer Sales
3821 W Rodeo Rd Ave
North Platte, NE

We pulled into their parking lot before lunchtime on Tuesday. They were full that day but told us they would get us on the books the next morning and try to get us back on the road. So we dropped the trailer and our truck off and headed to the Holiday Inn Express.

Holiday Inn Express
300 Holiday Frontage Rd
North Platte, NE

This time we had a double queen room. Now, I have to say, I think I liked the bathroom set up better in Ogallala, but this was a very nice room. This hotel had a pool as well. Due to Covid-19, they had some rules in place for using the pool. You were signed up for pool time and were allowed 45 minutes. They limited it to 18 people in the room (I think it was. I do remember it was a few more than Ogallala). (more…)

Dear 2020

This is hysterical! 🤣I don’t know who wrote this, but as the end says I want this to pop up in a few years and be like WOW!
 
Dear Diary 2020 Edition,
 
In ❄️ January, 🔥 Australia caught on fire. I don’t even know if that fire was put out, because we straight up almost went to war with Iran 🇮🇷 . We might actually still be almost at war with them 🤔. I don’t know, because 👩 Jen Aniston and 👨🏻 Brad Pitt spoke to one another at an awards 🏆 show and everyone flipped the crap out 😲, but then there was this thing happening in 🦇 🇨🇳 China, then 👑 Prince Harry and Megan ✌🏼 peaced out of the Royal family, and there was the whole impeachment trial 👩‍⚖️ , and then corona virus 🦠 showed up in the US ✔️“officially,” but then 🏀 Kobe died 😭and UK 🇬🇧 peaced out of the European Union.
In February, 🌽 Iowa crapped 💩 itself with the caucus results and the president was acquitted and the 👩🏼‍💼Speaker of the House took ten. Whole. years. to rip up a speech , but then The👨‍🔬 🌎WHO decided to give this virus a name COVID-19, which confused 🤔some really important people 👔 in charge of, like, our lives, into thinking there were 18 other versions before it, but then Harvey Weinstein was found guilty👨🏻‍⚖️, and 🇺🇸 Americans started asking if Corona beer 🍺 was safe to drink🤦🏻‍♀️, and everyone on Facebook became a doctor 👨‍⚕️ who just knew the 🤒flu like killed way more people than COVID 1 through 18.

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Holiday Inn Express, Open Range Grill, Scooter’s Coffee – Ogallala Nebraska

So let me tell you about the week I spent in Ogallala, Nebraska Monday afternoon. Yes, you read that correctly :). A week one afternoon. How does that happen? Well, let me tell you…

First off, here’s the story that leads us to Ogallala.

The weekend before Memorial Day, we headed off to Greenville, Texas, to trade hubby’s truck off. Since he got the 2013 that he now drives, he’s taking better care of it. It’s a gorgeous truck by the way!! I’m happy he’s taking care of it.

But, we do farm work. During the summer we bale hay. And if you have any kind of luck as we do… you know that machinery breaks constantly. So his truck was getting overrun with tools to fix said hay machinery. He really didn’t want that. So we bought a toolbox to put in the bed of the truck. At least kept the tools off the back floorboard.

While that worked a little, he still wasn’t totally happy with that option, so we started looking for a farm truck that he could deck out with the tools necessary to fix anything as well as a fuel tank and a bale spike to move hay with, etc.

So he got on Purplewave and started just watching trucks. Low and behold, he bid on a truck, really thinking he’d get outbid… until he didn’t. Yup, we won said truck. And said truck was located in Ogallala, NE.

Off to Ogallala, NE

He told me late last week that we might be making a quick trip to Ogallala, NE. I started laughing for 2 reasons. 1) why? and 2) back in college I had to write a paper for a short story class. I took a story my uncle told me and of course embellished it a bit. I didn’t know what my uncle’s hometown was at the time I wrote the paper (just knew he was from Nebraska) so I made the story take place in Ogallala. I’d never been there or really even knew where it was. I just looked at a map, I thought it was a fun name, and chose it. (more…)

Bull or Heifer (but not mine, just so we’re clear)

It’s so interesting the things that have come about this year. 2020, you’re sure keeping us on our toes. So one of the interesting things is the debate about gender reveals. Some love them and others think it’s wrong. I’m not sure why it’s wrong. I think it’s fun. 

A friend of mine put out a Facebook request for cookies for a gender reveal. Someone mentioned me and that friend hit me up. Asked if I’d be willing to do them. Of course.

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