A fun trip to Durango Colorado

We got to take an amazing trip last week.  It was

fast and each day was filled with lots to see and

I have so many photos and fun memories from all

the places we got to stop. I am just going to share a

few with all of you today just to see all the amazing 

things we have in the US to see....

 This was my first view of Mesa Verde National Park

 and I was just speechless when I stuck my head over

the canyon walls.  800 years ago a tribe of indians made

their home in the side of this canyon 100s of feet from

the canyon floor and it was just incredible.  Our

guide was a native Navajo man and it was so

wonderful to hear the stories he had to tell us.

 There are quite a few of these villages in the side

of the rocks in Mesa Verde but this was my favorite.

 There was an artist in Four Corners who made

hand carved plates and pottery and used native dies

to color them.  They were gorgeous and each carving

was a symbol of something special.  I would have loved

to get one of each from her!!  She was also from a 

Navajo tribe and her father was the medicine man. 

I so traveling and meeting people from around the 

globe.  It is amazing how different each of us is :)

It's great that I got to be in 4 states in a matter

of just minutes!  Great things to buy there too!

 This was just a neat bunch of rocks on the Navajo

reservation.  Not much there but it sure is pretty.

 When we got to Durango Colorado we took the

train up to Silverton.  It was the most beautiful

trip and we saw so many pretty places along the way.

 This is one of the streets up in Silverton.  It gets

pretty cold in the winter and they said there is only

about 200 people there then.  Lots of people

came up on the trains and there was lots of shops

and things to eat, but I was mostly interested in

all the old buildings and museums.  It was awesome!

This is a part of the town that looked like when 

all the miners were there in the late 1800's.  Must

have been one rowdy town then....

 The engines they use are the original steam

locomotives and they still use coal and water

to power them.  We went 50 miles up and used

half the coal in the back of the engine and 2 

stops for water.  Soooo fun!!

When we got back to town we found they had

a museum that had lots and lots of the old train

things on display.. I love the old model T cars

and everyone was really nice there.

 This is one of the Old Hotels in Durango.  Inside

was just beautiful and all the furnishings and lights

and things were still there.  The town is lined up

on Main street with lots of old buildings and lots

of places to eat and things to do.  This town has 

so many outdoors things to do and I would love

to live here someday... 

 Our last stop and our favorite on our trip 

is to Zion National Park.  We went a different

way in coming from Colorado and went by

an old town that they used to film alot of

the old Westerns in.  It was really pretty and 

there were lots of people there this time

out hiking in the beautiful weather.

So that's it for today and thanks so much for

stopping in and seeing some of the wonderful

places we got to go...  

Teresa

Our Day at Sea World

  I am working on lots of projects that I can't show yet 

so I thought that I would share some of our recent trip

to Sea World in San Diego.  It was really fun and we hadn't

been in a while so they have changed alot of things and 

it is really, really nice!!

 They have an amazing polar bear enclosure where

they can walk right by you behind plexiglass.  They

are huge and yet they are really playful!  

  This was my favorite because it was like when

we go to Hawaii and swim out in the ocean.  There

were so many Sea turtles and it's such a cool thing

that they take such good care of them for all of us to see.

Here is Nicole in her Sea World Wet Suit.

I hope someday she will get to work there 

and train the animals and help with the

ones that get hurt.  She was so happy to

hang out with them!!  

 I am sharing this because Dolphins can splash really

really big too!  They were soaked!

 How awesome is this?

 This is the part that I love about scrapping.

It's the stories.  These cute seals are so loud

and so funny when it comes to eating.  They

barked and barked until someone threw them

a fish and then they were quiet for a minute and

then got really loud again!!  It was so funny!!

And this is just amazing because if

you think of how huge these animals are

and seeing that it can jump up and do flips?

And they did all kinds of other tricks for

the trainers and that was really cool too!

So that is it today but I have lots of ideas

to share and maybe lots of tutorials in 

the future...  just thinking ahead :)

Have a great day,

Teresa

Fun Trip in North Carolina

I had a really fun week traveling last week to 

North Carolina on business with my DH

 and have some pictures to share today.  We spent

most of the time in Charlotte, Matthew's and Monroe

but got to travel to the Biltmore on the Vanderbilt Estate

for a couple of days. And was it ever fun!! 

 The timing was perfect for all the trees changing colors 

and even though we see some of it here it is nothing

like the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.  All we kept

saying was Wow everytime we turned a corner :)

 I opted for seeing the historic sites of the town this

trip and found this beautiful old plantation nestled

among all these gorgeous old trees.  It was really neat

to see this up close and personal and it wasn't really what

I imagined from the history books I read.  My DH 

says there are more of the bigger ones in Miss. where 

his mom is from.  Sounds like another reason for 

a fun trip to visit relatives next spring...

This is actually an old estate that they saved and

made into a hotel.  It is the Duke Mansion and

was part of some amazing Victorian Houses built

for the wealthy aristocrats in the area.  I got to go inside

and look around and it is really beautiful.

 I am trying to take some time in life and drag my DH

to see some amazing things in the US and this is going

to be scrapped as one of my favorites!  George W. Vanderbilt

built this gorgeous 255 room home for himself and his 

family on 126,000 acres of forest.  He had farms, a dairy,

his own lake, a huge river running through his property, 

and the most amazing garden you can imagine with a green

house too.  Puts mine to shame actually :)  They had

flowers everywhere and the estate.... It always amazes me
to see these homes in the victorian era of our country
because they are all so beautiful!!

 This is the hotel on the estate so people can stay

over and have time to relax and do some of the fun

things they have on the estate to do.  The rooms

and the inside of it was just gorgeous.

This is me on the steps on the back side of the house.

 This is a picture of the place we ate for dinner.  

The cooks are amazing here and the food was sooo 

good.  It is called Cetric's Tavern after one of his

pet St. Bernards.  They loved animals and had lot

of dogs on the property.  

 This was my DH's breakfast and was delicious!

Cinnamon streusel pancakes with ham :)  Yummmm!

 I love old cars and they had this rare Motel C that

belonged to Mrs. Vanderbilt at  their winery on display.  

It fits 7 people but I am sure it was crazy windy

 when they went for a drive!! (No windows except 

on the front and back of the car)

My last photo was one of the trees in

the shops at the house.  They had just

decorated for Christmas in the Biltmore but we

were not allowed to take pictures sadly.  They

still have a big family Christmas with all the people

that work for them in the house and it sounds like

it would be fun to go to.  But back to my house I

am in the mood for Christmas now and am rested and

ready to have a fun holiday season!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Hugs, Teresa

Kings Canyon Trip

I have tried for ages to get my husband to go to Sequoia

and see all the beautiful things there and finally this last

weekend we went on a quick trip and he loves it...

It is an amazing place filled with these huge, enormous

giant sequoia's and redwoods and the fact that they are

thousands of years old makes it that much more amazing.

Here is some of my favorite photos that I took-

 I took this picture on an early morning 

hike in Grants Grove and it caught

the light coming through the trees just perfect.

It was the most relaxing trip I have been

on in a long time.. it was so gorgeous there.

 When you follow the road back to

the end of it to a place called Cedar Grove

there is this beautiful place along the cliffs

with a gorgeous stream running through

it.  I never new this place was there

and can't wait to go back again in the spring.

Thanks for stopping by to see my 

new photos and now that my i photo 

is back up and working I can post 

some of the new things I just finished 

for the store... 

Hugs,  Teresa

Tallships Festival at Dana Point

 It's hard to believe that it has been a year but it was

time again to see the Tallships sail in and do battle at Dana Point.

There were 8 ships this year and the one on the top right

is still all original so that was pretty neat.  It was kind of cloudy so the

photos came out a little grey but i think it makes them look older.

 I used a filter to get the rays of the sun show

up in this photo.  It would have been amazing if the

boats could have sailed through the light in just

the right way but sadly it didn't happen....

This boat belongs to the Ocean Institute and is called

the Brig Pilgrim..  I love all the sails on this one. You

can actually learn to sail this boat and I think I am

going to add this to my bucket list of things to do!!

 I went to get something to drink while we were waiting

on the jetty and took this picture coming back.. There

were lots of people watching the boats out there this year!

This is all the boats docked so that people can tour 

them.  They also have a huge pirate gathering and

a show on the Pilgrim.  It's fun to see and fun to

feel like what it was like along time ago!!

Thanks for stopping by.... Teresa

A Day at the Aquarium

One of my most favorite places to spend a morning is

to go to the Long Beach Aquarium and to Bubba Gumps

for lunch.  We had the chance last weekend and I tried a

different camera to get some photos and they came out 

pretty good.  I wanted to scrap them but thought i better just 

share and get those done maybe this week.  

the jelleyfish were so cool and this one

liked to have it's picture taken :)

 The plant life under the ocean can be really

gorgeous and the colors in this were so pretty...

 The lighting in the tank made this look like 

they were swimming in outer space. It's hard

to believe they are so deadly poisonous....

 And lastly this is my favorite!!  I love sea horses ever

since i can remember and these cool little guys can

only be found in Australia... Going to have to go there 

for an Aquarium trip I guess along with other things!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Hugs-Teresa