Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 93

I had planned to rest from hiking today and walk around Park City instead of doing anything strenuous, but...

Have you seen the hills in Park City?  My husband uses a FitBit and logged in 13,000 steps.  Be assured that they were either going UP or DOWN.  There are no other choices in Park City!

It was a beautiful day and there was a carnival going on in the city.  How fun!  We walked around, watching people and poking into stores.

I was so excited when I saw this sign:

A boutique full of cake? I have found my people!!!

I walked into the store and was shocked that there was no cake.  No.  Cake.  NO CAKE?!?!?!?  What is wrong with this world?  They sold clothing, if you can believe that.

I stormed out of the no-cake boutique and went to dinner.  The waitress recommended a special table, so we said ok.  Good call on our part:

We felt like honeymooners, just two or three decades late.

I was treated to a pretty pineapple/ginger/basil drink (no-alcohol for me, thanks):

I enjoyed an amazing lamb dish with polenta and veggies (Swiss chard, fennel, ginger, orange, garlic):

I wonder why all fortune cookies don't arrive dipped in chocolate:

This is a small gesture that would change the world.  I am positive!

My fortune:

After dinner, I realized that I still hadn't had cake.  I couldn't find any but consoled myself here:

Yesterday in Moab it was 97*F and sunny.  Today in Park City it was a high of 65*F and breezy.  So glad that this is in my hotel room:

As you can see, I'm suffering.  Please send chocolate cake.

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 92

Another fun day in Utah!

I hiked in Canyonlands National Park.  All of the trails seemed to go UP!

They were rather challenging:

Did you see the trail wind in the middle of the picture?  There is a person above it, under the tree line.  The trail goes past the trees at the top of the mountain.

Yes, I hiked that:

Once I got to the top and looked down, this was the trail:

Do you see a path?  Me neither.  I am petrified of heights.  Not being able to see a trail and having the mountain go pretty much STRAIGHT DOWN means I turned around and said "Crater?  Who needs to see a crater?"

I climbed all the way back down to the car.  Steep downhills are just as tough as steep uphills:

I made it safely through several hikes.  The views were worth it:

Sorry, should have warned you about that last one.  If you, like me, are afraid of heights, your stomach is somewhere below your knees right now.

In addition to hiking, my husband and I did a little research.  My theory is that the outhouses with a ventilation chimney smell less than the outhouses without one:

My husband says no, but my experiences today confirm my theory.

Since this is a hotel post, the best part of tonight's hotel was soaking my aching knees in a hot tub:

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- Night 91

This is my second night in this hotel.  Yesteday I showed you the refrigerator, but today I'll show you my very favorite part of this hotel room:

Me, in bed, resting up from today's adventures and preparing for tomorrow's.  And blogging, of course.

This hotel is clean and comfortable, but that is beside the point.  Let me show you the point of this hotel:

Isn't that double arch great?

If you look at the bottom center of the photo, you will see a woman seated on a rock.  That woman is not me.  I am the woman in the hat standing somewhat above her in the photo.

Want to see another one?

How 'bout this one?

Now do you see the point of the hotel?

I'm moving on tomorrow, but the hotel won't be the point there, either.

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 90

I left Salt Lake City today.  Boo hoo!  I love spending time with my Handi Quilter family and I miss them when I leave!

I am down in Moab now, and my new hotel room has a feature I've seen many times before but suddenly today struck me as funny:

Someone decided that it was necessary to build furniture specifically to house the mini-fridge in a hotel room.  It's a box with no real function.  Maybe I'm tired, but this really got me laughing today.

I don't have any other hotel pictures because there are many more beautiful things to see:

I spent the rest of the day following this sign:

Some days are really tough, y'know?

There will be little quilty news for the next few days, as I am seeing amazing places I've never dreamed of before!

Fun News!

I have hinted over time that I work on "super-secret" projects and it is always fun to reveal them.

I have a challenge quilt in Gen Q magazine!  Some pics of my quilt have been blogged here:

Gen Q Magazine

I can't wait to hold the magazine in my hands!

Many thanks to the staff of Gen Q Magazine for challenging me with this fun project when I was really in need of some quilting therapy.  I miss this little quilt!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- Night 89

So so sad!  My time here at the Handi Quilter offices are over and I have to move on down the road.

The educators had a final dinner together tonight, and what a dinner it was!

Look at the size of those BREADSTICKS!!!

I leave this hotel in the morning, and I'm sad to go.  This is my favorite hotel in the United States.  The drivers (Alan, Keith, another Alan, and others) along with the rest of the staff take such good care of me while I'm here.  If I have to be away from home, I like to stay here in Bountiful, Utah!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 88

I had an inspiring day at Handi Quilter today:

They made me feel so welcome!

It's a big family reunion when we all get together.  I love all of the educators and we really enjoy sharing class ideas with each other.  We usually leave here ready to spread the Handi Quilter love for the next year.

Some things are confusing, though.  Things like my fortune from my cookie:

Huh?

One of my very favorite parts of this hotel involves this:

I have stick straight hair, but as it is getting grayer and grayer, it is getting frizzier in the humidity.  I live in New York where it is very humid in the summer and I am having trouble getting used to my "maturing" hair.  Here in Utah, though, there is not enough humidity to even consider.  My hair is stick straight again and easy to manage.  I love this hotel for many reasons, and easily fixing my hair in the morning is one of them.

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- Night 87

Last night in Grand Rapids, there was a party and what a party it was!  It started in my hotel around 11pm and ended at 3:30 am.  My alarm was set for 4:15, but since I was still awake at 3:30, I gave up trying to sleep.  The traveling life is a life of glamour!

I boarded the plane in Grand Rapids at 7am and was asleep long before the 7:30am takeoff.  I woke up when the wheels hit the ground in Minneapolis.  I had to stay awake for about 45 minutes to walk from one gate to another and then board my next flight.  I buckled up and passed out again for most of the flight to Salt Lake City.  That is one of the best travel stories I have ever told!

I got to my hotel around 11am, far too early for any rooms to be ready.  I explored the hotel while I was waiting and found this:

I will confess that "laundry" was on today's to-do list.  On long trips, I pack my own laundry detergent pods:

Let's have a moment of silence for the Roman Raspberry Talenti that gave its life so that the pods would survive the suitcase.

Sigh.

I spent the rest of the day in my hotel room, doing paperwork and answering emails.  I did a little hand sewing and some knitting while watching Netflix.  I invited a friend in for dinner:

Black olives.  MINE!

This hotel in Utah is one of my favorite hotels.  Here is just one reason why:

Six outlets (that you can see) near the desk.  There are two more outlets on the desk lamp.  This hotel has what I want, where I want it, and in plentiful supply, too!

Good night!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 86

What a whirlwind!  I blinked and AQS Quilt Week in Grand Rapids was OVER!

I spent all of my time in the Handi Quilter booth.

Before the show opened today:

This is what the booth felt like during show hours:

(ants that I saw on the sidewalk on my way to work this morning)

This is what my day was like at the end of teardown tonight:

There was a piano bar across the street from the hotel and we were hungry and they served food and...  Yeah, we had a bit of fun.

In case you are thinking that my week was perfect and my hotel is perfect and my life is perfect, I need to show you the darker side of my week.

First, none of the restaurants I visited served chocolate cake.  Can you imagine?

Then, this was the view from my hotel window:

If that wasn't bad enough, this is how I plugged my computer in so I could catch up on Facebook while sitting in bed:

Oh the unspeakable horror!

Don't you feel awful for me?

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- Night 85

Can you imagine going to quilt shows as a job?  Does it sound like a great job?  BECAUSE IT IS!!!

The quilters were lined up, waiting to get into Quilt Week in Grand Rapids, MI this morning:

I met up with a blog follower.

She and I hit it off right away!

After work, we went out for Mexican food.  I've never seen sprinkles (aka "jimmies") on fried ice cream before:

It was yummo anyway!

On the way back to the hotel, I saw this sign posted in a barber shop:

I've been warned.

Did I mention that this is a grand old hotel?  Here's proof:

Here's more proof:

Tomorrow is my last day at Quilt Week in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I am sad to see it end!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 84

I just spent another great day at Quilt Week in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I was so busy having fun with the quilters that I don't have any photos of the show!

Did I mention that I'm staying in a cool old hotel?

Did I mention that the doors are 50% wider than regular doors?

Did I mention that I flip a coin each night to see which lovely bed I'll sleep in?

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 83

I am having a great time at Quilt Week in Grand Rapids, Michigan!  This is such a beautiful hotel in such a fun and funky city!

Fun quilt show -- check
Yummy tapas for dinner -- check

An old-fashioned window shade in my hotel:

-- check!  When's the last time you've seen a rolling shade?

I don't often dream of what the luxury room in my hotel looks like, but this hotel is old-school elegant and I think the luxury suite would be ah-ma-zing!

Hotel Tour of 2014 -- night 82

Tonight I am in a beautiful hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan:

Gorgeous, right?

Earlier today, I was in Detroit airport.  If you've never been there, you have missed seeing this:

Pretty cool.

My flight from Detroit to Grand Rapids boarded on time and pulled away from the gate 10 minutes early.  That's when the trouble began.  We sat and waited in a cramped, hot airplane for another hour and half before we took off.  There was bad weather and they had to work on re-routing all of the flights away from the storm.  I noticed when I was boarding the plane that the jetway was filled with baby strollers, and none of the babies, parents, or passengers enjoyed sitting for a few extra hours in a hot plane.

I have a great video montage of the babies crying in surround-sound, but the internet at this hotel is having trouble uploading and I could only upload that short video.  Sorry you missed it.

When I finally landed in Grand Rapids, the airport welcomed me with this sign:

Are you in Grand Rapids for Quilt Week?  Come visit the Handi Quilter booth and say HI!