Travel Day -- AGAIN!

 I remember years ago when I had to travel for business thinking how glamorous --- wow -- I get to go to crazy places and see wild things. And I get to TRAVEL. While I have had some pretty cool experiences with the companies I've worked for (I got to host a client at a major golf tournament in San Francisco once, and our goal was to see Tiger Woods in person!), I was stuck in a wild wind storm in Atlanta, Georgia, while staying on a very high floor in the hotel (not fun!), and many more. 

While travel is "fun," it can be tiring and have loads of downtime where I'm not as productive as I could be. 

My flight was at 8:30 AM, so I had to be at the airport early. Had an interesting chat with the Uber driver who was picking up a few extra dollars that morning, and then he'd be at his home office for work at 9 AM. What a very strange world we live in! 

I've got the check-in process down pat, and I should hope so by now. I had no luggage to check, so I went through security with no issues, although they swabbed my iPad, which hadn't happened in a while. But can they get consistent? Laptops in or out? It is different every time I go. 

The new NEXUS machines are amazing. You just stand in front of the machine, and it recognizes your face and pulls you up from many profiles. The only question I was asked on my way out was - "did I have anything to declare." Nope! But that question makes me want to say something like, "I declare that I am happy!" But I didn't. 

Then I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I went to Tim's at the airport. I swear those lines are long, and I must have waited over 30 minutes. I had time, so I wasn't too stressed about it. Then a LONG walk to the gate, where it was time to board. 

That was a very long process, despite the plane not being full. Gosh -- it was practically empty. There was only one person to check boarding passes, and several people were having trouble, and seriously --- you need ID to get on the plane. Although when you come back from the US, they don't require ID. 

Then we had to wait to take off as there was a backlog of flights or it was just a busy morning at the airport. We must have taxied to the furthest runway and were in a line to take off. Then behind us, five or six planes were also waiting to take off. 

The line-up of planes for take-off

If you think the Tronto airport is huge, think again. It's a tiny airport compared to Denver Airport, the third busiest airport in the US, and it's HUGE! Denver is third or fifth, depending on which Google response you get, but all confirm that Atlanta is the busiest. After getting off the plane, I walked and walked and walked until I got to the spot where I could catch an Uber. I could have rented a car, but I still don't have my glasses, and technically, I'm supposed to drive with them, so best to play it safe. 

And you know you are in ski country when you see this kind of luggage carousel! Yep -- that's for skis and snowboards!

The ski/snowboard luggage carousel

Wait a minute -- there's snow on the ground! Oh yes -- we're in the mountains here! Thankfully, there's not much snow, so we're good. But the temperature was much colder than back home, and while I brought my jacket and threw in a pair of mitts at the last minute, I didn't bring a scarf or a hat. 

While I was standing there trying to find my hotel in the Uber app, a lady in a van stopped by and asked if I wanted an Uber ride. Well, yes. But -- I still need to complete the app request. Then I got in and thought to myself -- is she an Uber. Yes -- her sign was on the window. She quoted me a price - YIKES --, but I knew the drive was 45 minutes. And while in the van, I got the directions, and she was an Uber XL, not Uber X like I always take. So that cost me an extra $40, but live and learn! I felt bad about it and have determined that NEXT time, I'll have everything organized in the app BEFORE I get to the waiting area. 

But she was a nice lady with the longest false eyelashes I've ever seen! She got me to the hotel, and I could check in even though it was Noon. 

Wait -- where did I end up? Yes -- I flew to the Denver airport, but I'm technically not in Denver; I'm in Golden, which is a suburb of Denver. Did you guess that city from yesterday's clue??? 

I had NOTHING to do all afternoon as the main reason I'm here happens today, then I go home tomorrow. I had a wee nap as I couldn't really nap on the plane. I read my book, and then I decided to go for a walk. And perhaps I'll do some geocaching. Well, imagine my surprise when I checked the geocaching app, only to find a QUILT MUSEUM just down the road. I need to go there. So I got dressed, and away I went. 

Quilt Museum

The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

This was pretty exciting, and I see they have classes at the museum, and there's a gift shop, which is really a gift shop, and a quilt shop rolled into one. Jackpot!

I spent a long time looking at the quilts; many were older with perfect hand quilting. The stitches were so tiny; it's hard to believe someone did that by hand. 

There was even a tribute to Harriet Hargrave, who used to own a store in Colorado. She was one of my quilt mentors when I learned to quilt many years ago. 

Tribute to Harriet Hargrave

None of her quilts were here, but she was one of the ladies who made it OK to machine quilt your quilts. Before that, it was heavily frowned upon. A quilt was NOT a quilt unless it was quilted by hand. I used to get the same story for the binding. But times have changed, our lifestyles and time constraints are changed, and I'm good with doing everything by machine! Thank you to Harriet for all that she did for this industry. Sadly, she passed away in 2022. RIP Harriet.

I have all three books mentioned above, and I learned almost everything I know about those subjects from her books. They are amazing!!!! That's why I keep saying -- those older books were well-written with minimal fluff! They are excellent! 

There was another more modern show at the museum, which was fascinating, and I took many pictures. The pictures are NOT for posting on social media; I respect their wishes. Although there was a sign saying "do not touch" the quilts, I confess that I touched exactly two because I wanted to see something in particular, and I did it discretely and quickly! 

Then I was off to the gift shop -- I mean the quilt shop! 

Keep in mind that I never planned on bringing anything home, so I was already packed to the limit, and I don't need any more fabric. But they have beautiful fabrics in the store (mostly Moda), and it's all very current. OK -- so it has been a long time since I have been in a quilt store! Wow -- I'll take that fat quarter bundle and that one. Oh, how about that pattern, and look at those Halloween panels! 

I was very reasonable and bought NO fabric, although I asked about one of the Halloween panels, and it was sold out. Shoot! It was super cute. But then I hit the mother lode - the books! So help me god, I had to buy a couple and would have bought more, but I was being reasonable with the weight of my carry-on. The books were older books donated by people in the area. I could have bought 20 of them, as they are the exact type of books that I desire! History books of quilts, often by individual States, are my favorite, and I found several that were amazing. The price was right as well -- a couple of dollars each. I bought ONE, and the Museum book on art quilts. 

I guess I'll just have to come back! I dropped the books off at the hotel and decided to take an actual walk this time. Hmm -- I had run into an issue with the lack of ways to get across the major streets. So a bit of research revealed this. 

A map of where I am

My hotel is smack in the middle of many MAJOR roadways not meant for pedestrian use. So I'm stuck in this small area. Although I managed to almost get my full distance in. That little area is very bizarre because there's a Home Depot, a Kohl's, two schools, a whole whack of townhouses, and other businesses. But it's very isolated! I found sidewalks in the area, so I was good, but crossing those major roads -- not happening. 

Oh -- there was one crosswalk that took me to a Marine Memorial, but that's it. 

The weather was crazy yesterday. One minute it was snowing; the next, it was not, but it was cloudy! So if there are mountains here, I have yet to see them, and this is all I've seen so far. 

The view so far

I see more snow on the ground this morning, but nothing huge. I can see lights in the distance, so hopefully, when it gets light, I'll see more. 

But today will be jam-packed, and I won't have time for much. I'm being picked up at 7:15 for a day that starts as soon as we arrive and is scheduled to be finished at 5:00 PM, when I'll likely be exhausted and want to go to bed! 

Oh -- I was told that I might be affected by the altitude here, but nope -- no issues. 

So where am I going to spend the day? Well, interestingly enough, I know the people where I'm going. What? How can that be? And it's quilt related. And it's also associated with sewing machines. Here's my hint for the day --- if you have a Love of Quilting, Quiltmaker, or McCall's magazine around your house -- check where it's published. And that's all I'm going to say. I've addressed many boxes to that office! 

On that note, I'm off to review my notes and ensure everything is in order. I need to shower (I've got to get rid of the pen mark from yesterday when I needed to write a phone number down and hand no paper!) and have breakfast, and then I'll be off for my next adventure! 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!