"There is no Place like Nebraska"

Hubby and I standing in front of Haystack Rock at Canon Beach, OR.

  We just returned from a wonderful trip to the west coast!  We flew into Portland, where I had to check out the Fabric Depot--lots of stuff--and then via the north side of the Columbia River in Washington state, we went to Astoria, OR.  From there, we drove all the way south over several days to Eureka, CA and then back to Portland via Eugene.  Seven days of beautiful scenery, fun quilt shops, and even the 49th annual quilt show in Gold Beach, OR.
   The picture of the car cover is from that quilt show.  Those talented ladies made that beautiful cover and parked it out front of their quilt show right on Scenic Byway Highway 101.  Needless to say, even if I had not already known about the show thanks to the invaluable Quilters Companion book, that car cover would have drawn me in to their show!
  I always collect fabric when we go on a trip with the intention of making a quilt to commemorate the occasion.  So far, the only one I have ever finished is a fun lap quilt that I made out of Mary Engelbreit fabric that I collected on a trip to Branson several years ago.  Last summer, I bought way too much Minnesota Shop Hop fabric!  Luckily, my daughter in law has a lot of family, and a great liking for the state of Minnesota, so some day she will inherit that quilt!
  This time, I decided to collect nautical-themed fabric.  My mom doesn't buy a lot of that for her shop in central Nebraska...so, it seemed like a fun thing to get.  I bought light houses, water, blue skies, salmon, seashells, and several other fun prints.  When I got home, I designed a quilt to go with the fabrics, and then put everything into a clear project box.  The newest project joins a bookshelf full of other kits and projects that I will eventually get to...I hope!
  While I was on the road, I checked out a nice little shop in Port Orford, two shops in Astoria, a great shop in Canon Beach,  a delightful shop in Tillamook (where we also bought some really tasty cheese at their factory) and a couple of others that I forgot the name of the town.  The quilt show in Gold Beach was a very good show with a beautiful raffle quilt.  I bought a ticket...who knows :)  There was a sandy path directly from the Event Center where the show was being held to the beach--how can you argue with that! 
  All in all, we had a great time, but I was ready to come home.  Here in the middle of Nebraska, I don't worry too much about traffic.  I don't see signs telling me I am in a Tsunami Danger Zone (yes I know I am in a "Tornado Danger Zone") and I don't have to worry about falling off the side of a very steep cliff into the ocean!  I breathed a sigh of relief when our plane touched down in Omaha, and I was swiftly heading down good old I-80.  It is true what our motto says, "There is no place like Nebraska,"  Ah, home sweet home!