Ride 'em Cowboy!

Phoenix boasts an amazing city park called Encanto Park. A historic neighborhood of 1920s homes, beautiful driving range turf, baseball diamonds, flowering shrubs, ahhh and a vintage carousel! Another trip, another photography expedition to take pictures of horses!

Before traveling I always check the National Carousel Association web page. Enchanted Island Carousel made my list of places to stop in Arizona; the Merry Go Round has been in the same park for 42 years and it's a beauty!





Arriving at the park I was disappointed, the amusement land was closed! Spying some college age park workers, I asked if I could go in and take pictures. I explained that I had studied the web page but missed the fact that it was closed on Tuesdays! The owner, who happened to be laying his own cement repair project and waved us in!

I didn't get to ride or hear the organ but I did manage to shoot the entire carousel without a single person in the way!

Riding into the sunset, two tiny ponies pulling the bench seat, beautiful colors, generous people who let me in to enjoy my very own carousel for five minutes!

More Kicks on Rt 66

The Mother Road in Arizona turned many dreams into reality. I started thinking about what I might see last year when I created tags of each state on Route 66.

The car I drove from Flagstaff to Willliams maneuvered easily through gusts of 45 to 60 mph and snow flurries!  Not the picture I had envisioned of this road trip but...alas, take it or leave it.  I took it!





Williams, Arizona is  the sweetest spot for sentimental 1950s kitch.  The town boasts plenty of road signs, car memorbilia and perfect places for photos.

Fill 'er up?  How many of you remember the slogan, "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star"?  The Big Bright Texaco Star!  I'm one of the few girls who wouldn't mind having a gas pump like this next to my driveway!

Peddle cars, real cars, I love em all!

Lots of happy memories on this fabulous highway, some of them are mine...

ImagiMeri Field Trip

When I planned our vacation to Phoenix, it was first and foremost, to connect with this man:  my sixth grade teacher!  After retiring from years as an educator, he sold Real Estate and helped us buy and sell three homes.  He moved to the Valley of the Sun to retire.  Nine years ago I went to visit him and his wife of 57 years; a wonderful couple and the perfect example of life-long commitment.  When I learned last fall that his beloved had died, my Mr. Wonderful insisted that I go see my dear teacher this winter. Like the song, "Silver and Gold", I was able to combine both old friends and new on my trip.  My old friend and teacher, and my new friend, ImagiMeri on the same vacation!  Lucky me to have both of them in my life.

The day I stepped into ImagiMeri's Studio I was pretty sure I should have paid admission to be able to look around!  Craft area, sculpting area, tables for classes, vignettes and display galore!  Holy cuteness, I didn't know that her sculpts were that big!  Oh you girls who have a Meri original are so lucky!  They are fabulous!

 

Did you ever see a graphic brought to life?  The colors are to die for and to quote my adorable six year old grandson looking at my Grand Canyon pix, "I can't believe my eyes!"   

Even her storage boxes show ImagiMeri's classic style.  Why don't I tuck my garnishes into something this cute?!? 

If this guy were mine I think I'd park him next to my alarm clock!  Is that the most whimsical way to wake up or what?

This little display is full of fun, as were the tables of shadow boxes.  I came home with treasures galore and an ImagiMeri Snowman shadow box too!  I chose the snowman because winter where I live lasts from November to March.  Little did I know that we'd get 10" of snow in the week after I returned home in April!   

 

Visiting my new friend, "Live and in Color", I know that  Meri and I will have lots of time to continue to grow our friendship.  ImagiMeri, my Imaginary Friend is  real!  Two very good friends in one trip to the Southwest, one old, one new.

 

Make new friends, but keep the old,

One is silver and the other gold.

Destination: 521 Lake Street!

Sandy lived in Wisconsin and I'm pretty sure if that gal keeps researching my family genealogy she's going to find out that we are related!  My recent trip to Arizona included an absolutely delightful morning spent in Sandy's craft room.  It's a cheery, colorful explosion of ADORABLE!  Yellow and red pops of fun and supplies to make any one of us marvel!  Organized binders of graphics, cute little vignettes and in the middle of it all:  Sandy!

Rainbow displays abound and my eyes just couldn't take it all in; I had to look at one vignette, then (like a gorgeous vintage store) physically move and look at the next area.

Gifts and trades and ETSY shopping to delight the eye in every niche made me so jealous....um, I mean, made me aware of how fabulous our "Imaginary Friends" are in their generosity and creativity!  

The house in Arizona (that makes me think that I too, might just like to retire in that VALLEY OF THE SUN) is decorated with adorable vintage finds, shelves of sweet memories and best of all, it includes our FUN FRIEND, Miss Sandy.  There was much more but I'm pretty sure if you post a picture of someone's bathroom you need a photographic release...smile.  Thanks Sandy Dahling for letting me me see your play room and for all the goodies you filled my suitcase with. 

Did you ever have a vacation that felt more like visiting relatives (that you love) ?!?

Next stop:  ImagiMeri's Studio!!!  Stay tuned!

The Mother Road

Sandy                 Tammy                      Meri

 

When I started blogging, I had already been reading (or 'stalking') blogs for 18 months.  There were three blogs I visited all the time:  521 Lake Street, Imagimeri and one other that I'm pretty sure you could guess without trying too hard.



At last, when I had my own blog, I felt that I could comment and comments led to emails and that led to friendship.  Sandy (a.k.a. 521 Lake Street) and I were matched in an Easter trade a year ago.  We are Midwestern girls and we had a bit more in common than our vintage love and paper craft love.  Last fall, Sandy visited her hometown in Wisconsin and drove to Minnesota to see me!  We were like old pals or at the very least, second cousins.  We just got along. 

When I began to plan a vacation for 2013, Arizona was on my list because I needed to go see a a very old friend, but my newer friend Sandy asked me to visit her too!  Sandy lives  near another blog idol, Meri of Imagimeri and the two of them decided we would all go browsing at an antiquer's paradise of shops when I arrived in Phoenix.  Mr. Wonderful joined us and we all had a 'girlfriend's day' and laughed, spent money, ate lunch at a great Mexican restaurant and had lots of fun!  Thanks gal pals!

I got my Kicks on Route 66 but sadly, it was not in my '57 Bel Air. I drove "The Mother Road" and visited Flagstaff and Williams, Arizona on the trip to the Grand Canyon.  Stops before the road trip included two other amazing attractions:  Sandy's craft room and Meri's studio, more on that in the next post.

    Back to life in Minnesota, I awoke to 4" of SNOW!  Yikes, what a welcome mat.