We spent a wonderful weekend in Kalamazoo with our son, daughter-in-law, and three very busy and smart grandchildren.
Sleeping-in felt so good. We leisurely ate breakfast at the Hampton Inn in Rochester and then Tu-Na Helper prepared for his virtual conference. I sewed on my hexis, determined to finish all I had brought along. If I did, I would complete approximately 2/3 of what was needed for the project. It’s been my travel project for over a year now. I was ready to move this to the next step—appliqueing them to the background.
About the time the sun started to rise, that cicada decided he was done partying for the night and quieted down. As his tired little voice gave way to sleep, I heard another sound—the alarm clock. (Remember he was stuck in the air conditioner unit—read about it here if you haven’t already done so).
This was going to be an exciting day. There was a new shop to explore and a region to check out of which meant prizes!
Today would be a busy day visiting many shops. With the help of the Route 4 Me App, Tu-Na Helper had determined our route the night before but I wasn’t so sure I agreed with it or him. We would be leaving the state in a few days driving to Michigan to attend our granddaughter’s baptism and I wasn’t so sure we’d be finished with the state hop by then.
The big excitement for the day happened at breakfast.
We awoke early again. We needed to leave the motel by 7:15 in order to arrive at our first shop of the day by opening time. Tu-Na Helper had consulted the routing App the night before and the first shop on the list wasn’t open until 10 although it was closer to our present location than any others.
Because time was of the essence, he decided we’d go to the second shop on the list first since they opened at 9 and backtrack to get the first shop second hoping to arrive shortly after their opening time. Google said they were 37 miles apart but required 59 minutes of non-stop driving time. That plan sounded like a lot of extra driving miles on slow, winding, lake country roads. But I went along with his plan.
We’ve returned from our sixth consecutive year of participating in the Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop. Tu-Na Helper survived another year of hopping with me. And do I ever have stories to share.
The loons did not call us to arise as they had last year (read that post here) but we awoke before the alarm sounded anyway. We both sighed — for me it meant that my shop hop fun was coming to a close and for Tu-Na Helper it meant that his fun could now begin.
If you recall from yesterday’s post (day 5), we secured the last hotel room in the greater Brainerd area for the night.
We arose early to prepare to drive the short 30 minute trip to the quilt shop in Pequot Lakes in order to be there when it opened at 9 am. I was still getting ready as Tu-Na Helper announced he would start taking our bags to the car.
He grabbed the cooler, slung his bag over his shoulder, unlocked the door, reached for the handle, and pulled. Nothing happened. He moved the deadbolt to the lock and then to the unlock position again and pulled on the door handle. Again, nothing happened. We looked at each other. Could we both still be sleeping and dreaming or is this the beginning of a quilting thriller? Help! Let me out. There’s shops to visit and fabric that needs to be bought!
He tried several more times locking and unlocking the door and pulling down on the handle with the same result and then searched the room for the telephone to call the front desk. There was no phone.
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats 