In Route to Chillicothe, Hello Farmers Market

Bambi's Farm Market II, located at 19417 US #23 South (Circleville, Ohio), Pickaway County.  It's that time of year when people think farmers markers, pumpkins, fruits and veggies, gourds, Squash.......and more.  This farmers markert had a huge selection of very interesting pumpkins.  First time I ever saw a White Pumpkin.

Picked up some homemade Amish Jam, pear and Fig.  Love Fig jam on brie.

Never knew there were so many different sizes, shapes, and colors for squash and gourds.  Aren't they cool!

Table decorations or food?  You decide.  They can certainly be both.  These are called Carousel Squash, and apparently you fix them as you a butternut or acorn squash.  Cut them open, remove seeds/pulp, add butter and bake them.  The lady that told me what they were says she likes to add brown sugar in her's, but that sounds way too sweet for me.

I was heading to Chillicothe with my cousin who was in town from Arizona when we stopped at the market.  We were heading to Chillicothe to visit family graves, drive by houses of our former family members and to just spend some time.

Hop in your car, grab a map or look at google maps before you go and find yourself a farmers market.  This time of the year, you might even get some apple cider.  Not all adventures have to be far from home.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your google+ profile link or your blogger profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit. Profile pages do not.

Wineries, Airbnb and Mother Daughter Trips

Ell Cove Winery in Gaston, Oregon.  On a recent Mother Daughter trip to the west coast we spent a few nights in Portland at a Airbnb.  The purpose of the trip was business for my daughter, but I was able to accompanying her for about half the trip.  She kept busy during the day, while I knitted and walked and explored the neighborhoods where we stayed, but on our first wkend we were able to visit some wineries and to some wine tasting.

General View of Elk Cove Winery which was started in 1974, very early in the Oregon Winery Story.  At that time there were less than 10 wineries in Oregon.  40 years later there at 700.

 A beautiful and very peaceful hill top patio/deck area for wine tasting.

We really enjoyed our time at Elk Cove with our knowledgeable guide.  The story behind the name of the winery is cute.  Back in the early days Pat and Joe Campbell were working in the field near their trailer (which preceded them building a home) when 40 Roosevelt Elk showed up.  

 Very pretty in every direction.  In some areas you can see Mount Hood off in the distance.  Truly a very pretty area.

 We enjoyed a flight and selected what we liked best.  We purchased a bottle of Pinot Noir to take with us and a Rose, and had a half of a case shipped home.

This was the first of our stops.  We both enjoyed it and highly recommend the staff, the views, and the wines!  My daughter's been able to locate a local wine shop at home (St. Louis) to purchase Elk Cove.  Thus far, I've not been success in Columbus Ohio; but still have 1 bottle left from my shipment...so hopefully I'll find more locally.  If not, I can order and have it shipped.

My daughter purchased some beautiful flowers at the farmers market prior to picking me up at the airport, which added to homey feel at our airbnb.

She likes traveling using airbnb's over hotels for added comforts and space of having a kitchen and living room.  And when you're multiple nights in the same location it is generally more cost effective.  I got a kick out of the canisters and thought them picture worthy.  If you're a child of the 60's, you no doubt will chuckle.

 A huge benefit of an airbnb over a hotel room is fixing your own meals.  My daughter loves to cook and is a rather good one.  We had wonderful avocado toast for breakfast for several meals.

 She prepared a lovely salmon dinner one evening with fresh salmon purchased at the local farmers market.

Recently I read an article with some stats from research about how important, and healthy mother daughter trips were.  See how smart we are, lol.  We've enjoyed several trips together prior to reading the article; but both agreed it's time to consider where we go next.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your google+ profile link or your blogger profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate and visit your blog. Profile pages do not.

Bourbon Legends Evening of Tasting

Bourbon Legends Boxcar!  That's my passport for a local evening of learning about and tasting Bourbons.  Kentucky is Bourbon country, but a temporary Bourbon Trail was set up in downtown Columbus about a month ago.  While the event was free, you did need to register ahead of time and wait for your confirmation of what time to attend.  

A quick walk through a Boxcar gives you some general information regarding how Bourbon is made, as well as history of it during the dark times (prohibition).

Bourbons represented here were:
Maker's Mark
Knob Creek
Jim Beam
and my personal favorite, Basil Hayden's.

Prior to the event I had not tasted Knob Creek or Jim Beam's Bourbon.  Jim Beam was a surprise to me, not because I hadn't heard of it, but because it's quite smooth and tasted better than I anticipated.  I had had it in mixed drinks, but don't believe I had tried it straight.  Since they started aging their bourbon in 1795, it has grown to become the number one bourbon in the world.  7 generations of the family has continued making the bourbon.  It was shut down for 13 years due to Prohibition.  **The photo was a real Edith Ann, the chair really was that big and we had to climb into it!**

Neither hubby or I enjoyed Knob Creek, we thought it seemed quite harsh.  When Prohibition ended in 1933, may distillers tried to cut corners to get their production going as quickly as possible.  One way to do that was to not age the barrels, Knob Creek took the long proven way and has a very full bodied flavor as a result.

Makers Mark is made with soft winter wheat instead of the usual Rye which makes it a very smooth, and to my palette far sweeter bourbon.  The red dipped bottle is their signature.  

Basil Hayden's is a high-rye mash which combines the sweetness of the corn with the spicy undertones of rye.  It's a bit more pricey than the others mentioned above, but when I'm just sipping........I want Basil Hayden's.  When I'm having a Manhattan..I can enjoy less costly Bourbon's.

They had these 2 staged areas where you could get your photo taken (also free, after scanning the front inside of your passport which had our number.  Later with that number we could obtain our photo's on line referencing our number.  Quite an efficient system.

As this is a very cleaver way to market, check to see if your area has one scheduled.  Nice intro to doing the Bourbon Trail.......which is on our list of things to do in the future.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your google+ profile link or your blogger profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit. Profile pages do not.

Park City Utah, Yarn and Baskets and More

 Wasatch and Wool, located at Kimball Junction Shopping area.  1635 Redstone Center Drive.  I visit this yarn shop everytime I'm in Park City.  The staff is always fun, friendly, and helpful.  The shop is stuffed to the gills with lots of wonderful yarn.

The inventory is phenomenal.  It's a small shop, but that hasn't stopped them from having lots of variety in types and prices of yarn, as well as colors.  Sometimes inventory at smaller shops is limited; not here at Wasatch and Wool.

We've been coming to Park City every summer now for 10 years, and as soon as I found out I could hope the city bus for FREE and get to this yarn store, I've taken advantage of that.  Often hubby is golfing during the day.  I can get where I'm going either on foot or by bus so his having the car doesn't slow me down at all.  Our daughter often is able to travel with us and she too has enjoyed this shop and remarked about what a wonderful inventory they had.

Park City Silly Sunday, always a treat.  It's a fun fair, with music and food right on Main Street every Sunday in the Summer.  I look forward to it and enjoy all the artist; but was really excited this year to get to spend time talking to Betty.  The hand made baskets and purses are fantastic.  They're all made by women in Africa and support women in Africa.  The workmanship of each piece is extraordinary.  I had a hard time making my selections because everything is so pretty and colorful.  AND you like supporting something so worthwhile.  The Website is AfricanEverything.com  MaendeleoImports@gmail.com.  The business card says contact #BasketMary.  I hope to see Mary again next year and plan to bring an extra piece of luggage so I can get one of the larger baskets on the plane with me.

We stay at The Marriott Summit Watch while there in Park City, right on Main Street.  I've posted often here with pictures of the area and our lodgings, but this year we had something special! (click that link to see some of the posts about Park City)

It's a really great spot in the summer, fishing, hiking, golfing, art festivals, free bus and a great yarn shop!



PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your google+ profile link or your blogger profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit. Profile pages do not.

LeVeque Lincoln Tower for the 4th of July Celebration

This past 4th of July hubby and I did something a bit different.  We made hotel reservations at at LeVeque Lincoln, the tall thin white building you see on the left.  This is in downtown Columbus, Ohio.  For many years it was the ONLY sky scraper in the city and you could see it as you traveled north or south of the city, quite a landmark.

It's located at 50 West Broad Street and stands 555 ft and 5 inches tall.  When it was opened in 1927 it was the 5th tallest building in the country.  The Architect was C. Howard Crane.  Through out the history of the building it has held a Theater, a hotel, offices, and apartments.  It is now a part of The Autograph Collection of Marriott Boutique Hotels.

My lobby picture didn't come out very well, so this from The Marriott Webpage.
Notice the stars behind the check in desk.

And the star gazing picture and telescope in our room decor.  

Throughout the hotel and webpage there are many references to Under the Stars, Beneath the Stars...navigate your way to a Luxurious stay.  The hotel has been an aerial lighthouse for Amelia Earhart...the star of the skyline.

Looking at a picture taken at nigh with the top of LeVeque Lincoln Tower being lit, you can certainly see why (though discount those other buildings, as they wouldn't have been there then).  Photo Credit again to Marriott.

 A very spacious and well appointed room.

 Even the vanity in the bathroom is quite attractive

It's rate for me to think a shower is spacial, but this one sure was...very pretty and spacious.

 Before you head back to your room for a night of dreaming under the stars, the staff makes this happen.

I took two pictures so you could see how the galaxy on our ceiling actually changed.  It was very cool.  We came back from watching Red White, and Boom (the fireworks display), had a drink in the bar and we walked into our room, before we turned on the lights this greeted us.  AND after we got ready for bed this continued...not sure how long.  I did purposely stay awake looking up to enjoy it a while before nodding off to sleep.

Marriott's picture of the bar which was too dark for me to get a decent photo that evening.

One of the entrances to where the elevators were going up to the residences.  Look at the detail in this historic building.

AND the gorgeous elevators!

You can tell we were in a perfect spot from this aerial photo of the fireworks...almost behind the huge display in the sky you can make out the LeVeque Lincoln Tower.

A fun way to spend the Holiday!


PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your google+ profile link or your blogger profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit. Profile pages do not.