Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - San Francisco, CA (Golden Gate Park) - August 2022

We spent our first afternoon in San Francisco at the Golden Gate Park. We originally planned to visit the Japanese Tea Garden so that's where we had our Uber drop us off. It was less than an hour until the tea garden closed when we got there, so we decided to come back another day. Another part of the park I wanted to see was the Dutch windmills & tulip garden. They were on the complete opposite side of the park, so we set out for our very long walk. It was nice to be outside and moving after spending the majority of the day stuck in the airport and then cramped on the plane.

The weather was very nice (almost chilly, which was wonderful!!) so I didn't mind the walk from literally one end of the park to the other. I liked seeing all the trees & plants that we don't have in Oklahoma. 🌳🌻🌼 Wes was less impressed and complained that we should have somehow packed a moped or Vespa instead of walking. 😒 There were lots of small lakes and wildlife scattered throughout the park. The most random thing we saw was a buffalo conservatory. I think that is my favorite part of the park just because it was so unexpected! 

We finally made it to the Dutch windmill and tulip garden after probably 1.5 hours of walking. It was a quiet spot for us to sit and take a break. Very beautiful! 🌷 There were tons of people at the park, but no one paid us any attention. I know Oklahoma is stereotyped (and even made fun of) for being overly friendly, but I sure did miss all the random hellos and smiles from strangers. About 1 in 5 people had a dog with them and even the dogs weren't social!! If it was a park here, I would have stopped to pet 10 different dogs and chatted with lots of strangers.  

I was about to hail an Uber to take us back to the hotel when Wes suggested that we walk to the ocean. 🌊 It was only a few blocks away. We didn't get very close because we weren't dressed properly, and it was really cold. There were several people out on the beach and in the water...must have been locals. We saw Alcatraz prison! It wasn't the best view since it was so foggy. We tried to see the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was too foggy to see it as well. 

We didn't go to the Golden Gate Bridge, but we tried several times to see it from where we were. I saw it a few times from our Ubers. The best view we got was when we were at the art museum. It was still obscured by trees, but I can at least say I saw it & got a photo. I would have liked to walk across it, but we just didn't have time during the day. It got cold and wet in the early evening, so we didn't spend much time outdoors after dinner.  

We returned to the Japanese Tea Garden on our last day. It seemed so much bigger from the outside. It is actually pretty small. We walked around the entire garden in less than half an hour. There was no set path. I think the point is to just wander and let the scenery guide you. I really enjoyed it, so I insisted that we walk around it twice. I would have liked to wind around another time (there was so much to see!) but it was getting crowded and more difficult to easily maneuver around. My favorite feature was the Zen garden. The beautifully clear water in the koi pond was also very nice. Curiously, there was only one koi swimming around. There was also only one squirrel. He hopped up onto a rock and a crowd of tourists (myself included) ran over to take a picture of him. (Photo above)

The garden had a little café that served tea and light refreshments. We were going to stop in, but the line was outrageously long. Instead, we wandered over to the museum side of the park and explored over there. We saw a dance instructor giving ballroom dance lessons to his pupil on the bandstand stage. I wanted to ride the Ferris wheel but it was foggy out (again😔) so I knew I wouldn't be able to see much. We made it over to the de Young Musem and got into the café just as they were closing! We both ordered a coffee and went to relax on the patio. ☕After finishing our coffees, we walked through the museum's sculpture garden. 

We spent several hours walking around on both of days we visited the Golden Gate Park but it didn't feel like I was there that long. I can actually say that I enjoyed the exercise! 🏃 I'll walk Athena and Zephyr around the neighborhood and be completely out of breath like I just ran for my life. I didn't think I'd survive walking up & down the hilly roads. I guess the cool temperatures in San Francisco made all the difference. 

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - San Francisco, CA (food) - August 2022

8 Tables by George Chen

Our vacation seems sooooo long ago... but I've been super busy with craft shows and custom orders (definitely not complaining!) and I've become way more active with my sewing club so I'm just now getting around to posting about our trip in August. I usually like to wait a couple of weeks before journaling so I can gather my thoughts and let it sink in, but I think this time I might have gone on too long and have forgotten some of the nuances & detail. Oh well, it'll mostly be pictures anyway. 

I usually bring a book on flights, but I switched to crocheting this time and it was so much better. I think my love of reading has been replaced by audiobooks.

Wes and I love to eat, and the food in San Francisco did not disappoint. We went to our first tasting menu, and it was a dream!! 😋 My first meal on our vacation was a bag of Cheez Its I got at the airport in Oklahoma, then we got breakfast at the Las Vegas airport (Wendy's and Leaf & Bean Coffee). Our first meal in San Francisco was at Goldilocks in the airport. Goldilocks is a Filipino chain restaurant. It was good... for an airport meal. My garlic fried rice was mushy and entirely too garlicy. 

Our first actual meal was at the Beach Chalet Restaurant at the Golden Gate Park. **Side note: I've always meticulously planned our trips... what to see & do, where to eat, etc., but this time, I just made a general itinerary. It was hard to pick restaurants in advance because there were just so many! I think the spontaneity made the trip fun, but I also think we missed out on some essential San Francisco eateries.😕** We spent our first afternoon walking around the Golden Gate Park and the plan was to just end up somewhere for dinner. At the end of the park sat the Beach Chalet. The restaurant was pretty upscale; we weren't dressed for it and we didn't have a reservation, but they seated us anyway. (Luckily, it was a slow weeknight.) They had their own brewery, but I was way too dehydrated from walking around to enjoy a beer. Wes got a Seal Rock Black Lager, and fish & chips. I got the mussels. They were really yummy, but I think I prefer them in a tomato-based sauce instead of cream. I ate Wes's coleslaw for him since he doesn't like it, and it was very different from what we have in Oklahoma. The coleslaw dressing was mayonnaise, like a thick flavorless off-brand mayonnaise. Everything else about the meal was great.

The next morning, we set out for Chinatown. We wanted to head out early to grab coffee but literally everything was closed until 10am. It was just before 9am when our Uber dropped us off. 😔 We wandered a bit and found a tiny coffee shop inside of a bank lobby. The owner was the nicest man in the entire city! He was the embodiment of a jovial Italian immigrant that you would see on a sitcom, but in a good way. He even said "fuggedaboutit" unironically. I ordered a macchiato and he warned me that it wasn't like the ones Starbucks makes. I accepted and Wes ordered his drink. When he brought it out, he had me try it in front of him and request adjustments. There was zero sugar in it. I didn't want to say anything (or admit defeat) since he was so nice, but he must have saw the look on my face because he took it back and added more milk and sprinkled cinnamon on top for me. Still not sugar though. He offered us brownies on the house as we were leaving. He spritzed Persian water on them, which smelled amazing. 

Lunch was at City View. I knew I absolutely had to have dim sum while in San Francisco. A majority of the dim sum restaurants didn't have dine in so that sort of limited our options. But, City View was so good and we got there right before the lunch rush!! The stuffed eggplant with fried tofu was my favorite. Wes really enjoyed the lotus wrapped sticky rice. We had to be careful not to order too much so I had to skip some of my usuals (no tripe or chicken feet this time around). 

I really wanted to snack all day while we were in Chinatown but our dim sum meal was so filling. The only snack I got was matcha ice cream. 🍦 OMG it was amazing!! It tasted like matcha, it tasted like vanilla, it was an awesome soft-serve swirl!!! 😍 Besides the tasting menu we had for dinner, I think this singular ice cream cone was the best thing I ate on vacation. Wes was going to get the pandan coconut soft-serve swirl but changed his mind last minute and just got a yuzu drink. 

I wanted to go to San Francisco for two reasons: 1. The Fantasy Couture exhibit at the Legion of Honor Museum and 2. the tasting menu at 8 Tables by George Chen. One of the food bloggers I follow called the tasting menu "the best meal of his life," and one of the food magazines I came across hailed 8 Tables as one of San Francisco's "most sought-after reservations." I wholeheartedly agree with both. 😀 This was my first experience with a tasting menu and it 100% did not disappoint. Literally everything about it was great -- the food (obviously), the building, atmosphere, staff, drinks and overall vibe! The meal represented a cozy & intimate traditional Chinese dinner. It was eight courses, all using local seasonal ingredients. We also got drinks (cocktail for me & wine for Wes) but I don't remember what they were. 

The first course was the "9 Essential Flavors" of Chinese cuisine according to chef George Chen, called Jiu Gong Ge. Our waiter explained each morsel to us, and I think we promptly forgot as soon as he walked away. 😂LOL My favorites were the right most of each row. The top right corner is a sweet pear, the center one is spicy eggplant wonton, and the bottom right corner is salty crunchy thing with caviar. Wes's favorite was also the pear, with the sweet stuffed date (top left corner) coming in a close second. 

We found out during the second course that we had to eat everything before the waiter would bring out the next dish. Our second course was Suan La Tang, a spicy & sour soup. I love soup but it isn't Wes's favorite thing to eat. He still had about 1/4 of his bowl left when the waiter came to collect our dishes. The waiter peered into his bowl and said, "You have one more bite," and walked away. 😂 

The seafood course, Steamed Monterey Squid, was my favorite of the night. It was also served on my favorite plate. LOL The squid's tentacles are fried and the rest of him is stuffed into a squash blossom. I liked the squishy surprise when I bit into the squash blossom, but Wes didn't like the texture. I've never had squid prepared this way before and really liked it. Steam and emulsify everything from now on!!

Next was more soup!! We had a Porcini Mushroom 'Dun Dan'. There was a custard at the bottom of the bowl that we scooped out and ate with the soup. The soup reminded me of the traditional Chinese medicines that my mom would cook in the crock pot and have me eat when I was sick as a child. I never enjoyed it then but I'm glad my taste buds evolved because this was delicious! The chicken is stuffed with some other sort of poultry and placed on a little grill to keep it hot. 

After the first four courses came the entrees. I was already starting to get full by this point. 😓 Our first entree was Lapsang Smoked Squab. Before bringing out our plates, the waiter brought out a box of knives and let us pick our own. I grabbed a beige one and Wes went with black. The square bit next to the meat is scallop and asparagus sticky rice. I think I liked it more than the squab. I love how artistically it was presented. I've never had squab before. 

Longevity Noodles came next. They were cooked with beef and vegetables in an XO sauce. I really liked the seafood dish but this one almost took over first place. Our waiter gave us a small glass of the wine pairing, a Melville Syrah, with this dish. He must have noticed we had finished our drinks but were too timid (or, let's be honest, cheap LOL) to order more. 🍷

I was so relieved when the waiter told us this would be our last savory dish. I was 1. getting extremely full, and 2. really wanting dessert. Wes liked this dish the best; Iberico Pork Char Siu. The pork was really really good, but I think the fried rice was the star here. I just noticed that this is served on the same plate as the seafood dish. Wes & my favorite courses both came on the same style of plates. How neat! Anyway, I didn't want to get in trouble for not eating everything but there was no way I could finish it, so I gave Wes most of my char siu.

Dessert time!!!! 🍨 Up until now, my favorites were the squid and noodles... dessert (Jasmine Tea Rice Pudding) quickly took the #1 spot. The rice pudding was topped with strawberry ice cream, bits of dragon fruit & strawberry, and jasmine foam. I've never had foam, but I didn't expect it to taste so much of jasmine. Our waiter brought us the wine pairing, Degeorgis "Sori del Re" moscato d'asti. The meal was everything I could want it to be and right as I thought it was over, our waiter brough us a second dessert! 🍭

🐉We got dragon's beard candies as our one last bite before the meal ended. Our waiter said they are stuffed with something different each night; the night we went was peanuts. Dragon's beard is another thing I had never tried before. It tasted like fancy cotton candy. What I liked most about this experience is all of the new foods I got to try. I told Wes that we are getting reservations to a tasting menu on each trip we take going forward!!

I'm not sure if it was because I was still stuffed from last night's dinner, or if the food was really blah, but breakfast at Brenda's French Soul Food was the most underwhelming meal in San Francisco. The selling point for us was their beignet flight, but they weren't even that good. 😒 It's one plain beignet, one stuffed with apples & cinnamon, and one with chocolate goo in the center. I got the biscuits and gravy; the gravy had way too much onion in it. There were gigantic pieces of (almost) raw onions littering my gravy! No thanks! 🙅Wes said his breakfast was good though. 

Our home for the week. The Courtyard Marriott was in a terrible location for Uber drivers. One of our drivers told us that he couldn't drop us off in front of the hotel because there wasn't a legal parking space to do so. 😑Annoying. 

The concierge told us about the restaurant on the first floor of the hotel when we first checked in. We had planned to have one of our meals there. It looked really nice, and the menu online looked decent but there were NEVER any diners in there. Our room faced a curious dive restaurant called Tommy's Joynt. At the last minute, I suggested that we lunch there instead of the empty hotel restaurant. Tommy's is a cash only, no frills, not very friendly, sandwich restaurant. It advertised all sorts of house-smoked meats. I got a corned beef sandwich and I think Wes got the brisket. It was very tasty but I liked the potato salad more. I've noticed a pattern of me liking the sides more than the main part of the meal...

Our flight out of San Francisco was at 5am so the plan was to eat an extremely early dinner, then get back to the hotel to pack and rest by early evening. The problem was that we've been eating almost all day and were not hungry at all for an early dinner. I suggested a sushi train so we could just get a few dishes and be in & out. We went to Hikari bullet train sushi. 🍣 I've had sushi train before but not bullet train. We ordered on a tablet and the food came out on a cute little conveyer belt. It was brought out on either a ship or a train. Our tablet flashed and made noises at us when the food was about to be delivered. Everyone else at this restaurant must have been regulars because I was the only one amused by this. The sushi was super good!

So there's all of the food pictures from our vacation. We did a ton of touristy stuff, so more blog posts to come!! I didn't take any pictures of our airport meals, but on our way back, we had a crazy long layover in Las Vegas. I discovered a Shake Shack at the airport!! Shake Shack is my favorite hamburger restaurant and there aren't any in Oklahoma, so it was a nice surprise to find one. We had breakfast there and also got coffee from Dunkin'. Our vacation fulfilled all of my foodie wishes. I will fondly remember our meal at 8 Tables for the rest of my life. My only regret is that I wish we had more time to eat in Chinatown.
 

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition (Kansas City) - April 2022

Immersive art exhibits are the new hot thing and I've been wanting to go to one, but the only ones that have been available have been Van Gogh (not a fan of the Impressionists) and Frida Khalo (would have loved to see that one but it was in Dallas and not at a convenient time for us to get away). I was super pumped when I learned that there would be an experience in Kansas City... on our anniversary month... when we had a legitimate excuse to go somewhere and do something nice. Perfect!!

I always assumed the snake from the Adam & Eve story was a traditional snake. Michelangelo painted him as half snake and half human. I guess that makes more sense since snakes can't talk or have hands to hold apples. 

The Chapel Sistine (I guess they couldn't legally call it the Sistine Chapel) exhibit was advertised as a floor to ceiling reproduction of each of Michelangelo's frescos. I guess it wasn't exactly "immersive" since it didn't have any projections, lights, or 3-D effects, but it was still supposed to be a larger-than-life experience. Sadly, it wasn't. 😕 I still REALLY really enjoyed it, but the marketing was a little misleading. 

The exhibit had licensed reproductions of each one of the frescos. They were laid out in order from one corner of the ceiling to the other. Each one had an accompanying map that showed where it is located on the ceiling and a brief explanation of the painting and it's artistic and religious significance. I think they were reproduced using a mix of photography and a high-tech printing technique.

My favorite frescos were the three creation ones (Separation of land from sea, Separation of light from darkness, and Creation of the sun, moon, and planets). The Separation of light from darkness fresco is unique in that we're seeing God rising above us. The perspective in the other frescos show us looking straight onto the scene. Wes thought the "from below" perspective of Separation of light from darkness was neat but he said that the Sistine Chapel wasn't his thing. He isn't into religious art and said the colors were too dull. I really enjoyed it. The frescos are gorgeous!! I thought the reproductions were amazingly well detailed and it was cool that we could see the cracks in the paint and original brushstrokes; I also thought it was neat that you could tell which frescos have been restored more than others.  

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Country Club Plaza (Kansas City) - April 2022

Wes & I have been married for 7 years!! 💖💟👫💘💕 We went out for a nice dinner on our actual anniversary date and took a quick weekend trip to Kansas City for more celebrations. (Side note: Dallas, TX was my favorite quick weekend road trip destination, but Kansas City, MO & KS has overtaken it; just as much fun stuff to do, restaurants, culture & art but with waaaaay less traffic and construction.) We went to the Country Club Plaza shops in search of a new leather and/or bomber jacket for me. Wes bought me one ages ago when we first started dating and it finally got to the point where it desperately had to be replaced. I should have known that the shops would be showing their spring looks and there wouldn't be any jackets for sale but oh well. 🤷 While we were there, we ate at a bunch of restaurants (my sole reason for travelling) and visited the Sistine Chapel art exhibit (more on that in next week's blog post).

This was our third trip to the Country Club Plaza but our first time to actually spend a day walking around. The Plaza has a mix of high-end shops, restaurants, boutiques, and a lot of outdoor art. We went into a few of the shops but mostly just window shopped. The only things we bought were for the dogs. LOL A majority of the shops close at 7pm so if you really want to shop & explore, it will probably take two days of walking around. 

Since it was springtime/Easter season, there were lots of rabbit statues everywhere. They were each named, which I thought was cute. There was also a "Heart of KC" exhibit where storefronts each had a heart painted in the theme of what they sell. 

Outdoor art is definitely cool, but the highlight of our vacations is always the food. 🍖🍔☕🍪🍗 Our first stop was lunch at Shake Shack. My cousin (who lives in Australia) recommended that we eat at Shake Shack when we took our road trip to Las Vegas about 7 years ago and that recommendation always stuck with me. We ate at the one on the Strip and it has been my favorite burger place since. Too bad there isn't one in Oklahoma. 😔 Earlier that week, Wes & I had a conversation where we ranked fries in order of preference. Crinkle cut fries were on the bottom of my list. I had forgotten that Shake Shack's fried are crinkle cut and I was momentarily disappointed but theirs are sooooo good. I suppose crinkle cut fries aren't the worse anymore. Our lunch was so awesome. I would rank it as the best meal we had the entire weekend. 😋

I've decided that two things I need on each & every vacation is a tokodoki brand Unicorno figurine and boba tea. We got my Unicorno at Barnes & Noble and then headed to Bruu for boba tea. Their drink special was the Anchan strawberry milk tea with rainbow jellies. I had no idea what an Anchan strawberry tastes like but the drink in the picture was really pretty so I ordered it. It was delicious!! 😋 Probably the best flavored milk tea I've had in a while. The rainbow jellies weren't as good as traditional boba but still very tasty. Bruu didn't have any dairy-free options, so Wes went and got a cold brew at Made in KC Marketplace. It was a neat shop that had a café, bar, and all local goods. It had the cutest mugs and t-shirts, jewelry, candles, etc. Great place for souvenir shopping, but we didn't buy anything (we suck as tourists LOL).

For dinner, we went to Fogo de Chão. I was unaware of this highly popular steakhouse, but Wes said it was top notch. Oklahoma has Texas de Brazil so I was at least familiar with the Brazilian churrascaria concept. Maybe it was because we went on prom weekend and maybe it was because the restaurant was insanely busy, but I was NOT impressed. The food was similar to Texas de Brazil; it was good but not worth all the hype. The only things that stood out were that the lamb and chicken were marinated in a different (maybe tastier) blend of spices and they served this amazing grilled mozzarella dipped in honey.  Wes really liked our meal. I did too; I am not saying anything bad about the yummy grilled meats, but the vibe of the restaurant really ruined it for me. 

We had made reservations for 8:15pm but had to wait a while to get seated. Strike one. The restaurant itself was filthy. Strike two. The bathrooms were a disaster and there was food and trash on the dining room floor. The marketplace salad bar wasn't fully stocked, and our waitress forgot to bring out one of the complimentary side dishes. 😒 And, the bar was out of gin so they couldn't make the cocktail I ordered (a featured cocktail on the menu... so I was unsure why or how they could be out of the essential ingredient to make it). Strike three. After dinner, we headed back to the Intercontinental hotel. This has been our hotel for each of our Kansas City trips. Its very nice and literally across the street from the Plaza. You can park in the hotel parking garage and walk, which is the only way to do it since parking and driving in the Plaza is a nightmare. 

Before we went, we took a look at the Plaza directory and picked out the restaurants we wanted to try. One was Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro (a Brazilian bakery). We wanted to go there for breakfast and coffee so that was the plan for the next morning. We waited around until it opened... then waited about five minutes more... and then another few minutes. After a while, we decided that either its hours needed updating or it was out-of-business. So instead, we went to Messenger Coffee Co. for breakfast. We both wanted a chorizo burrito but they were out of chorizo so I got a chocolate chip toffee cookie & a chai tea and Wes just got a cold brew. My cookie was really good, but the chai had too much cinnamon in it. It was my fault, the barista asked if I wanted cinnamon and I said yes. Wes said his cold brew was good but not as good as the one from Made in KC Marketplace.

We also went to the Sistine Chapel exhibit but that will be for another post. We drove about an hour out of our way to go to Auntie Rita's Jamaican restaurant for lunch on our way home. We had planned to go there when we drove to Lincoln for the Ghost concert, but I was horribly sick and we had to skip. We made our way to downtown Salina, KS and everything looked closed. 😓 I checked and double checked the restaurant's hours online and it said they were open, so we parked and walked in. We were literally the only customers in the entire place. It was 3pm on a Sunday so admittedly a weird time to eat but still... I've never eaten at a restaurant where there was no one else in the dining room. The guy behind the counter was extremely friendly and gave us some pointers on what to order since we've never had Jamaican food and were from out of town. I got the BBQ pork and Wes got the jerk pork meal. We got the "regular" size and the portions were ginormous!! I can't imagine what a large meal consists of. We both really liked the food and I even ate the plantains (which I don't like). Wes said that he liked that the coleslaw was marinated in vinegar and blend of spices instead of traditional coleslaw dressing.

Overall, a fun and appetizing weekend getaway. Happy anniversary 💗 and looking forward to 70 more years of being married. 

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Lincoln, NE (musuems) - February 2022

 

American Museum of Speed

International Quilt Museum

International Quilt Museum (but with pictures of quilts this time LOL)

About a month ago, Wes & I drove to Lincoln, Nebraska for a Ghost concert; we also ate some good food and visited a couple of museums. We went to the American Museum of Speed and the International Quilt Museum. We visited one per day but they're both pretty small so if you're short on time, they can be fit into a one-day museum excursion. Both were really interesting, enjoyable and worth going to if you're travelling through.

The American Museum of Speed was advertised as a hotrod and racecar museum but there were a lot fewer cars than I thought there would be. The entire first floor and some of the second floor were filled with automobiles, but the other (larger) part of the second floor was filled with random things like car parts & engines, movie posters (Wes has seen all the car & racing themed movies, I had seen none. LOL) and retro lunchboxes. The entire third floor was a display of vintage pedal cars for children and model & toy cars.  

My favorite "car" was the above pictured solar racecar. It looked crazy and tiny. The driver must have been bone-thin to be able to fit in that slender machine. I've never seen anything like it, nor did I know that solar racing across deserts was a thing so that's why I thought it was so cool. Wes said he didn't have a favorite car but the museum had all of the cars and models that he wanted to see, so he enjoyed it overall.

Another thing that I really liked (and was surprised by the fact that I enjoyed walking through the exhibit) were the pedal cars for children. I usually think model cars are boring but these ones weren't. They looked like exact replicas of what the actual cars were. I'm not sure if kids ride around in pedal cars nowadays but I'm pretty sure they don't do it in cars that looked as neat as these ones. I was very jealous. 

The International Quilt Museum looked huge from the outside but there weren't that many quilts in it. There were several galleries, but we were in & out in less than an hour. There probably could have been more quilts if the ones on display weren't GINORMOUS. I have never seen quilts so large in my entire life (and I see roughly 5-10 beautiful king-sized quilts per month at my sewing club's "sew & share" sessions)!! Only one or two quilts could fit on each gallery wall at the museum. As we were walking through the museum, the main thought running through my mind was, "How did the artists make these without losing any pieces???" People who quilt are so talented and have my utmost admiration. Each quilt on display had won some sort of award. There were all different styles of quilts represented. I only recognized the traditional ones with quilt block patterns. 

The featured gallery was a selection "modern" quilts. They were all really cool and innovative, but my favorite gallery was the first one we walked into. I don't remember the entire story, but the artist's son got really sick and was in the hospital; she started making these fabric collages depicting fireworks and she made them throughout the time he was ill. They were made from both fabric and other mixed media. They were stunning. The gallery had wooden lawn chairs for people to sit in to look at the quilts and it really did give the feeling of staring up at a fireworks show. 

Tied for my favorite gallery was the last gallery we saw. A mixed media artist made a children's book titled My Bed. Each page showed a child's bedroom from a different part of the world. The author did a lot of research to ensure the dioramas were as accurate as possible. Yes, they were adorable, but what made me really enjoy looking at them were the materials she used. Along with researching sleeping conditions around the world, she also researched fabric and art materials used in each country. She incorporated the appropriate materials into each collage. She used so many interesting things: feathers, jewelry, hair, beads and other textiles. 

Sorry the pictures are bad. The dioramas were behind glass and there was a glare.

So that concludes our road trip to Nebraska. Next on the list is a spring craft show (Alpaca Farm Days on April 2nd; I'll be posting updates on my social media). We hope to travel more this year but have nothing planned, yet.