Our Latest Trip to Twin Falls

Old Town Main Street in Twin Falls

Hopefully the third trip is charmed!  We took up my embroidery machine on Thursday, April 1, to repair the damage I did to it after the last trip.  Since we have been making the 3 hour trip almost every week, I decided to take a few pictures.  Many of my readers have never even thought about Twin Falls, Idaho, let alone visited it so I feel the need to fill you in on this lovely little town!

One of my first visits to Twin was many years ago when I ended up driving back to Colorado alone after visiting Danny and Beth in Washington state with Dad and he had to fly back to Florida to take care of an emergency there.  Twin Falls is not right on I-84 so you have to drive into town about 5 miles.  I stayed overnight there and only got to view the big canyon formed by the Snake river and not the falls.  Bob and I drove sort of by there a few times while we lived in Owyhee and took drives on weekends, but never really explored it.

Fourth of July 2004

One of the best memories I have of Twin Falls is one Fourth of July about 7 years ago.

Thomas slept in the whirlpool at our stop off in West Wendover.

  Bob and I drove to Twin Falls with Thomas and Erin (who had been visiting us in June).  Marianne, Brendin and Darcy  drove from Washington.  JJ and Ozzie came from Elko and Micah, Kim and Alyssa (who was a baby) came from San Diego.  We all met up in Twin to celebrate and exchange kids for summer visits.

Thomas does some cliff diving.

Kim is about to take the plunge.

We had some fun times, going out to the lake for a picnic and some of the group diving off the cliffs ( I was NOT one of them).  We took lots of pictures and I think some videos of the dare devils--Thomas who was about 12 and Erin who was 15, Micah, Kim, JJ and Ozzie.

Thomas Erin and Ozzie discuss how to leap off!

  Marianne and I tried to stop Thomas, at least, because we thought Carla would have a fit but we couldn't swim fast enough to get there to stop him.  At least he didn't kill himself--Ha ha ha!

Four generations of Manville women.  Penny, Jeanette, Erin and Alyssa

One night Ozzie came knocking at our motel room asking Thomas to go for a walk with him.  They came back with a huge amount of all kinds of bulk candy which they poured out on a bed.  Then they rolled around in the candy!

The overlook at the falls.  In front are Darcy, Erin, JJ and me (pre-lapband!). In back are Thomas, Marianne,  and Brendin

The Shoshone Falls in July 2004

A friend of mine took some really cool pictures of the falls this spring when they were really roaring.  Here is the link to them.  Notice the difference!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=587279306&v=feed#!/photo.php?fbid=157625440965279&set=a.157624967631993.34044.100001534711217&type=1&theater

We drove around the campus of Southern Idaho Community College trying to find a good place to watch the fireworks but decided to just sit out in front of the motel on the sidewalk along Blue Lakes Boulevard, the main drag.  We got some fried chicken and macaroni salad from Fred Meyers and had a big picnic (including a bunch of bulk candy) and watched the traffic and pedestrians go by until dark!

Thomas and Alyssa at the picnic grounds.

fireworks were great as usual and of course there were all the fire crackers and sparklers to go along with it.  We had a really fun time!

My embroidery machine's home away from home!

A view of Old Town Twin Falls.  Looking down Main Street.

Our last few times to visit this city were just for the business of getting my machine fixed while we waited.  Bob didn't even want to drive out to the mall or even cruise down Blue lakes Boulevard so we just stayed in the Old Town part of the city.

The downtown movie theater

 Twin Falls Sewing Center is on Historic Main Street so while I was waiting I walked up and down the block taking some pictures.  It really is quite a neat block with some nice boutiquey kind of shops and restaurants.

This restaurant has been in business since 1917.  It is open 24 hours a day every day except Sunday when it closes, I think, at 9 PM until 5 AM Monday morning.

We also killed some time eating lunch at the Depot Grill.  We really like that place.  It seems to be where all the old timers go for a really tasty inexpensive meal.  It is open 24/7 and I imagine is the place to go for morning coffee for the retired folks.  They also have a Man VS Food type of a deal called the Train Wreck.  I read what all was in it but now I can't remember!  Only one person had finished it but while we were paying our bill another young man came up and said he needed a T-Shirt since he had just finished his Train Wreck!

In the back room where a lot of old timers and their families meet to eat at the Smorgasbord.

They have a lunch counter, booths and a backroom with a Smorgasbord (buffet). They serve breakfast all day and the buffet is only $6.65 for lunch.  They had 5 entrees, 2 salad bars, a dessert bar and a hot food bar!

My taco salad after I had eaten all I could!

  It had mostly home cooked type food but then on the menu they had things like fried oysters and Albondigos soup for specials along with their Swiss steak, Taco Salad, and Asian Noodles.  Pretty eclectic selection for a "Good Old Boys" type of establishment!  We even saw a caterer delivering homemade pies to the back door as we were coming from the parking lot!  By the way, the waitress was from Craig, CO and said the climate is kind of like Grand Junction.  A neat town with lots of tourist attractions around.  I could live there, I think, and then I could keep my machine in running order a lot easier!

Pug's Tuna-Mac Salad

A great meal for a warm summer evening or a winter lunch with a bowl of tomato basil soup!

My mom, Pug, was a registered dietitian. When she got us all up into school, she took a job as dietitian for the Milwaukee County School system's School Lunch Program.  She planned menus, trained the cooks, ordered the food and in general supervised the whole program for a number of schools out in the county.  She also had some of the catholic schools around town.  I inherited all her standardized recipes when she died but by then I had learned many of the favorite recipes they used because we also had them at home.

Kim and I were busy today working in her new garden, watering her lawn and running errands.  It was hot (in the upper 80s) and we realized we had not come up with anything to eat for supper.  Neither of us was in the mood to cook so I suggested one of the all time favorites at her schools, hoping the girls would enjoy it too.  It's called Tuna-Mac Salad and Mom let me in on the secret ingredient that makes it so delicious.  I am willing to share it with you.  This is kind of a "cleaning out the refrigerator" type of recipe.  So you can get as creative as you want.  I am writing this so Kim will have it to make again since she and the girls did like it and that is not always the case with the girls!

PUG'S TUNA-MAC SALAD

Ingredients:

1/2 LB. ELBOW MACARONI OR SMALL SHELLS

3 CANS (5 OZ) TUNA

1/2 CUP CHOPPED CELERY

1/4 CUP CHOPPED DILL PICKLES

1/4-1/3 CUP CHOPPED CARROTS

1/4-1/3 CUP FROZEN PEAS, COOKED

1 CUP SHREDDED CHEESE (I LIKE CHEDDAR)

1/2 CUP MAYONNAISE

1/4 CUP PICKLE JUICE

SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE

SECRET INGREDIENT--SEE BELOW

You can add chopped onion, sliced radishes, diced chunks of cheese, sweet pickles instead of dill, olives, chopped leftover Easter eggs or any other favorite item you want.  You can also leave out some ingredients (like celery, Carla, or peas, Erin) if you don't want them.

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.  Put tuna, all chopped vegetables, peas, cheese, and macaroni in a big bowl, toss lightly.  Mix mayonnaise and pickle juice in a small bowl.  Add to the tuna mixture and toss to coat everything.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Now for the secret ingredient----  Sprinkle 3 Tablespoons of sugar over the top and then stir in.  Do not put the sugar in with the mayo, it HAS to go over the top at the end.  My Mom told me that was the secret.  And she was the boss of the kitchen as all our family knew!

A very colorful way to get a nutritious meal.

A Scrapbook of JJ's Quilt!

The final quilt!

I took a lot of pictures of JJ's quilt and decided to just post them as a little scrapbook for family and friends to look at.  They should bring back a lot of memories and I really like the embroidery I did on it too!  Now I am kind of sorry I didn't take a picture of each square!  Oh well.....

Samara,Natalie, and Alyssa Easter 2010

Grampa Ran. I love the flamingo, too!

Pug and her flowers.

Danny and Beth's wedding with the woodpecker tree in the background.  Cowboy Joe from Wyoming University.

Gradma Nita and Grampa Al with Erin and Micah.

Mm and Dad's wedding

The Harley Patch! Also Jay and Ozzie with the lovebug!

JJ's first grade picture and I couldn't forget a school bus!

How about that teapot?  Micah and Erin dressed for Kris's wedding.

Micah as a Casper trooper

The log cabin

Erin up in LaMouille Canyon

I think that is Lucho with JJ on the baler.

JJ models her quilt on the bed.

Cute!

The back of the quilt features M&Ms

JJ points to one of the quilted squares in the M&Ms

Our label is the final touch.

JJ's Quilt is Finally Done!

JJ enjoys her new quilt!

 When I got to JJ's house with my fixed sewing/embroidery machine, she was excited to get moving on the quilt that Erin and I had started, I think, seven years ago! It is a memory quilt with 27 different pictures of family and friends from years past!  Erin and I made the squres by doing iron on transfers of the pictures, which we had scanned onto the computer and then printed on special fabric transfer paper (like you do for T-shirts).  We had purchased all different kinds of M&M material showing M&Ms for all seasons.  We framed each picture with various M&M fabrics; and then it quit raining at the cabin so we put it all away and went on to outside activities.

I HAD to get the Harley patch on there somewhere.  Also that cute lovebug!

When Erin got ready to leave we sent all of the squares, extra fabric and backing material with her so she and her mom could get it finished.  Seven years later they still hadn't even gotten it out to look at it again, so it was time for me to get it finished!  I had to add a few more pictures since Micah had gotten married and had 3 girls since we started but it worked out well.

JJ's grand daughters were included.  This was last Easter!

The Woopdpecker picture and (much to her Dad's disgust and Jim and Carla's delight) Cowboy Joe from UW.

After two more trips to Twin Falls to repair the machine (out of time and then my disastrous Miss Fixit needle case breakage) and doing some creative thinking, I started putting it together.  We noticed some spots of rust from irons on some of the squares and I figured I could cover them with cute little embroideries of butterflies or flowers.  Well, they were so cute we decided to put little embroidery all over the quilt!  After that I had to figure out some kind of backing since we had used the original backing for stripping.  We finally thought we would be like the "old timers" and also be "green" so we used what we had of M&Ms material and leftover border fabric along with what was left of the backing to piece together a backing. 

The pieced backing.  Those are M&Ms.

It all worked out well and then it was time to quilt it.  I sewed around each picture, the inside and then the outside of each frame and the borders.  I bound it and made a label and it was done! 

The final touch

Woohoo!  JJ can use it as a coverlet for her bed or just for a cover while she is reading on the couch or watching TV, since Ozzie likes to keep the house quite chilly!

A very cool bed covering!

 I took a lot of pictures of individual squares that will bring back memories to most of our family so I have decided to make a little scrapbook of them on my next blog!

And there it is!

 

 

Old Glory, Elko Style

An inspiring sight.  Notice the Ruby Mountains in the background.

A few weeks ago Kathi posted a picture of the big flag in Scottsbluff at Perkins.  She had some stats on it and you can see and read about it on her blog.
http://countrychickengirl.blogspot.com/2011/04/oh-say-can-you-see.html
This reminded me of the big flag that flies on I-80 in Elko, NV.  JJ, Tuinita and I were driving along to visit a friend and I made Tuinita stop the car so I could take some pictures of this flag. On the way home I made her stop again and I climbed up a steep hill to get a better shot.

Here are some stats about this flag.  It is 30 feet by 50 feet and flies on a pole 100 feet high.  The top of the pole is exactly one mile high (5280 feet up from sea level).  Each flag costs approximately $1600 and has to be replaced or repaired
3-4 times a year.  The Vogue Laundry in Elko repairs the flags for free to help keep costs down.  The flag is funded by private donations to The Flag Foundation and a group of dedicated voluteers work to make sure that the flagpole has never been barren with the exception of a few days when vandals cut the flag's cable and new supplies had to be ordered.  It was raised in the fall of 1976 as part of the bicentennial celebration at the start of the Elko County Fair and has flown 24/7 ever since except as mentioned above.

There is even a school named after it!  The old Elko Junior High was converted to a 5th and 6th grade middle school about 4 years ago and is now called Flagview because it is located near the spot where the flag flies.

The flag is so big it cannot fly at half mast or it will drag on the ground.  Notice the car at the bottom of the pole as a comparison to size with the flag.  Click on the picture to make it bigger and hit the back button to get back to the blog.

For more information on this flag and how the community is pulling together to help support this project check out this websight:

http://elkodaily.com/news/local/article_6616f174-3bfa-11e0-829f-001cc4c002e0.html