a trail of lakes

Another hiking adventure today, my flatlander lungs are sucking out every speck of oxygen from this high-altitude air. We take the uphill climbs slowly with plenty of rest stops, which I need just as much as my parents! They are troopers! Today we again used the excellent shuttle bus system to ride to Bear Lake Trailhead. Then we walked up to a string of lakes, the first (after Bear Lake) was Nymph Lake--

Then on to Dream Lake, where we chatted with a fly fisherman who caught this beauty--

a green back cutthroat trout, the state fish of Colorado. It wouldn't hold still for long and was quickly back in the water.

Finally, after many uphill steps, we reached our destination of Emerald Lake--

a beautiful and serene spot, I could have spent the entire afternoon there! We sat on the rocks in the sun and ate our lunch, admiring the surrounding peaks

And even with all these wonders of nature, I still have to show you some fabric that I picked up that I couldn't pass up! This is from Material Girls in Grand Island, NE. A great fabric and quilt shop that you would not expect to find in the middle of Nebraska! They are one of the Top Ten Shops in the American Patchwork and Quilting fall issue of Quilt Sampler.

These are pieces of a collection called Wheels by My Mind's Eye and distributed by Riley Blake Designs. They just seemed like too much fun to not add to my stash!

But back to the topic of the quilt shop--I make it a practice to always research shops that I might be able to visit when I am on a trip. Since I work in a fabulous shop I really don't get to many other shops in my home area. So when I hit the road, I love to stop at new places and look for things that are new to me. And I have developed a sort of rating system of these places in case I return there. There are basically 3 levels in my rating system: places that just don't interest me, places that I would stop at again if I was driving on that road and had all the time in the world, and then there are the places that I would go out of my way for or even plan a whole trip around! I think Material Girls fits in that last category! So I'm just saying, if you ever find yourself within 2oo miles of Grand Island, NE, get yourself in there!