Bohemian Mermaid Palace

Mermaid Tour 2015: Last Leg Here's another interactive m ap of my route west. The east bound map is on my first T our post ( see the tag at the end of this post). It's fun to map it all out like this, I can picture most  of the towns and areas I passed through still in my mind . It helps that I did the same t rip just last year , I feel like I know this route pretty well now.   After a great visit in North Dakota, and a nice breakfast with my mom, I started back west toward my next show in Whitefish, Montana.  It was raining when I left, and continu ed throughout the day in varying degrees. Until around Bozeman, when I hit a big th under storm. L ike I've said before, I think it's just part of the routine when you drive across MT to hit storms. I got a great pic of lightning in the not so far distance last year. And just like last year, there was a point where the storm was so crazy, the wind so strong, the rain so heavy , and the visibility so bad, t...

Mermaid Tour 2015 - Heading East   I said goodbye to my hubby in Washington and started the trek east toward my next show in North Dakota, really the main event that I build this trip around. I have family there, went to high school there*, and it is so much fun to be able to drive over to this other world and do my thing. (*For the record I am originally from California, lived in ND for 6 yrs then ran back to CA as soon as I turned 18.) This was my 3rd time doing this show in Bismarck, and every time I get there my first words are, "damn it's a long drive!" It's far. Crossing Montana is just a big beautiful beast. I took way less photos while driving this time, it's dangerous and also I just wanted to soak in the sights. The pics rarely do it justice anyway.  First campfire of the trip in MT. Day 1 I set out to locate a campground I f ound on my first tour in 2010, just over the MT border. I remember it was a couple miles off the highway and cost o...

Mermaid Tour 2015 - R&R&B in Washington Leaving Sandy, OR I stopped in Gresham to get a good breakfast and do some laundry. At first I couldn't find a laundromat, but when I pulled into the restaurant, hey look! A laundry in the same little strip mall. Sweet. I think the place was called The Biscuit Cafe, but the biscuits were not great in my opinion. T he omelet and potatoes were tasty. The guys working there were very nice, and seemed kind of intrigued when we chatted about where I was going. My waiter really was interested in getting his girlfriend on board with a travel adventure. Ah it did my heart good to inspire a youngster, if that's what happened there.  Columbia River, east of Portland OR. From there I headed east along the Columbia River Gorge, really a nice drive... until I had to turn north near the Dalles, on my way up through central Washington . Then I hit the vast and dead wasteland called the high desert. Not my favorite, but this was...

Mermaid Tour 2015 - Starting Out in Oregon Day 1 of my 5 week tour started right on time. I could hardly believe it.  By noon the van was packed and ready (see above)... a few errands around town, and I was on my way out of Eureka, CA by 2pm.  Wooo!! Feeling great! Finally all the long hours of hard work over the past month was done. Seriously, I worked my ass off every day of June making clothes for this trip. 5 shows is no joke, and I wanted to sell sell sell. When I finally left I felt more ready, I think, than any tour before.  There is a real sense of relief when I get started on a trip like this... so much work and prep and stress happens in the planning, and then the moment you leave town it is over. Bam. The rest is just coasting with your plans, no more can really be done. It feels a little surreal too, after all the planning and visualizing. Here I go, now I am doing this thing I've talked about for 6 months. I think I spent a lot of that first ...

  Sunset at the blues fest in Winthrop, WA.   Mermaid Tour 2015 - Overview Well, I did it. My third big Mermaid Tour is complete and I am currently recovering from 5 weeks of driving, craft shows, camping and visiting. I think with certainty I can say I will not be doing another Tour next year. At least not as long and far. It was fun and lucrative, but exhausting. Plus it is just too long to be away from my husband, although he is very sweet and supportive about it.  Every year I have made improvements to the Tour, and this year was indeed even better than last year in many ways.  My van didn't break down for the first time in Tour history. Ha. The air conditioner worked for the duration, which was great. I convinced my husband to meet up with me for one week of the Tour on his motorcycle. That was excellent. And since I mostly duplicate the shows from last year, I knew where to camp and mostly what to expect sales wise. I improved my sales at 3 out o...