Road Trip. . .Day 3 and 4

Now I remember why I chose Idaho over Colorado for this road trip.

It’s because I wanted to visit Mary Jane Butter’s Farm in Moscow.

If you aren’t familiar with who she is, here’s a bit about her.

She was raised here in Ogden, Utah.

Now she lives on a farm in Moscow, Idaho.

She has her own books and magazine.

She is so very multi-talented, and I aspire to be even a tiny bit like her.

I have owned this book for quite a few years.  Every so often I pull it out and browse through it.

I love every page!

I just ordered her new Outpost book and can’t wait until it arrives.  I’m sure you’ll find me curled up on my couch drooling over every page!

The night before we arrived in Moscow we googled her website to find out the address to her farm.

I was so disappointed to read that she no longer has it open to visitors.  There are a few occasions, like her Farm Fair which takes place every July 4th weekend.  I can see why she had to change that, I’m sure it had gotten out of hand.

It sure didn’t make that bitter pill any easier to swallow.

Then I read that she had a B & B.  Knowing that it would surely be to late I called the number anyway.

We drove from Lewiston, on into Moscow.  Look as hard as I might; I had no idea where her farm was located.

From there we headed on up to Coeur D’Alene.

To make a long story not so long.  We had spent the day touring the town.  While walking back to our car we passed a “Mary Jane Farms” shop.

I was so excited, only to find that it had closed 5 minutes ago.  Knowing how much I wanted to go in there hubby said we would wait until it opened in the morning before we headed on up to Sandpoint.

The store did not disappoint.  It was darling!  The sweet lady who helped me actually let me take a picture of a couple of things in the store that I wanted to make.

Now, you gotta know; even if it’s not for sale (which was the case here) most stores will not allow you to do that.

Here’s what I saw that I fell in love with:

I love this idea of putting vintage aprons around an old ironing board.  Guess what?  I have both.  She even let me look at how it was done.  Just sewn to twill tape and then tacked down underneath the aprons every so often.  Love, love it!  I have my old ironing board in my sewing room.  I actually use it, but the aprons will just add to it’s charm.

Wait till you see this!

Vintage laces on an old lamp shade.  Yes, the lamp really did work.  I couldn’t get enough of this.  I snapped pics of all four sides.  Gotta make this for sure!!  I think it would even be cute if all you had was the shade.  You could just hang it in a corner of a room.  SWEET!!!

Funny thing, my phone starts ringing as I’m snapping these pics.

It was Brian, calling me back from Mary Jane’s B & B.  He laughed when I told him I was in her store right at that very minute.

Yes, they were all booked for this year.  But I am going to plan a girly trip with either my girls, my sisters, or friends.  Whom ever are game and return there next year for my B-day.

After seeing the frilly outdoor wall tents that you sleep in my hubby suggested that it looked more like a trip for women.

Oh, but I forgot to mention, girls you have to use and outhouse.  That might scare a few of them away.  Me, I’m up for it.

Now, this has turned out to be a lengthy post.

So I’ll just leave you with a few pics of Couer D’Alene.  It was a gorgeous town with a beautiful beach!

These last two were of a nursery we passed on our way to Couer D’Alene.   It made me laugh.  Flamingos EVERYWHERE!

I am linking up with:

Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday