Shopping Trip!

We received our car on Thursday!  Yeay!  I had forgotten how smooth the car is, but after the Jeep, it's a nice change.

Since we got the car, and it's been three weeks since an actual shopping trip, it was time.  So we headed off to Palmer and Wasilla.

Good grief was it time for a trip to go shopping.  I was so excited!  When you take away something, the thought of it becomes just so exciting!  Here you don't go to the store for something to do, because there's not really much of a store (don't quote me on that, because as winter sets in, I just might do that).  But when we lived in Wisconsin, I was going to the store multiple times a week.  And spending money.

So it was just really exciting to walk in to Target (last time I'd been to Target was September 15.  Almost a month without it.  I was going through withdrawals...)  I had a 5% off card, some gift cards as a going away present from people at work (Thanks Kippers!), and I get another 5% off when I use my Target card.  So I was ready!

What I want to know is, do you guys already have Christmas stuff at your stores?

October 11, and already Christmas stuff...

After doing some damage at Target, we headed off to get some winter gear.  Jeff had heard about a place called All Seasons Clothing Company.  It kind of reminded me of the clothing section at Farm & Fleet.  We both got winter coats, I got boots, and we got a few other things.  Good thing Columbia was 15% off, but it was still an expensive trip.  Hopefully what we got there will last multiple seasons before needing to be replaced...

One thing I saw there that I've never seen before...

It's a snow skirt.  Seriously.  Made of what your snowmobile suit or coat would be made of.  There was another style, longer than this one, that would be about ankle length on me.  I asked the sales associate, and she said that a lot of women wear them.  That way you can just zip it off when you get where you're headed, and it doesn't involve taking off pants.  She said she has one.  It's just not something I would have ever thought of...

Since it was such a big shopping weekend, we stayed the night.  FYI - If it's Friday/Saturday night and you're looking for a hotel to party in, stay at the Grand View.  They have a "lounge" on the lower level.  We were on the 3rd floor.  And the noise kept us up.  Oh, but that's okay, because the bed was just so horrible that there was no good sleep to be had at that place anyway.  

So, you know, keep that in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that restaurants run out of ingredients.  At IHOP I ordered this turkey sandwich that has a berry spread on it (mmm, Thanksgiving-y), but there were out of the spread.  No thanks, I guess I'll have an omelette....

Moving right along...

Next stop was WalMart.  What does your WalMart look like?

Is there a good view when you walk out off WalMart?

Don't mind me, WalMart guests, I'm just checking out the mountains...


There was fun stuff to see inside the Palmer Fred Meyer store...

huge veggies on display.
Oh, can't tell how big they are?  Let me just give you a frame of reference....

How's that?  See how big it is?  Can you just imagine the recipe that calls for one carrot?
"Do you think I really need this much carrot in this cake?"

Click the picture to make it bigger.  Info from the farmer who grew those veggies.

And apparently you can guy huge pumpkins at the store.  Only $80.

It had been a long weekend, and was time to head back home.  First, a stop at the gas pump.

$3.73 a gallon for unleaded.  What are your prices?

It was really a long, tiring weekend.  It will get easier as we learn what's best to order online and have delivered.  And be bought some items that are a one-time-only purchase.  So hopefully next trip to the valley won't be quite so exhausting...

And a few last shots - views on the way home...

quick little stop on the side of the road

west

east