We are John (JP to his friends) and MaryAnn.
Stamp La Jolla began as a store we opened in La Jolla, CA in 1993. We moved the store to Santee, CA in 1997 and then closed the store in 1999. In 2005 we moved from CA to Ohio and our primary business is now through our website and rubber stamp conventions.
We love to travel and it's a good thing, because we spend a lot of time on the road.
We stayed in Grapevine and did some resting and shopping during the week between the Grapevine and Mesquite shows. Grapevine Mills is the largest outlet mall I've ever been to. They claim to have over 1.6 million square feet of shopping, entertainment and restaurants with over 180 stores! Well...it is in Texas...everything is bigger in Texas!
The show in Mesquite was so much fun! Stacy came back to work our make and take table again. (We love Stacy!) We were able to see many of the people we've come to know from our last ten years of Texas shows and we almost met someone from our very small village in Ohio where we live. It's a long story.....
We had another ice storm on Tuesday in Memphis, TN. There was very little snow, but the roads were covered with ice and there was a roll-over, spin-out or collision at nearly every bridge and overpass. It was terrifying, but we made it through without any problems.
At least the traffic going east was moving. We were very happy we were not in this major backup of the westbound lanes. Once we made it through TN we had dry weather the rest of the way home. Very cold, but thankfully dry!
We left for Texas on January 6th in the middle of an ice storm. It was treacherous driving until we crossed the Ohio River and then it just rained the rest of the day. We enjoyed the rest of our trip and were so happy to see our Texas friends. One of our friends we were happiest to see was Stacy.
Stacy had fun doing our make and take at Grapevine.
Here's what Riley does all day long while we're busy at the shows. She is a great traveler and waits patiently for us to get back to her.
What a beautiful surprise on our trip home! The snow covered the autumn colors and just looked amazing. Fortunately, the roads were clear so driving wasn't a problem.
We were traveling on Route 460 from Chattanooga to Hampton, VA and as we passed through Bedford, VA we saw the signs for the National D-Day Memorial. It is very impressive. If you ever get close to the memorial, be sure to stop and spend some time there.