Alameda Road Trip - The Trip Itself.

I have to break up these posts.  Such a crazy trip and fun finds. 

Amy and I left Portland on Friday after my good estate sale.  We basically hit antique stores all the way down and all the way back. There are some good shops and a ton of bad ones.  We drove and drove and spent the night in Redding, Calif.  Saturday a.m. we woke up and decided we should see if there was an estate sale to hit on Craig's List. We hit one sale. We got lucky.

This is my haul.

The sale was on the third phase and they were knocking down prices. I got three old scrap books and a bunch of old photos.

The scrapbooks are amazing.  Tons of cards and fun stuff.  I will do a post on those finds after I got through them. Here is a teaser.

I collect vintage photos of kids on Santa's lap. I especially love them in the old department store folders with the good graphics.
I have seen lots of old class photos but never one where the kids brought a favorite toy.

I can't wait to go through the scrapbooks and see what I find. I got three scrapbooks at this sale and one on Friday.  That is a crazy haul of scrapbooks in 24 hours!

I also got five bags of old vintage cards all from the 1950s. I have plenty of sorting to do.
Here are the rest of my finds from our antique shop jaunts on the road.  The wastebasket I showed in a previous post.

A couple of old putz style houses and some pine cone elves.

A pink metal pail that evidently belonged to Jeannine Withers (name scratched neatly on front), some turquoise plastic bell garland and a cute little pixie. A pair of old honeycomb flower pots. A star glass for my Fourth of July display.

Some killer concrete mushrooms.  This purchase left me giddy!  These mushrooms are huge!

A concrete pink flamingo.

We hit one spot on our I-5 drive that deserves a post of its own.  Stay tuned.  Alameda after that.

Comments

[Kathy]

Good golly, I can't imagine how your found time for all of this in one weekend!! We have made the drive to the Sacramento area many, many times and the drive alone is exhausting and yet you found time for stopping and shopping, too!
LOVE the mushrooms.

[Erica]

Even if I came home with nothing else, that concrete flamingo would make the whole trip worth it for me. Hanna and I have talked about going to Alameda. When we finally do, I hope we can take a trip like yours where we antique along the way. Believe me, I'll be hitting you up for your list of which shops to hit and which to avoid.

See you soon~

Erica

[Musings from Kim K.]

Squeal! Love your honeycomb flower pots. I've never ever seen anything like those. They will be perfect in your studio.

[Aimee]

Wow! I would have felt I'd died and gone to Heaven with those scrapbooks and vintage greeting cards! I'll be forward to a future post on these. Have fun looking and sorting through your goodies!

[Linda]

Wow, you got some wonderful things! I love the honeycomb flower pots!

[Lisa]

Swooning over it all but the little pixie makes my heart pitter pat.

[Doreen]

So what did you guys drive down there? A truck or did you have your car stuffed to the gills and just a space to see out of? LOL!!
Love those honeycomb flowerpots! I've never seen anything like those before. Finding those mushrooms and flamingo would have made my day. I just don't know how you did that all in a few days!! I'm trying to think of what spot you're talking about on I-5.....You've got me going now! Will be waiting for your next posts :-)
Thanks for sharing

[chris mckinley]

Looks like a great road trip!!! Love the vintage cards, but your garden finds are amazing!!

[gail]

To die for stuff! Can't wait to see more...........what fun that must have been!

[Maureen]

Oh how fun it is to stop at antique shops on the way down... daughter and I did the same on our recent trip. Makes the drive SEEM shorter with a few stops (and antique shopping is so much more fun than a truck stop!). I too am wondering how large your vehicle is for those mushrooms and flamingo - they are awesome!!!

I love the scrapbooks too; makes me glad and sad at the same time - glad you found them, but sad no family member wanted to keep those memories so carefully preserved by someone...

[Molly Allen]

I have that little star glass too. It was in a box of adorable vintage glasses I got at an estate auction years ago. I love the honeycomb decorations and, of course, all of your other cute finds!

[Jennifer]

You found the most amazing stuff. In all my life I have never come across such a grand assortment. What fun. Looking forward to tomorrow's post!

[rae]

i LOVE that class photo with the toys!!! that is amazing! i haven't seen one like that either! if this is just what you found on the way down, i can't wait to see what else you got over the weekend!

[Into Vintage]

I only wished we had timed our stops -- some that took hours and some we were in and out of in minutes. Always a pleasure to hit the road with you, Ethel, and especially fun to read your posts about it all.

[Melissa]

I'm thinking that class photo with a favorite toy needs to be recreated. Hmmm.....
Just might have to try it!

[Melissa]

Your posts always make me wish I lived in the Northwest. Those mushrooms and flamingo are to die for! They are going to look so cool in your backyard!

[Sheryl Remy]

I just love the scrapbooks you found. Whenever I find old scrapbooks they have been emptied. I hope the items inside are being cherished and not dumped because they think their mementos are just old junk to anyone else.
Sheryl

[Kim Campbell]

EEEEEEEEEEE! I so want that Tonga Room menu for my blossoming tiki/Hawaiian collection!

I got some awesome old scrapbooks a month or so ago. I am feeling guilty about wanting to use the cards.....I feel like I should try and track down the relatives and send them back.
Happy Saturday!!!

[Krista]

I have to giggle thinking about all the cement stuff in your car on such a long drive. The Tonga Room is so on my bucket list of places to visist when see SF. Just wish I could have seen it 60 yrs ago :) Adore the menu!