Good Evening! It honestly seems weird to be on my laptop again. I've barely touched it in two weeks. That's what happens when I go to visit Grandma. I don't really even look at my phone all that often. I checked it now and then for texts and news updates, but it stays in the bedroom for the most part. I love that about going to Grandma's! I still can't believe that I've been away from home for three weeks. So much has happened and I've seen so many things, it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that it all happened in one trip. I have realized, with the help of Dad, that I can be rather high-strung. In some instances, I can keep my cool no matter what. On this trip, there's none of that. I don't know why. I'm sure that hasn't been too pleasant for Chris to deal with, but there it is. Now that I know it, though, I can fix it. That's my goal for the rest of the trip - take it one day at a time, and if I don't know where we're sleeping that night, the car is always an option! We've got enough stuff to make it somewhat comfortable. We'll see how this goes!
Monterey Bay Aquarium was awesome. It's my favorite aquarium. It may not seem like much from the outside, but the Open Sea exhibit is breathtaking! Where else are you going to see hammerhead sharks just swimming around with a sea turtle (Duuuuuude...) and a huge school of fish??
San Francisco offered up my favorite hotel of the trip thus far. Don't get me wrong, the Luxor in Vegas was spectacular, but the Encore Express in downtown San Fran was just so ADORABLE!! It's got hostel-like rooms as well as private rooms. You have to buzz the door to be let in for check-in, go up a flight of stairs, and there you are. I loved it. It was very cosy and just perfect for what we needed. We had dinner at this little place in China Town that you had to know was there (thank you, Justin!) then walked down to the water to take some pictures. We were close to the Bay Bridge, so we got some pretty neat pictures as the sun was setting.
On our way from San Fran to Oregon we decided to make a detour to the redwoods. I did not realize that this would be a 4.5 hour detour. That turned the driving day into 14 hours (arrival in Corvallis at 11:30 p.m.). Never again will I drive a car that long. It was brutal! It was worth it, though. The redwoods are fantastic!! I was just so dead tired by the time I got to Oregon that I slept for a long time. It was by the grace of God that we made it without me falling asleep at the wheel. Well, that and the soundtracks to Sweeney Todd and Nightmare Before Christmas. And I do have to give my brother credit. He stayed awake with me the entire time.
Corvallis, Oregon was also a great stop. We ended up staying a night as well as most of the next day with Brett and Hannah in the sorority house (don't worry, all the girls had moved out for the summer!). Ok, I spent much of the day with Brett and Hannah...Chris didn't really leave the room he was staying in. But we still had plenty of time to stop by the Tillamook Creamery to get fantastic ice cream and cheeses before heading to Portland.
The hotel in Portland was...interesting. The room was fine, the location was just off the highway, but there were some sketch people in the rooms next to us which caused me to feel slightly uncomfortable. They kept going in and out of the their rooms for who knows what and hanging out sometimes in front of the rooms. No worries, though. The next morning brought Voodoo doughnuts! Those were amazing. I want more! We also took some time to go to Timberline Lodge up on Mt. Hood. Seriously, I'm determined to go there once and actually do a bit of skiing. I've been there twice now and it's only to take pictures of the lodge and visit.
(Oh, fun fact about Timberline Lodge...the front of it was used in exterior shots of The Shining. So that hotel that they go to take care of? That would be it! Just not the inside...the inside of Timberline is way cooler! :-) )
After that was a stop at Mt. Saint Helens. It takes forever to get there, but again, completely worth it. They have pictures at the closest viewing spot that showcases how much the lava dome has changed since the large blast back in 1980. I gotta say, it's really spooky. Also, if a park ranger has a telescope set up, you can actually see the smoke coming from the lava dome. I really do love going there and I'm determined to spend more time there hiking and such in the future!
After that, we finally arrived at Grandma's house! It took us a good three days of doing NOTHING to recover from 11 straight days of driving. Chris spent his time on his laptop playing various games and I slept and then watched TV and hung out with Grandma. I have to say, I watched a lot of Wimbledon last week...and I mean a lot. It was awesome! I don't normally get to see that much since all of the matches are on while I'm at work!
By the time we recovered from the driving, it was almost time to go pick up Dad from the train station! I drove over to Edmonds a day early to go hiking and spend the night with my friend Sara, which was such a fun time. We went hiking to these waterfalls and the day was sunny and gorgeous! I realized how out of shape I am. (For those of you scoffing right now, let me remind you that I haven't done much running since last August. I participated in the Mini, but that doesn't count for much since I didn't do much training. So there.) The next morning, I dropped her off at the airport and then heading back to Edmonds to pick up Dad.
The main things we did when Dad was there was to go to Victoria, B.C. (Canada) and Poulsbo (Little Norway). It was pretty much 10 days of doing almost nothing. We had all these plans to go camping and hiking that simply didn't happen. Chris and I decided that it would be better to fly out and do all the hiking and camping after that then driving forever then try to keep up that pace. It just doesn't work like that.
We dropped Dad off at the Amtrak station in Seattle on Saturday, then our Aunt and Uncle came to Grandma's yesterday. It was a fun time seeing them (if only briefly) and also celebrating Grandma's birthday. We had pound cake, strawberries, and homemade whipped cream. The perfect way to end a trip to Grandma's!
Today, we drove all the way to Boise, Idaho. I had no idea that Boise itself was so pretty! You have to go though the Kansas of Oregon to get here, but it is worth it! Especially if you know people who live up in the foothills and can stay with them. Oh my goodness, the view up here is unreal! Chris and I almost don't want to leave tomorrow. But, leave we must. Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone National Park. If we can get a camping spot, it will be primitive. Which means, no updates until Mount Rushmore on Wednesday. We'll see what happens!
Chris and I did create a video blog today, but I don't have it ready to post on the joint blog. We'll get that up as soon as we can. Oh, and I could go into even more detail about my perspective on all this, but I simply don't have the time or energy to do so tonight. Gotta be up early!!
Until next time...TTFN!
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