The Last Miles of the Way...:-)

Morning came early and we had a couple of appointments we had to keep.  The first one being at 7:00am!  Yikes!  So, we headed off into the fog of Washingting to get things done so that we could finally make the last leg of the trip home.

It would have been such a hassle to try to drag our trailer around everywhere we went.  So, we left the trailer and went to take care of things and then came back to the hotel and had breakfast.

Now, you gotta realize that we are spoiled and are used to having our French Pressed Coffee with.  But there was no time for that.
 

We slammed down breakfast and made out way through the city.....

 Its a very uneventful drive toward Canada unless you want to stop at some of the stores or outlet malls along the way.  We didn't.
 

As you can see, traffic was exactly buzzing yet.  Unless of course they were going in the other direction.

You know you are in the Northwest when you have to pay this for gas.  And we weren't even in Canada yet where it was going to be $6.25!

After six months of driving around, we have had to change our tires and have had to have our oil changed 4 times since we have been gone!  It was cheaper to get it done BEFORE we crossed the border.

and then we continued on toward Vancouver....

Now, it started getting interesting in regard to the traffic....ha.  Seemed like everybody was trying to get back into Canada.  I don't think we saw ANY US tags for a few miles.  The US/Canada border was in view!

We had so much stuff in the car, we made sure we had the declaration form filled out and on the door of the
car before we reached the border.

And the next thing you know, we were in another country! Wow, what an adjustment this was going to be after so long of living in my own country.

When you have been gone for 6 months, your refrigerator is going to need a lot of help.

It took us longer than what I wanted, but we made sure we had what we needed so that we would not have to run out and get something later.

 after taking care of that, we were back on the road with a few other errands to run before making our two hour trip back home.

when we finally got into our own town, we were met with this......geeze.  You know at this point you just want to get home and NOT live out of a suitcase for a few days....:-(.

after a few grueling minutes in traffic in our town, we made it home safe and sound!  What a ride this has been....:-).

And so our journey has come to an end...:-).  Thanks for going with us all of this time!  We will see you again soon with another adventure...:-)

God bless you!

Grants Pass, Oregon To Seattle Washington!

Changing from one climate to the next can be challenging.  Especially if you are like me and don't like to be cold or wet; or cold AND wet.  Oregon was the foggy place I expected it to be much like Seattle.  And given the time of year it is, I didn't much expect it to be warm.  But the fog can be unnerving when you have to drive it.  I was glad Scootard was the driver! haha

We passed through this little historic town called Coburg which was littered with antique shops.  We stopped at this one to see what was inside.  I'm still thinking "garden" even though the car was just about packed to the hilt and the "garden" was back in Oklahoma....:-)

It was very "girly" inside if you know what I mean.  A lot of antigue trinkets and stuff.  But the lady was very nice and very knowledgeable about the history of the house which was standing in that very sopt since 1896.

Ok...gotta go!  We need to get to Washington since we told some friends we would meet them for dinner...

The sign said, "Oregon Thanks You".....so I said ''Your Welcome"....:-).

We finally got to Washington.  I remember being in Tacoma riding Ms Vicky.  It was my first long distance trip on a scooter.  We were headed for Portland on that trip.  I have a blog about that one too!  sheesh.  What a ride that was!

There were a lot of bridges along the way......I like bridges....:-)

And before you knew it; actually many hours from when we started out in the morning, we made it to Renton, Washington.  We stayed at the hotel on our long scooter ride to Portand.  It was weird to be back by way of car this time.

The sun was setting by the time we got checked in and called our friends to let them know where to meet us....

We headed for a very popular resturant that we had eaten at a few times before.  The food is usually very good but often too large of portions to finish in one sitting.  I was glad the fire place was on as it was quite chilly outside.  We had to drive to a city called Tukwila, Washington to get to it.

Our friends were running a bit late because of traffic, so we decided to check out the menu while we waited.

Yay!!  They made it...:-)  Thanks for meeting us on such a short notice!

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I decided to order something I had never seen "put together" before.  I order a jerk chicken and sweet potatoes dish with mango salsa or something like that.  It was very good.  I don't know everyone else had.  I was face first in my own food! haha

This restaurant is also known for its huge deserts...

That is ONE piece of cake.  If you want to take it with you, it goes into something that resembles a shoe box! Chris bought a piece once and it took him two days and help from two people to finish it.  I rest my case.

 So, we ordered this instead...ha.  These was pretty large serving sizes as well.  It took all four of us sharing both deserts to finish them.  I think when we left , there was still one piece of cheesecake left.

And so, after some great food with some great folks, it was time to say goodbye, get some sleep and head for the border the next day.

Stay tuned!

From San Bruno, California To Grants Pass, Oregon

It was time to head further north and we were ready to NOT live out of our suitcases for a nice long while.

Scootard was getting really excited!

We headed across the San Mateo bridge driving into a big overcast sky.

The city of Oakland, Ca was already buzzing beneath us as we whizzed by.  Not that we got a really early start or anything.  So, I guess that's why! ha

I noticed that the hills seemed to be taking on that "velvet" look that I described in previous post at the beginning of this 6 month long adventure.  Some were still vacationing while others were on their way back home.

We weren't driving that long when the skies starting to look a bit ominous.....

It was cold outside and I hoped that the rain wouldn't last long as me and "cold-wet" are not friends....:-(.

It didn't last very long at all.  However, it was kinda off and on as we traveled onward to Oregon.  These are Cherry Blossom trees.  I didn't know that the trees actually got cherries on them!  I thought that was just a name given because of the pink blossoms......

It seemed that the further we went, the greener things got.....:-).

 I mean, you gotta love that!

And then it rained again.  It didn't last long, but the cold air was really coming off of those mountains.....
sheesh!!  Brrrrrrrrr!!

We thought this was a shot of the Sacramento River.  Turns out it was Lake Shasta.

Seeing all of these mountains was a stark contrast to the desert that we had driven so many mile through...(twice).

And a little while after we came through the rain, we came upon this!  I had NEVER seen a rainbow that big and clear in my life!  I was in such awe that I almost missed the picture.  I tried to get the camera to focus better, but after all, it is just  point and shoot.....:-(.  We were just North of Mount Shasta when we saw it.

a few miles later the skies cleared up and this is what we saw......:-).  Nice - eh?

I almost missed this shot, but these rocks are called Castle Crags. When you are coming up on them they are huge!  But the road side is sprinkled with evergreen trees and it was had to get the camera and get it focused without almost missing the entire shot.  I only managed to get the tips of them though....:-(
 

We didn't know if this was Mount Shasta or Black Butte at the time, but Chris found it on the map and confirmed it to be Black Butte.

We stopped in the town of Mount Shasta to get some gas and use the rest room.  It was WINTER in Mount Shasta!

We were not sure of this one either, but we think it is South Oregon Butte...How in  the world did it get that flat on top?  Looks like a bad hair cut on a Marine! haha

You know you have made it to the Pacific North West when you see truck loads of coffee going down the highway...haha

Several hours later, we finally made it to Grants Pass, Oregon where we found something to eat for dinner and stretched a bit.

Because it was late, we eat light as neither of us wanted to entertain the possibility of "gut bomb" from eating too heavy, too late in the evening.

Getting to the hotel came none too soon as it had been a long day and were tired.  But we had made the first leg of the trip home.....:-)

It was time for a good night's sleep before doing it again the next day.

Stay tuned!