Manifest Destiny 2012

Hello friends!

I’m writing this post from my new macbook in my new place in Lakewood, Washington. The trip to the Pacific Northwest went well, albeit long. Thirty hours in a budget truck with my dog and husband was way more fun than it should have been. We have so many annoying inside jokes from this trip.

We drove through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon then finally Washington. I cannot believe how scenic the drive was after Kansas. Oregon is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been! I can’t wait to explore the Oregon wilderness. I was also very surprised at how well behaved my dog was. After the first 12 hours in the truck, he understood what was going on.

Most of the photos I got were from the comfort of the truck cab. Since we were on such a long journey we didn’t make much of an effort to stop off and take proper photos. The weather was also inclement across every state, making for grey monochrome photos on the canon rebel.

So here are some photos from our journey, via instagram:

 The truck ended up being much more packed than this. Glad I did the 100 thing challenge last year!

 There were wind farms across every state we drove through. This photo is from one such farm in Kansas.

 This photo pretty much summarizes the drive through Kansas. Wow, endless flatlands.

 I slept through a lot of Colorado, but not so much Wyoming. This photo is from just over the Wyoming border with Colorado. I love those states!

 We were fortunate to drive through quite a few mountain ranges.

 Idaho’s best kept secret, ladies and gentlemen. French Vanilla Popcorn. Oh, my. Speechless.

 I can’t remember the last time I rode through a tunnel. Why don’t engineers opt for this anymore?

 When almost to Utah, Wyoming looks a bit like Arizona. The sky seems much richer in this area.

 We were limited with our dinner options in these small towns. Pizza was the go-to meal. Terrible,  I know!

 Yango slept like a king! He was so well behaved, how could I not permit him to have the second bed and go crazy?

 Daybreak over Idaho was quite the sight for sore eyes. Empty valleys were surrounded by snow capped mountains while the clouds above curved with the shape of the earth. I was reminded once again of the Arizona landscape and skyline.

 I think Yango wanted a chance to drive. Poor dog, he was stuck on the floor between the captain seats for the duration of the ride.

 Once we got to Oregon the scenery changed quite a bit. We passed some sort of abandoned mill before we got into the mountain range. Creepy.

 We made a quick stop in a town called Baker City. The weather started to turn precipitous thereafter.

 We rode along the Lewis and Clark trail, parallel to the river they traversed. We wondered what it would have been like to make this journey on covered wagons. Grim.

 We finally got to Portland on our second to last day of travel. We drove over the bridge and into Vancouver, Washington. I’ve never seen it both rain and snow at the same time; it did that night.

The following morning we woke up to a snowy scene. Apparently this is unusual for this area in late March. I was happy to see the fluffy stuff since we had a rather warm winter in Oklahoma. Turns out Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR are about two hours from our home. It would have been arduous to push through the night prior, but knowing that these beautiful cities are just a skip away excited me! I can’t wait to take day trips back to explore a new metro.

Well, my break is over. Time to get back to unpacking. Who wants to help?