Day #7: Green. With a Side of Wet.

Thankfully, the trip from Crater Lake to Portland, OR was uneventful. The van performed wonderfully and the scenery along the route, at various points, was beautiful. 

Oregon has been just as I imagined it would be. Lush and green and full of color! Amazing color. And can I just say that while I expected it to be "wet" here in Oregon, I can honestly say it has either rained, sleeted or snowed since we crossed over into Oregon (2 days ago). The wet makes it almost seem tropical with all of the greenery and volume of trees and leaves everywhere you look.  And did I mention beautiful?! If you are listening husband, the state is gorgeous and the scenery stunning. It reminds me a lot of where I grew up....and I could see myself living here.  It is everything I ever thought it could be.

In addition to the beauty, this place just feels like a whole different world than SoCal. Take some of the local culture, for example.  With street names like "Rattlesnake Road" and "Pheasant Lane" and school and state mascots of Beavers....where else could you be?

We arrived after a [fairly] short trip of only 5 hours to meet up with some lovely friends:

Angela used to live in SoCal and work with me. Here she is with sweet Molly.

Angela and her wonderful daughter Kaitlyn

I am grateful to another set of friends who have been gracious enough to sleep us, feed us and drive us/tour us all around town.

During the course of our trip, we have done some "Family Quizzes" out of a book that Olivia has. In one of the quizzes, everyone had to draw a pig and then based on certain characteristics about your pig, you were provided with "details" about your life.  According to the pig that Olivia drew, she has a short pig's tail, which apparently signifies a social life full of happiness.  Who knew?

Fun Facts From Today:

Number of times a child asked me "Are we there yet?" = 9

Miles driven today = 257

Number of wrong turns = 0

Conversations Overheard in the Car:

Here is a snippet of Diego's quiz:

"Step 1: Love Mami. Check!

Step 2: Tell Ana I love her. Check!
Step 3: Make sure it is really raining. Check!

Step 4: Have 4 keychains. Check!

Step 5: Love Mami really, really much. 100 pounds much! Check!!"