Well hello there from your friendly neighborhood Oregonian! I think that's what people in Oregon are called. I may need to confirm that or wait until someone says it so I know without having to ask.
Anyway, thought now would be a good time to pop in and let you know that I'm alive and well and have been living in Oregon for about a week now. I'm sure some of you think you're interested in a recap of the road trip but trust me, you're not. It was quite long and quite boring. I'm not one who loves a road trip anyway so loading me up for 5 days wasn't exactly thrilling. Here's a quick rundown for you though, just in case you don't believe it happened:
Day 1: Louisville to Kansas City
We'd hardly crossed into Indiana before I started crying but luckily it didn't last long. It took forever for us to leave and starting out 3 hours behind wasn't exactly how I wanted to begin the journey but it really wasn't a big deal. We made it to the hotel in KC with no problems and hit the hay.
Day 2: Kansas City to Cheyenne
This was the longest travel day and I was thoroughly dreading it. The night before I tried really hard to reign in my mental process and get in a good frame of mind. No use bitching or being grumpy about it because it was going to happen. It had to. The only thing that made it terrible was driving through Nebraska. No offense to Nebraskans (????) but the state is so incredibly boring. We entered eastern Wyoming only to find...well, more of the same. Once again, no troubles with check in or travel in general and made it to the hotel nicely. I can't quite remember if we'd entered mountain time or not by then but our schedule was already jacked up and sleeping was welcome...although my anxiety was killing me and I hardly slept a wink the whole time we were traveling.
I was really looking forward to this day mainly because it was about 3 hours shorter than the day before and I've always wanted to see Salt Lake City. Western Wyoming got a lot better looking and Utah surely didn't disappoint. I'll have to make it back to Utah for an extended stay some time.
Day 4: Salt Lake City to Baker City
Another shorter driving day which was good. We were also going to enter Oregon so I was mega pumped about that and hoping to get some good scenery. Utah kept putting on a show for us and Idaho tried to counter but it was just ok. We kept getting gas because we'd heard there were big stretches of nothingness between Utah and Oregon which was true. But they weren't really more than 100 miles apart and The Colonel's car gets like 450+ miles per tank so we were a little overly cautious.
The last day was just under 5 hours and we were soooo pumped. It was tempting to just tack it on to the day before but we would've killed each other and our apartment wasn't ready until Friday anyway. We planned to sleep in a little but finally being in the Pacific timezone with Eastern time bodies we were up pretty early and just decided to leave. The day before we'd had the same problem and ended up needing to kill about a half hour since we were due to get to the hotel before check in. Oregon is a beauty and I totally see why people gush about it. We drove through wine country, the Cascades and the Columbia River Gorge and I just couldn't even. I took pics but my retinas do a better job than retinal display. We got to our apartment around 2 pm and since we sold all of our stuff unpacking was a breeze! It was great to get out of the car and finally have a new home! We were also super lucky with the apartment because it's really cute and I like it a lot! Definitely could go 50/50 with the whole renting sight unseen thing.
Also, and most importantly, I think it's time to change the name of the ol' blog. What should I change it to?? Help!
Anyway, thought now would be a good time to pop in and let you know that I'm alive and well and have been living in Oregon for about a week now. I'm sure some of you think you're interested in a recap of the road trip but trust me, you're not. It was quite long and quite boring. I'm not one who loves a road trip anyway so loading me up for 5 days wasn't exactly thrilling. Here's a quick rundown for you though, just in case you don't believe it happened:
Day 1: Louisville to Kansas City
We'd hardly crossed into Indiana before I started crying but luckily it didn't last long. It took forever for us to leave and starting out 3 hours behind wasn't exactly how I wanted to begin the journey but it really wasn't a big deal. We made it to the hotel in KC with no problems and hit the hay.
Day 2: Kansas City to Cheyenne
This was the longest travel day and I was thoroughly dreading it. The night before I tried really hard to reign in my mental process and get in a good frame of mind. No use bitching or being grumpy about it because it was going to happen. It had to. The only thing that made it terrible was driving through Nebraska. No offense to Nebraskans (????) but the state is so incredibly boring. We entered eastern Wyoming only to find...well, more of the same. Once again, no troubles with check in or travel in general and made it to the hotel nicely. I can't quite remember if we'd entered mountain time or not by then but our schedule was already jacked up and sleeping was welcome...although my anxiety was killing me and I hardly slept a wink the whole time we were traveling.
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| Only 9+ hours of this... |
Day 3: Cheyenne to Salt Lake City
I was really looking forward to this day mainly because it was about 3 hours shorter than the day before and I've always wanted to see Salt Lake City. Western Wyoming got a lot better looking and Utah surely didn't disappoint. I'll have to make it back to Utah for an extended stay some time.
I was pretty busy geeking out over seeing snowcapped mountains from the hotel to bother taking pictures. The pictures didn't do justice anyway. As I like to say, sometimes life is better being lived than photographed. Or something.
Day 4: Salt Lake City to Baker City
Another shorter driving day which was good. We were also going to enter Oregon so I was mega pumped about that and hoping to get some good scenery. Utah kept putting on a show for us and Idaho tried to counter but it was just ok. We kept getting gas because we'd heard there were big stretches of nothingness between Utah and Oregon which was true. But they weren't really more than 100 miles apart and The Colonel's car gets like 450+ miles per tank so we were a little overly cautious.
Day 5: Baker City to Portland (Tualatin)
The last day was just under 5 hours and we were soooo pumped. It was tempting to just tack it on to the day before but we would've killed each other and our apartment wasn't ready until Friday anyway. We planned to sleep in a little but finally being in the Pacific timezone with Eastern time bodies we were up pretty early and just decided to leave. The day before we'd had the same problem and ended up needing to kill about a half hour since we were due to get to the hotel before check in. Oregon is a beauty and I totally see why people gush about it. We drove through wine country, the Cascades and the Columbia River Gorge and I just couldn't even. I took pics but my retinas do a better job than retinal display. We got to our apartment around 2 pm and since we sold all of our stuff unpacking was a breeze! It was great to get out of the car and finally have a new home! We were also super lucky with the apartment because it's really cute and I like it a lot! Definitely could go 50/50 with the whole renting sight unseen thing.
And now we're here. I've been making sure to work for at least a couple of hours everyday but it's actually been pretty crazy trying to get life in order. We have a couch that was delivered the day after we got into town and our bed is coming today. The pets adjusted pretty quickly and I've been taking Armani for walks every morning just because I can and because the weather is amazing. We also got our wifi hooked up and despite a minor snafu with my car, everything has gone really smoothly which I couldn't be happier about.
Today has been a tough day actually. I think finally slowing down has let it soak in that my family and friends are all really far away. We have 2 weddings to go to "back east" (yes, I'll start saying things like that now to refer to anything east of the Rockies) and I realized just how far away we are when searching for flights this morning. It's also Memorial Day weekend so hearing about it is reminding me that I'll have no one (other than The Colonel of course) to get together with and that's hard to swallow. I also haven't really heard from most of my friends. Very few texts and not much more than a Facebook like here and there. It's just a reminder of how permanent the distance is. But I did go back to Orangetheory Fitness and had a good workout yesterday and met a couple of people so I know it won't be long before I make some friends here and start to feel more comfortable and like I have a life. So to all those in a different timezone, you can still text me! I'm here!
Also, and most importantly, I think it's time to change the name of the ol' blog. What should I change it to?? Help!
Oh yeah!!!!.... blog name totally needs changed. Cant wait to see what you come up with.
ReplyDeleteloved seeing your trip in pics....i didnt even get car sick ;)
It looks so beautiful. I'm sure you'll settle in quickly & the Ville will all just be a fun memory. Keep the pics coming.
Gosh! Seeing your pictures makes me want to take a road trip out West.
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