Road Trip: Washington/Oregon

Things I remember about my Washington trip last year:

• It was a hot 75 degrees in Alaska when we left, so I decided to wear a colorful dress and bonnet. Little did I know that when we landed in Seattle, it was a chilly 50 degrees and I was full of color while everyone else around was wearing some sort of black or grey. 
• Traveling with two dogs, two kids and two adults was not fun. Michael met up with us & brought an Eclipse. Umm? So we ended up renting an SUV and stayed in Olympia. 
• My nephew got sick and either puked or pee'd in Mike's brothers bed. Luckily, Mike's brother has a kid & understood.
• It didn't seem to rain a lot but it was always dreary. There was sun a few times & when that showed up, the landscape was extra pretty.
• Washington looked a lot like Alaska.
• I saw my first sunset in Washington. It was absolutely beautiful. The picture above is one I took while it was going down. It was also taken on my second trip to WA rather than the one on the road trip.

Things I remember about our few hours in Oregon:

• I loved how Portland looked. I'd actually never seen a city like it. Something about it was very different. If it weren't so grey overhead, I'd move there in a heartbeat.
• The traffic seemed worse then Dallas.
• Was our first time traveling on a road UNDER a bridge; it wouldn't be our last on the West Coast.
• We made a pit stop in Eugene to visit a friend. It was a college town but I kind of enjoyed it. Reminded me a bit of the town I currently live in but...bigger. 
• It rained, a lot. It was pitch black when driving through the mountains and it was raining. Very scary combination. 
• We never pumped our own gas. Kind of made me uncomfortable to have to wait for someone to do something I could just do myself THEN have to tip that person. I guess if it creates jobs...

I really thought the North West was beautiful. We didn't spend too much time there but what I did see was very pretty. Now only if there were a bit less rain & dark clouds, it would be heaven on earth. I actually can't wait to go back. The second time I did go to Washington (a few months after this trip), the sun showed its face a few times. When that happened, it was like somebody had increased the saturation in everything. Everything was a bit prettier and brighter than I had originally seen. I can't wait to see it all again.