PacNW - Day 2

Aaaahh, day 2, the first of many driving days. Day 2 started out in the ferry parking lot in Anacortes. Surprisingly the not so great Cobalt made a fair sleeping pad. We were both surprised.

So we woke up, and started heading towards I5 which would then take us into Oregon. The drive was actually quite relaxing considering we had heard so much bad talk of the traffic in and around Seattle, evidently on the weekends the people of Seattle don't get out much.

Around 300 miles later we were in Oregon where they pump your gas for you - no questions, they just do :). I miss that. Once in Oregon we saw the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. It however runs mostly along a road, which inconveniently has very few places to stop. Once water fall we planned to stop at was so congested that the line up for the parking lot was backing up the interstate. So we passed, thus sorry no pictures :(.

We stopped a a FISH HATCHERY!! There was a huge Sturgeon fish named Herman! They also had huge hydrangea!

We did however make it to Mt. Hood. Which has a lovely lodge at the top and SNOW! We even saw people snowmobiling, skiing, and snowboard; not to mention the kids having a snow ball fight in their shorts! It was awesome! Evidently according to the tour book some of the shining was taped there, I however do not think the locals like the story since I overheard one of the staff complain about people staying that - so if you go there, don't mention it.

After we played around on the mountain and got a bit light headed from the altitude we headed on south toward Bend, which was sold in the tour book as being a place where everyone wants to live - not true. But it was nice enough for us to rest for the evening. This time we decided to try a motel, which I forget how shaddy motels really are....until of course we are paying the Indian who got off his tredmill to check us in and the overwhelming smell of old people in the room. Either way it worked and we didn't die - so I guess it's all part of the experience, right?