On The Road...

Man...what a week! Of all the moves we've gone through with the Army, we were clearly not as prepared for this one. We ended up spending Livy's 9 month Angelversary preparing for the movers and packing everything up for our drive! Luckily, it all worked out -- for the most part. Spending 3 days with the movers was just a bit stressful, as we watched them pack our stuff and load it onto the truck. Their packing methods weren't as good as we've seen in the past, and one of the packers tried to argue whenever we made a specific request...yeah that was fun. On the last day, one of them busted a set of blinds in the guest bedroom. Of course, no one would fess up so I guess I'll be taking that up with the moving company! Good times. I'm so glad the first half of the move is over. Now that our HHG's are on the truck, we don't have to stress about the condition of our household goods again until we arrive at Ft. Benning...so until then...out of sight, out of mind, right?

After we finished with the movers, cleaned up the house and cleared it with the owner, we headed over to our friends' house for the night. They were sweet enough to offer us their guest bedroom rather than staying in a hotel. It was a great opportunity for us to spend one last evening with them before we headed out, so I was glad for that! With such good company, we weren't really in a rush to head out, so we ended up getting a late start on the big drive. I guess with no agenda on this road trip, that wasn't really an issue though.

I'm so glad we are in no rush! With almost a month between leaving Ft. Lewis and having to report to Ft. Benning, we can take our time this time around. With previous moves, the only time we stopped was for a restroom or gas station, but this one is going to be much different. We plan to stop whenever we pass something of interest. In fact, we ran across our first detour just 2 hours into our drive today. After visiting my good friend, Cara, in Portland, we made sure to grab some Voodoo Donuts! We knew this was going to be the last time for a long time that we'll be in that area, so we better indulge. As luck may have it, we ended up witnessing one of the famous Voodoo Donuts weddings, too! We had heard about them, so it was fun seeing one firsthand today. I must say....it's definitely an interesting option! The "priest" determined the couple's spirit animals (ended up being a squirrel and a monkey), the couple had candy bouquets and boutonnieres, and before tying the knot, they had to get the approval of Kenny Rogers (there was a painting of him above the cash register) before saying "I do." Yeah...definitely unique! It was fun though, and they got everyone involved in it.

So even though that ended up cutting into our driving time, we weren't too bummed. Our goal was to make it to San Fransisco before the end of the night, but that definitely didn't happen! Oh well...we'll get there at some point tomorrow. Here's hoping the weather clears up and we can enjoy the city without the rain/fog that covered the entire PNW today!

Below are some pictures I just now got loaded up from the last week...

Oba watching the movers with much hesitation...

When one of the movers started packing up Liv's room, Oba took it upon himself to guard the door. He laid there crying the entire time she was in there -- Poor Oba had a rough time with all of this...

After the first day of packing, Obadiah decided to hang out in between our coffee table and end tables. It looked like he was in jail...

By the third day, he was comfortable with the idea of strange people coming in and packing up everything. Because of that, there were no more whines or cries, but he did try to make a run for it. After one of the movers chased him down for us, he lost all privileges and spent the rest of the day in the backyard -- left to cry and let everyone know the horrid abuse that he was experiencing!

Then fast forwarding to the delicious Voodoo Donuts...Man...I could live on those things! Since it was our last trip there, we each grabbed 2 for the drive. By the time we stopped for dinner, all I wanted was a salad...wayyyy too much sugar for one day -- but sooo worth it!

Oba was, of course, left to sniff but that's it. No donuts for the basset...

As we got closer to Grant's Pass, OR, we didn't deal with as much rain, but definitely drove into crazy amounts of fog at various points. This was just the beginning...

Best of all...we drove past a beautiful rainbow at one point...

For those of you that ever watch Tosh.0, you might remember the Web Redemption video with the guy that expressed a lot of emotion while recording a rainbow from his porch. As we drove past this one, James kept imitating what that guy said, ha.

Well, off to bed before another day on the road. Here's hoping it's clear skies and no traffic on our way to San Fransisco!!

A nice detour...

Man. I am BEAT! Thanks to the Army giving our guys a 4 day weekend, we decided to get out of town and away from everything for a few days. Once James got off of work on Thursday, we packed our bags and headed south. It was a great trip, but I could probably sleep for days after being on the road and being in hotels -- couldn't get any sleep in those! I'm still loading all of the pictures we took, but after looking at the pictures loaded thus far, they're making me hungry!

Among the many stops while on our little Oregon/Northern California coast tour, we made sure to stop at the IN-N-OUT Burger in Redding, CA. I haven't been to one of those in close to a decade, and I wanted to see if it was as good as I remember it being. Yes...it was. I love that place! Yum. After we ate our lunch, James was ready to go back inside and grab a second meal -- that man never stops eating!

I love IN-N-OUT. I love that they use fresh ingredients without all of the preservatives/additives/other junk, that the menu is so simple, and that they even put Bible verses (if you've never noticed that before, look closely...they're there!) on the wrappers. Plus, going to IN-N-OUT brings back good memories of when my sister, Deb, and I would visit my sister, Jen, in San Diego throughout our high school years. Good times...It's a must whenever I'm in CA.

Of course, this particular IN-N-OUT stop provided a new memory of its own. While James was inside ordering our lunch, a cute little boy ran up to Oba and asked me if he could pet him. He had the biggest smile on his face and told his little brother (who was standing right next to him) that bassets are the greatest. He told me that he's always DREAMED of owning a basset hound, because he can sleep in the bed with you then when you wake up, you can pull his ear over your eyes to block the sun. Haha. So sweet. He couldn't get enough of Oba and just kept loving on him. Oba, of course, soaked up the ridiculous amount of attention that he received while we were there, so everyone was happy...both the little boy and Oba...After looking at the picture below (taken during our drive), I suppose his ears would be fairly good eye pillows...

Well, there's more to blog, but the bed is calling my name. Gute Nacht...bis Morgen!

A visit w/ friends, Part 4: Mt. St. Helens and Portland......

On their last full day here, we took Matt and Sabrina to Mt. St. Helens and Portland, OR. Luckily, we had a clear blue sky, so it was the perfect day for sightseeing. With first going to Mt. St. Helens, we drove close enough to get some good shots of the mountain, then continued heading south. Once we got to Portland, we headed straight for Voodoo Donuts. Much to James' surprise, they were MUCH better than the last time he tried them. In fact, I think Matt said they were the best donuts he's ever had. Can't go wrong with an "Old Dirty Bastard," which is a yeast donut with crushed oreos, fudge, and peanut butter -- yum! After grabbing our dessert first, we headed over to Portland City Grill for Happy Hour. They've got great food and an awesome view of Portland, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens in the distance. Once we were done there, we decided to find the Deschutes Brewery pub house since we knew it was somewhere in Portland. That's James' favorite American microbrewery, so it was a must. With me being the only one that doesn't care for the taste of beer, I sat and watched while Matt, Sabrina, and James enjoyed a good oat soda. I don't know if it was themed off the movie, but they had a Twilight Ale that Sabrina ended up thoroughly enjoying -- even came away thinking that was the best beer she's ever had.

All in all, it seemed to be a pretty successful day/visit. Matt and Sabrina seemed to enjoy the PNW, and we, of course, absolutely loved hitting up all of our favorite sights -- not to mention the 3 breweries. I think James could visit a different brewery daily if he had the opportunity, and while I don't enjoy the actual beer, they always seem to have awesome food so I'd be game for that. I somehow doubt GA will have as much of an opportunity for such things so we'll have to soak it up while we can...

While at Mt. St. Helens...

Voodoo Donuts...

I definitely needed my sunglasses!

The view from Portland City Grill... (Mt. St. Helens off to the left and Mt. Hood to the right)

Those waiting for some tasty VD donuts...

Caught James in front of Deschutes...

After a fun, but full holiday weekend, James said he needs another 4 day to recover. I guess we'll see if the Army allows for one of those soon...

A visit w/ friends, Part 2: Oregon Beaches...

So on the second day of their visit, which also happened to be Independence Day, we went down to the Oregon coast. On this trip, we usually stop in Astoria to go up to the Column for a great view of WA, OR, and the Columbia River. However, the fog was so bad that we couldn't even see the river as we drove alongside it, so we skipped that part. We did still check out Seaside, OR and Cannon Beach (for the Twi-hards out there, they filmed the La Push scene there -- when I first saw the movie, I recognized that location and sure enough, after looking it up, it was!). On our way back, we stopped at the Rogue Brewery, which, by the way, had awesome food! The Kobe beef burgers were fantastic...

Since it was an outdoors adventure, Obadiah was invited...

Our first stop was at Seaside, OR...

Oba LOVES the beach...

Of course, we had to get our pictures taken with Lewis and Clark...

The BEST corn dog...

While walking the boardwalk in Seaside...

On our next stop, Cannon Beach...

The Sea Lion Rocks -- where birds like to hang out...

Oba patiently waiting...

Not exactly sure what was going on here, but Oba was looking at me like he was annoyed, ha...

Oba and his buffet of grass -- as if he's a cow...

Boy, is that dog STUBBORN...

Our last stop, Rogue Brewery in Astoria, OR...

Next, Part 3: WA Beaches...