Earlier this month, we set out on a momentous excursion to the Pacific North West to visit our good friends, The Hickeys! They live in a suburb North East of Seattle called Bothell, WA (it's actually called North Creek if you want to get picky haha). We were very excited to be able to join them in celebrating their son Thompson's (Tommy) 2nd Birthday, and get to see Erin pregnant with their second little one! So on the evening of January 31st, we set out on our journey up the west coast...
The First Leg
With the car loaded, and all passengers on board, (Brent, Jenna, Kellie, & Finley) we left Morro Bay at about 7:30pm after Brent got off work (a few hours late) and began the trek North. Our destination for night #1 was Grammie and Grandpa Lokki's house in Woodland, CA, about a 5 hour drive. We've made this drive many times before, so it was a walk in the park. Kellie slept the whole way, which is what we were planning for and why we left in the evening. We got in at about 12:30am to find a sleepy pair of grandparents eagerly awaiting their little grand baby! Unfortunately, it was a short visit because we all needed rest. Jim and Lynda both had work in the morning and we had to hit the road in the morning. So we swapped cars (The Lokkesmoes were kind enough to let us take their new Honda Pilot that has 4wd) real quick and got Finley settled in (he was staying with Grammie and Grandpa Lokki for the week) and headed to bed. Round 1... COMPLETED!
The Second Leg
After a slow morning and a very sad goodbye to Finley, off we went for our first real challenging portion of driving. Destination #2 was Brent's sister and boyfriends place in Portland, OR approximately 9.5 hours away. This was the longest Kellie has had to be in her car seat to date, and it was a little scary to think she might scream for hours straight. However, being the good baby she is, she slept almost the entire way! Praise The Lord! It was a beautiful drive up: great weather, light traffic, and lot's of fun gadgets to mess with in the new car! We got to Brady & Kyle's flat in the early evening (Brady was away on a business trip however) and had a chance to catch up and grab some pizza while Kellie went nutty blowing off her built up energy. Her number one choice of entertainment was harassing the behemoth that is Henri, Kyle & Brady's Newfoundland, and trying to climb into his water dish. Their place is on the 8th story of a building in the Pearl district with an all glass wall and amazing views of Portland's West Hills... So rad! Round 2... SUCCESS!!
The Third Leg
Up and at 'em early for our final day of travel, thanks in part to the infant alarm clock. We headed out to breakfast with the sister at a nice little place called Besaw's, after which we cruised around and got the tour of the city. A much anticipated stop at the world famous Voodoo Doughnuts was shattered when we walked up to the door to find signs that read "closed"! A man working inside popped his head out and said, "Sorry, they'll be open tomorrow though." TOMORROW!? WE'RE ONLY HERE TODAY! Thank goodness we've experienced the goodness once before... anyways. We hit the road for the short trip to our final stop. By this point, Kellie was onto us, and wanted nothing to do with her car seat. Anytime we got her close to it, she lost it. And rightfully so. Pretty sure she'll be traumatically scared by it. But hey, what kid hasn't been right? J/K She's a trooper! We cruised on into WA state and got to The Hickey's place before we knew it (The 3 hours seemed like a trip to the grocery store after all that driving!). It was a relief to have 3 states, 1,050 miles, and about 18 hours on the road behind us. It was finally time to relax!... until the kids decided they were arch nemesis' and their prearranged marriage was on the rocks!
I've decided to break up the trip into multiple posts... keep you wanting more. Well, and I'm exhausted and sick of writing for the time being. I'll leave you with some photos and a video. Until next time
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