Los Angeles!

This morning we met with a sweet church who were a great last stop on our journey. We had a big lunch with some of the members and headed out on the road, determined to make it all the way home before dinner, safe and sound. We did that, and we are all thankful to be snuggling into our beds this evening! I am thankful not to share a room or really much space at all with the children (after two months in a minivan our house feels quite spacious!), though this trip taught me that in a disaster we could all spend a lot of time in close quarters if necessary. :)

A few stats:

--62 full days
--over 10,500 miles
--19 states
--20 churches visited
--23 stops including the last one at our home in LA
--numerous hugs (someone asked me a few stops into the trip if I'd considered counting hugs; I thought it was a cute idea, but since I didn't do that I will think of them as the stars--too many to count :) )

We are very thankful to have had this opportunity to thank those who have supported us in the work here in Los Angeles. We are looking forward to getting back to work and to our life here, but please know that we miss all of you and that we would love it if you would come visit anytime!

Sacramento

"Welcome back," said the man at the fruit inspection station just after we crossed the border into California on Friday.

Instead of spending our time in traffic headed west from the hotel and trying to cram in a very short visit to San Francisco today, we went east away from all of that traffic and visited the state capital, Sacramento. The capitol building itself was very beautiful, and I began to cry during a special exhibit they have there right now on the Dust Bowl. The kids and I just studied that time period and even had an older member from the church come over and share his experiences.

It was strangely reassuring seeing lots of "California" stuff in the gift shop after two months away from everything California. I stopped myself from buying a cute tea towel with a 40s era map printed on it. (I might buy one at a later date!)

Hubs will speak for a church tomorrow morning, and then we head HOME.

Ashland

We left Portland on Thursday and meandered south through the foothills of the Cascades. On Thursday night we stayed in Ashland, Oregon, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We didn't have the time to stop for a performance (not to mention that at least two of our children are too young), but I thought it was a cute tourist town.

Portland

We had a stop in Portland just because it was on our route south from Seattle to Sacramento, and I had never visited before (Ethan had been once before). Between gracious last-minute hosts and conversation, singing, sightseeing, friend time, and hugs, we had a lovely couple of days.


I fell in love with the rare sunny days in the Pacific Northwest, and I can even appreciate the dark beauty of the overcast skies and the marine layer that (unlike on the westside of LA) doesn't burn off by noon. :P

But home calls.... soon.

Seattle

We arrived in the east suburbs of Seattle on Friday evening and got to see and stay with a sweet friend of mine who moved away from LA last year. The kids had a great time, and I loved spending some time with her on her new turf.

Saturday afternoon we had lunch with Hubs' extended family members who live in the area and that we had never met. We had a lovely time!

After that we headed through downtown Seattle to do some drive-by sightseeing and went to Poulsbo for the rest of the weekend, visiting friends who live there. We had a great time seeing the touristy town as well as just enjoying a slower pace of life. It was very relaxing. For the first Sunday in weeks the Hubs didn't speak at church, so that probably lent itself to a more laidback pace as well.

Monday morning we left for Oregon, taking the very out of the way (but necessary since who knows if/when we'll ever make it back) route up to the entrance to Olympia National Park and then down the eastern coast of the Olympic Peninsula. It was a lovely cloudy morning, which I suppose is the way the Olympic Peninsula is supposed to look.

For Twilight fans, no, we didn't make it all the way to Forks.

...this time. ;)

Bozeman

We rolled in to Bozeman Thursday evening after a somewhat long day of driving (our second in a row, in fact). We stopped at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Pompeys Pillar, both excellent stops that offered interesting history and great views. We found some good food, the kids enjoyed the water slide at the hotel pool (literally, just a slide into a pool... kind of random!), and I ran a couple errands. One was to a local food co-op, which was wonderful and offered cheap(ish) avocadoes: after weeks of seeing avocadoes at more than a dollar each, this store had them on sale for 79 cents a piece. That's not an LA price, but it's closer than I saw in Dayton, where they were $1.65 each. We got a chance to meet my youngest brother's girlfriend, which was fun! We turned in as early as we could after preparing for our next (and longest of the entire trip) day of driving.

Bismarck

We stopped overnight on Wednesday in Bismarck. My grandmother lived there as a child, so I was especially curious about the area. We found the house where we think she lived. The old part of town has been maintained some, and the new part is like most other Midwestern cities of a certain size; there is a Wal-Mart, there are schools, there are large hospital complexes. Something about Bismarck caught me, though; perhaps the stories I heard as a child made it especially meaningful, and then the evening we were there we witnessed a truly beautiful sunset.