Travis & Micall: Labor Day...

I think we are in serious denial about school starting. It's not our fault that they give us a three day weekend two weeks into school. We have been planning on making it to Portland all summer but it just never panned out. So labor day it was. When we discussed a weekend in Portland, Oregon I did not anticipate the meandering road trip that it turned into, especially understanding my reputation in the car...30 minutes tops until I am fast asleep. But I would just like to proclaim that I have become the ULTIMATE road tripper. Seriously, in the last 2 years I have harnessed my chi and learned how to stay awake and enjoy...scratch that...tolerate driving long distances. I found the key!...if you let me stop every 2 or 3 hours then I can have a continuous supply of snacks and drink all the Diet Coke I want! If I'd known that road tripping could be like this, then maybe I would have been on board years ago. (Dad I'm telling you, if I could eat muddy buddies in the car I would drive anywhere with you!) So the 5 hours it should take from Pullman to Portland took 6.5 because we needed dinner, gas, and of course the Nation's largest dairy was on the way so we had to go looking for it, (to no avail). We continued past Portland to stay in Beaverton, because...well that's where HOTWIRE.COM told us our hotel was. Saturday brought the day Travis had been waiting for...NIKE employee store. My dad was able to get us tickets to the store, and Travis had been saving all summer for it. Once inside we were like kids in a candy shop! 50% off of everything. Let's just say my budget and Travis's were not the same but we managed to stay close and come away with some great stuff. The rest of the day was spent wandering the streets of Portland which has the greatest hippy/ big city feel. Sunday we were back in the car to head to the coast. When planning the trip Travis asked me what I wanted to do...of course I said "the ZOO!" and "Tillamook cheese factory". He rolled his eyes and made some comment about marrying a 6 year old. I caved on the zoo because I won that battle in Seattle but I was stuck on Tillamook and Travis was ANTI. It was a bit out of the way but I could dream. So our drive to the coast from Portland consisted of multiple stops at fruit stands looking for fresh peaches and gathering more snacks for the car. Once we hit Seaside we played on the beach and found some more food. It was a little crowded for us so we packed up and headed south. Our friend Lyle, was determined to find our "spot" to have a fire on the beach and fly kites. Everywhere we stopped just wasn't quite up to his standards so we kept driving along the beautiful Highway 101. The further south we drove on the coast, the more I kept reminding Travis that were getting closer to Tillamook...ya know just saying. At a random stop along the way in search of a lighthouse, we consulted Google Map and sure enough it was going to be closer to go through Tillamook and back toward Portland than to turn around. I had WON! Tillamook ice cream here I come! I was not disappointed in the slightest, cheese factory tour, free samples, cheese market, ultimate grilled cheese and EVERY ice cream flavor they make...yup I was happy. Once we had our fill of cheese and ice cream we continued our journey to find our "spot". Further along highway 101 we found it. Just before sunset, the abandoned beach with cliff's going up all sides was beautiful and the perfect spot for a fire and kites. We stayed until the wind blew out our fire and we realized we had a ways back to Portland. You would think our road trip was finished but no...driving directly home from Portland was too boring so we detoured up to Mt. Hood to hike around the resorts and ride the alpine slide. It was beautiful, I can't wait to go back in the winter to ski. Once we were back on track toward home we came across the MOST GIGANTIC TREE FARM EVER...so of course we had to stop and attempt to drive to the end (we never made it...Brit and I had to pee). By this time we were ready to be home and my mind had switched to homework. It was a great vacation and I have been converted to road trips! Now it's time to really focus on school with 5 tests in the next 2 weeks it will be a while before I surface again. Great Labor Day...until next year.