The final state line ahead, and the bridge that would lead us back to Oregon.
Our destination today? Home! After we’d drafted our original itinerary we added two more days, to include making it to Georgia, and shorter driving hours. But after we’d gotten about as far as Georgia some of our kids were feeling a bit weary. So we gave them the choice of longer spans of driving and two days less on the road. What took us two weeks to get to, only took us one week to come back across.
And, the ones who wanted to, got to start their day at the water park at our hotel.
Beth and Adam going down the 'big kids' slide. Adam loved it, and Beth was so sweet to keep taking him down.
Aaron after flying out of the faster tube. It was a closed tube so I could never see him until he shot into the pool.
We even had our lunch at the only Cracker Barrel, and the last one heading West, we ate at these three weeks. …It was good!
Our last goofy car shot. You can see the Cracker Barrel flags in the background.
We made quick work of Idaho, and then crossed into eastern Washington for a good chunk of the drive. We kept commenting how this part of Washington really looked like what we expected Kansas to look like. And Kansas was green and pretty, like we’d expect a west coast state to look like. We were happy to find a roadside fruit stand selling Washington cherries at one of our pit stops along the way. It was starting to feel like home!
We're not in Kansas anymore...but it sure looks like it! Or at least what we thought Kansas would look like....but this is eastern Washington.
And more views from the eastern part of the west coast.
And gaining an hour back on the clock (changing time zones for the last time) helped to get us into town just a little bit earlier, too. I was the lucky one, as it so often happened during our trip, to get the wheel while the sun started to set. Driving in through the Gorge with a cup of coffee and a fairly quiet car, except for some radio, was the perfect chance to prepare for home. And it gave me the chance to look back on these three weeks, that flew by in a whirlwind, and prepare to be home. There’s no grander entrance than coming in along the beautiful Columbia river!
We've seen a lot of beautiful places, but Oregon is pretty spectatular on it's own. Loved watching the sun set through the Columbia Gorge.
As we got closer to home the kids got the giggles (of course, we were doing Mad Libs, too). They were mostly excited to see their dogs, who they’d talked about daily and worried a little wouldn’t recognize them. But, of course they did; and they greeted us with wagging tails and kisses!
The kids were so excited to see the dogs...and they were super excited to see the kids too!
Would we do it all again?!? Paul and I would leave tomorrow! It would take our favorite travelers longer to prepare. But I think I speak for us all in that we have no regrets and there would be no better group for us to make those memories with!!
The last stop before home...what a great trip!
The Epic Journey 