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dolariTuesday, August 12th
The View from the Eugene Motel 6.
We woke up with not much to do but get to Seattle. We were aiming at getting there about 7, but at the same time, we had a good 12 hours to get there. The first order of business, however, was to get a replacement case for my Sidekick which had dissapeared somewhere in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury area. And a brush, cause my hair is totally unmanagable without a brush. With a quick run into a T-Mobile store3 to get a new case, and a later stop at a Flying J for a brush, we got moving to our final stop, Seattle.
As we entered Eugene, we noticed something very very very odd. All around us were MUSHROOM CLOUDS. I was actually worried there was some kind of terrorist attack going on, but no one seemed the least bit worried by it all, so I'm guess they either enjoy their explosions, or they were obviosuly something more benign.
We pulled into Salem to look at Waldo Park in Eugene, one of the smallest parks int he world with a very young strapping redwood tree, 136 years young, 82 feet high. We played around on the tree a bit, and to put some perspective on how big that tree is, neither Emily or myself could wrap aroung it and touch each others fingers. They made trees big out here. :)
Near where we parked, we found two other parks. One was a park specifically for people who fought in the first Gulf War, which I thought was rather nice. I'd never seen a park for the "new veterans" before. This one was a flat map of the earth, with water fountaining out of the center, spilling across the map, surrounded my flags of nations that fought in the war.
NEar it was another park celebrating the armed forces of World War I. Just a small peaceful park, benches, a statue, and lovely trees everywhere. the nicest part though, was a part of the park that probably wasn't meant to be seen. A small unused wlakeway led down to the shore of a river, covered by a low hanging canopy of trees. It was so beautiful, I wanted to stay for a few hours. But we needed to get moving. A snapped picture, and we moved on.
As we drove through Portland I was very impressed by how modern the city looks. The buildings seem very new, and many along the freeways are very spired, and church like. They're prolly churches, but they're BEAUTIFUL churches if they are. :)
That isn't to say...there wasn't SOME goofiness.
And some of it was because of US.
We were getting a bit punchy. More on that later.
We crossed over into the last state on our trip, Washington. My new home. And who greeted me but the faint visage of Mt. Hood. While I didn't see any other mountains that trip (the overcast quickly took over the state, it was the first of the overwhelming sights I'd see of Mt. Rainier, Mt St Helens, and Mt. Baker.
The trip through Washington seemed to take no time, as we ploughed through the lower counties without so much as a blink. Soon we ended up in Chehalis, and getting lost in the most wierdly shaped and oddball town I've ever seen. There's a gigantic billboard with an Angry Uncle Sam yelling at people on I-5, pickups with self-installed billboards proclaiming facism, and evil black birds staring at you from on high, demanding you shop at their stores.
Chehalis - we're here cause we're not all there.
As we got into the lower Seattle area, Emily and I, now on Day Somethingorother of our trip, were getting kinda loopy. I had been updating people via Twitter where we were and things we were seeing...and it began to get foggy.
And then we promptly went nuts. Emily had the idea to randomly open our map book and post that we were lost in the world. I decided it was time we had a little fun with the twittering:
19:09 Straight shot to Seattle from here.
19:19 We seem to driving into some strange green fog....
19:20 ...that's not right...
19:22 ...that's not supposed to be there...
19:24 Kennewick, WA
19:26 Dallas, TX
19:28 Grass Range, MT
19:28 Winchester, OH
19:30 Gillam, Manitoba
19:31 El Cadiz, Spain
19:31 ...huh. Fogs lifting....
19:32 Olympia, WA - Did everything just taste purple there for a second?
::giggles::
Coming into Tacoma, things began to get very familiar - I'd hit Tacoma on my way back from Port Angeles my last trip, and things became really familiar. I'd noticed Renton for sure, since we'd been there the last time I was in town (little did I know I'd be living there a few months later). And at 8PM, we pulled up to Casa Lindsey, where Erin met us outside. Many hugs, unpacking and a shower later, Lissa and Erin took us for Indian food, a night of movies, and finally, a night in the art studio that would be my room in the house for the next month.
3295.2 miles from San Antonio, I was home.
But the trip wasn't over - Operation Maple Drop awaited!
The View from the Eugene Motel 6.
We woke up with not much to do but get to Seattle. We were aiming at getting there about 7, but at the same time, we had a good 12 hours to get there. The first order of business, however, was to get a replacement case for my Sidekick which had dissapeared somewhere in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury area. And a brush, cause my hair is totally unmanagable without a brush. With a quick run into a T-Mobile store3 to get a new case, and a later stop at a Flying J for a brush, we got moving to our final stop, Seattle.
As we entered Eugene, we noticed something very very very odd. All around us were MUSHROOM CLOUDS. I was actually worried there was some kind of terrorist attack going on, but no one seemed the least bit worried by it all, so I'm guess they either enjoy their explosions, or they were obviosuly something more benign.
We pulled into Salem to look at Waldo Park in Eugene, one of the smallest parks int he world with a very young strapping redwood tree, 136 years young, 82 feet high. We played around on the tree a bit, and to put some perspective on how big that tree is, neither Emily or myself could wrap aroung it and touch each others fingers. They made trees big out here. :)
Near where we parked, we found two other parks. One was a park specifically for people who fought in the first Gulf War, which I thought was rather nice. I'd never seen a park for the "new veterans" before. This one was a flat map of the earth, with water fountaining out of the center, spilling across the map, surrounded my flags of nations that fought in the war.
NEar it was another park celebrating the armed forces of World War I. Just a small peaceful park, benches, a statue, and lovely trees everywhere. the nicest part though, was a part of the park that probably wasn't meant to be seen. A small unused wlakeway led down to the shore of a river, covered by a low hanging canopy of trees. It was so beautiful, I wanted to stay for a few hours. But we needed to get moving. A snapped picture, and we moved on.
As we drove through Portland I was very impressed by how modern the city looks. The buildings seem very new, and many along the freeways are very spired, and church like. They're prolly churches, but they're BEAUTIFUL churches if they are. :)
That isn't to say...there wasn't SOME goofiness.
And some of it was because of US.
We were getting a bit punchy. More on that later.
We crossed over into the last state on our trip, Washington. My new home. And who greeted me but the faint visage of Mt. Hood. While I didn't see any other mountains that trip (the overcast quickly took over the state, it was the first of the overwhelming sights I'd see of Mt. Rainier, Mt St Helens, and Mt. Baker.
The trip through Washington seemed to take no time, as we ploughed through the lower counties without so much as a blink. Soon we ended up in Chehalis, and getting lost in the most wierdly shaped and oddball town I've ever seen. There's a gigantic billboard with an Angry Uncle Sam yelling at people on I-5, pickups with self-installed billboards proclaiming facism, and evil black birds staring at you from on high, demanding you shop at their stores.
Chehalis - we're here cause we're not all there.
As we got into the lower Seattle area, Emily and I, now on Day Somethingorother of our trip, were getting kinda loopy. I had been updating people via Twitter where we were and things we were seeing...and it began to get foggy.
And then we promptly went nuts. Emily had the idea to randomly open our map book and post that we were lost in the world. I decided it was time we had a little fun with the twittering:
19:09 Straight shot to Seattle from here.
19:19 We seem to driving into some strange green fog....
19:20 ...that's not right...
19:22 ...that's not supposed to be there...
19:24 Kennewick, WA
19:26 Dallas, TX
19:28 Grass Range, MT
19:28 Winchester, OH
19:30 Gillam, Manitoba
19:31 El Cadiz, Spain
19:31 ...huh. Fogs lifting....
19:32 Olympia, WA - Did everything just taste purple there for a second?
::giggles::
Coming into Tacoma, things began to get very familiar - I'd hit Tacoma on my way back from Port Angeles my last trip, and things became really familiar. I'd noticed Renton for sure, since we'd been there the last time I was in town (little did I know I'd be living there a few months later). And at 8PM, we pulled up to Casa Lindsey, where Erin met us outside. Many hugs, unpacking and a shower later, Lissa and Erin took us for Indian food, a night of movies, and finally, a night in the art studio that would be my room in the house for the next month.
3295.2 miles from San Antonio, I was home.
But the trip wasn't over - Operation Maple Drop awaited!
