Day 1: Vancouver to Bliss

After much planning, re-planning, and then a scramble to change the plans again almost at the last minute, we were off. Well, not really. Our itinerary called for a leisurely exit from home around 8:00 AM. Shouldn't be too hard, right? After all, the kids have to meet that deadline every school day... Dream on!

After not getting much ready the night before (and dad staying up 'til almost midnight getting the car ready), it took us until nearly 9:30 to actually get on the road. Quick calls to grandma backed up the meet time in Pendleton to hand off our dog, Tagalong. (Thank you so much to the grandparents for kenneling her for us. Not only could we not have afforded to board her, but there just wasn't room in the car for her...)

After two agonizingly long stops at McDonald's in The Dalles and a rest area just outside Boardman, we finally got past the Columbia River Gorge. Now, you might think, "There are some mighty fine places to see right along there", and you'd be right. But we had to meet mom in Salt Lake City by the end of day two, and some of those sights we've seen before. Others, we plan to see on the way back. We needed to get at least as far as Boise before bedding down...

Right about Hermiston, the rains hit. It made for a long and soggy hand-off of the dog at the McDonald's in Pendleton. Now a full 2 1/2 hours behind schedule, we started out further east than the kids had ever been.

As we climbed up toward Poverty Flats where Mary use to live, we got to see a little of the patchwork farms reclaiming the desert. That, and the clouds...

Just before we went into Idaho - a first for both kids - we hit a rest area. It was still soggy...

Crossing the inlands of Idaho, the rain clouds continued north and east, while we went south and east. It made for some pretty skies:

The kids were quite enthralled that we crossed the 45th Parallel (even though they had before, on last year's trip to Disney - they didn't seem to remember it...).

While the kids did really well in the car - reading, doing "car school" (working on the assignments their teachers sent along), and playing games together, every time we hit a rest area they had energy to burn. At one in Idaho they found some leaves to pile up and play with...

After 500 miles (those kids are troopers!), we finally stopped at the rest area just short of Bliss, ID (between Boise & Twin Falls), and set up our 'car camp'. It had been a long day - 13 hours, with over 8 of them in the 'saddle', but we were where we needed to be to have time to see the Golden Spike National Historic Site tomorrow, and still make it to the airport in time.

Quick Stats:
total mileage so far - 508
hours driving - 9
States - 3 (16 counties, 1 state capital)
sites/parks/monuments - 1 (Fort Vancouver, before we left...)
Junior Ranger badges - 1