And so we drove from Edgewater, Maryland to Shoreline, Washington. (Isn't that cool? The edge of the eastern water to the shoreline of the west?) We had such a delightful trip! Seriously! 62 hours of driving! Listening to books as a family gave us plenty of laughs and little inside jokes. Staying with different people provided meaningful reconnections, some cousin bonding, and a new appreciation for the gift of hospitality. The landscape was incredible; we like how the hills turned to prairies and the dry lands turned lush. We watched rain storms come and go across the big skies. We found little spots in all this beauty to set up our tent.
In Michigan, we enjoyed a visit to a butterfly garden with friends. The girls made paper flowers to wear so that butterflies would be more likely to land on them. They were all so precious standing as still as statues with arms outstretched, hoping to lure butterflies.
Michigan snow! We loved being in a place with big piles of snow and ice! (And then, well, ... driving on to a fairer land.)
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| our children loved the huge icicles! |
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| stopping by the woods on a snowy evening |
Midwest humour! These t-shirts in a mid-west gas station had us laughing pretty good....
I also appreciated eating in a small-town restaurant where a large
group of older men sat together at one table and every single one of them wore
a baseball cap. The ladies sat at another table and they all wore lots
of makeup and old-fashioned, bright shirts. The restaurant was alive with
familiarness, such tight community chatter.
We, however, were definitely the city slickers in the place. Eggs and toast were our only option for breakfast (since we coming from the local hotel who had this arrangement). When we asked our hostess if she had an ingredient list for the bread, she looked at us in sincere surprise. "It's just... bread," she said. We explained that our daughter was quite sensitive to a particular ingredient found in some breads and she looked baffled. "Well, this is just bread," she explained again. So I guess bread in this small town doesn't actually have ingredients. :)
We took a new route westward. From our visit with family in Iowa, we drove I-80 across Nebraska and southern Wyoming. Then I-84 took us up through Idaho and to highway 20. I loved highway 20! Eastern Oregon is a fascinating place! We drove through open dry land, meeting no other cars or stores or gas stations for miles and miles. Here's a photo:
Or, to see it more fully, you can go to this Google Maps link and look all around this spot! I just love it!
And then, we approached a little store. It was a small building, one storey, with many haphazard additions. They sold all sorts of art and Native gifts and random antiques. I got the feeling that the stuff for sale has been for sale for a very long time. Sure enough, we found out that the store has been in the family for years - the owner's great grandfather set up this shop as a stagecoach stop in the late 1800s. Here's the link to see that spot.
As we crossed the summit, Jon and I noticed something at the same time. We could see a few deciduous tree silhouettes and it sure looked like some of them had new leaves opening up! We also caught a whiff of something. We opened our windows and inhaled. Sure enough. It was the smell of new growth, that delightful green smell! We all sucked up that Northwest smell hungrily! We were home!
We slept in Albany, visited with great friends and family in Corvallis and Portland, and deeply appreciated this sort of beauty:
We cheered quite loudly when we entered the city of Seattle! We were home!
From Maryland to Washington: 3,673 miles. 62 hours in the van.
In total we put 23,000 miles on our van during our nine month sabbatical!
