Seattle, part 2

Claire and I about to tour the chocolate factory 

The largest still in Oregon. It took 7 Germans, 7 years.... beautiful

Just for Luke!

Kendra bought us breakfast at Starbucks! She works for corporate and introduced us to the new bakery items. Spinach pie, raspberry-passion fruit pound cake, chocolate scone and a delicious bagel that I forgot the name of! Anyway... it was sooo good!

Seattle at sunset

Claire found an all you can eat fancy cheese buffet at the Four Seasons in Seattle... heaven!!!

Home!

Well, after 2 weeks, 5,000 miles and 50 cups of coffee (yes we calculated that!) I am finally home. I did not realize how tired I was until I got home last Thursday night and suddenly felt like I could sleep for ages! I think I was just so used to going, going, going that I didn't realize how tiring a road trip can be! It was an amazing, once in a lifetime, epic adventure but it is good to be home again (and Anthony is pretty happy too).

Catching up: Of course, almost immediately after getting settled, I had to see everyone here that I had missed for 3 weeks. Last Friday, Anthony went on alert leaving me alone in the house. I texted everyone and we had a lovely night here. It was a lot of catching up, playing excellent games, and it made me realize how lucky I am to be surrounded by such awesome people here. Anyone who will play scramball with me is a friend in my book! Although there were some jabs made at my as-seen-on-tv expanding hose that are unforgivable ;) Don't worry, those who make fun are just jealous of my light weight gem. We ended the night at the neighbors with a bonfire, which is something I have not done in a long time. My clothes still have the smell and I can't bring myself to wash them because that is the smell of summer! A few smores roasted on a sword later (yes that's right, a sword) and it was officially the start of summer.

Future prospects: While we were driving to Seattle I got a phone call from one of the jobs I applied to here on base. It was as an assistant program director at the youth center here on base. It was completely out of the blue and I was so unprepared I forgot to ask where the interview was! After some creeping around on base with Claire on Thursday night, I found the youth center! Friday at 10am I had my interview and I was so nervous. I have not had an interview in 5 years and I usually talk a lot when I get nervous so needless to say I was a little rusty. The interview went well and I felt like I nailed the questions but you never know. So they said that it might take a few days to get back to me and I just had to wait. Anthony and I enjoyed the weekend and saw Epic (which was awesome!) and when Monday rolled around, I got a phone call from Human Resources here on base.... I GOT THE JOB! I was so excited. It sounds like I will be supervising children ages 6-12 as they do activities and go on field trips. After meeting with Human Resources yesterday I learned I will have about 3 weeks until the job actually starts which is perfect because I get to enjoy summer a little bit here!

Making friends!: Well, today Anthony and I attended an Air Force gathering at the local trampoline park place. I was nervous about this because I fall walking down the hallway and I am not exactly better on an unstable surface. We stayed for a little bit and luckily all major injuries were avoided, although Anthony was forced to eat a dog bone (because they're squad is nicknamed the Red Dogs... hilarious!) but I did get a chance to meet some of the other wives of the 12th squad. I met the Head Spouse, something I didn't know existed, and a few other wives. The head spouse is apparently a lady who has been here a while and is a person on base that we spouses can contact with ANY questions, comments or concerns that we have. Although this would have been wonderful to have a few months ago, I am still so happy that I now have this contact person. I found out how to join the spouses club and they have awesome get togethers like Pinterest Dinner Night, Book Club Night and a game called Bunko that I have never heard of. Long story short, I am hoping my social schedule just got a lot more busy! It's funny how I leave here and when I come home, everything that I wanted just fell into place!

Updates: My thumb is healed! After Kayla took out my stitches, I was amazed at how quickly it healed!  There is only a small red mark on my thumb and it is nice to be able to use it again. My plants are slowly but surely coming back to life after my absence and the house is still standing, Anthony did keep it very clean while I was gone and I was impressed when I came home. Montana is amazingly green now and I am in love with the weather. I can't wait to get outside more, especially now that I got my free military national parks pass! Well, I think that is about it for now. I am going to go start dinner and I think we are going to watch Silver Linings Playbook tonight (Anthony is finally agreeing to watch some of my movies now!)

Seattle

Stories to come, they include: Tillamook cheese factory, a lovely ocean drive, our introduction back to crowds, flying fish, all you can eat cheese buffets and Seattle sunset!

The end of the trail

<p>Well friends, we have finally arrived. 2,200 miles, 10 days, 10 states and two tired girls. We awoke this morning at our odd little inn/hotel in the dalles and headed out for breakfast at a lovely little place called Burgerville. We ordered a white bean basil burger and a black bean chipotle burger and discovered that they are locally made and actually kinda good for you! They were amazingly delicious. With food in our bellies we finally made the decision to travel the southern route and not risk the river. Luckily, we did not have to pay for our crossing like the settlers but we did face our share of hardships. </p>
<p>We attempted to find and take the Barlow road, a recreated version of the one used was supposedly in the mountains and accessible by car. Well we found mount hood (seen below) an awkward peak looming over the rest of the land and we tested the limits of the pilot. Lets just say the road resembled the original trail road a little too much and we had to do some clever driving to get out of there. We gave up and continued on a paved road, a much better route through the mountain. </p>
<p>We then headed to see the pioneer woman's grave. After many miles of getting lost, again, we finally stopped asked for directions and found our way. This grave is of an unknown woman who died along the trail and a rock pile marks the spot because, over the years, visitors have left behind rocks to add to her memorial. This site is particularly sad because it was so close to the end of the trail. The site is beautiful surrounded by old growth pines and we left rocks we picked up at south pass. </p>
<p>We continued to Laurel hill where pioneers began the descent down the mountain. This site was terrifying, even for today's climbers. There is an incredibly steep area where settlers used to have to disassemble their belongings and wagons and lower them down this drop off that was too steep to even climb! The hike was lovely but the best part was the smell! The pine forest made everything smell like sweet pine! We began formulating plans to create and sell Oregon trail candles! Perhaps a gun powder scent? We shall see! </p>
<p>From here we continued on TO OREGON CITY! As we pulled in we could barely believe it! We were here! Finally!!!!! We pulled into the trail center and ran out of the nd discovered the trail center itself had been closer for 3 years... luckily they had a gift shop and the man working there was so excited about our trip he gave us a private tour through the center, set to reopen in a few weeks. Oregon city has seen better days but the important thing is that we made it! So, then what do you do? Why, go to a winery of course! I had a tasting plate at Enso winery and it was all delicious!

Then we headed to Portland! Unfortunately I am very tired tonight so our Portland adventures will have to wait. I will say, the people are ALL crazy hipsters (from what I saw) but their food, beer and 24 hour donut store are amazing! Until tomorrow friends, good night!

Day 9, state 10

The first picture is our hotel room for the night. Yes that is a shower and sink in a bedroom! You can do almost everything in one room! We are spending the night in The Dalles in Oregon, a short distance from the end of the trail which we will reach tomorrow! It seems like months have gone by since we left this real world and traveled back to pioneer time. We are one day from the end of the trail and a few days until I am home and can see Anthony! He's very excited too.

This morning we woke up in Pendleton, Oregon. We had a pretty exact schedule for the day, but as things usually do, it turned out different and better than we planned! We left Pendleton around 9:30 knowing we were headed to a cidery (like a winery but they make cider!) that opened at 11. What do you do with an extra hour to kill? We spotted a roadside sign saying a small town was having a Pioneer day parade starting at 10, perfect timing! So we sat down on a sidewalk, drank our coffee and gathered a ridiculous amount of candy! Small towns are sure generous with their candy!

We continued on to the cidery called Blue Mountain Cider. I've never been to a cidery but it was fantastic! There were about 8 different kinds and they were all delicious! Oh how I love free samples! Next, we headed off to the Whitman Mission, a slightly more depressing stop.

The Whitman mission was founded by Narsissa Whitman and her husband and she is the first known white female to come on the Oregon trail. It was founded to convert the Native American tribes. As more and more settlers came, so did disease. Lots of native Americans died and they began to suspect that the Whitmans were poisoning them so they rebelled and killed the Whiteman and a few others. That's the short version but they basic idea is there. We stood on the spot where Narsissa died and it was a good reminder of the conflicts between Native Americans and settlers.

We left the mission and ate at a Thai restaurant in Walla Walla. Super good! Claire ordered an avocado fried rice dish that was amazing! Who knew that avocados would be good warm?!?!

We continued on and crossed through Pendleton again and saw more ruts and swails. We hiked a seemingly endless path to a rut where tumbleweeds gather (picture below) it was a bizarre sight. Today we finished listening to the Da Vinci Code and it was a sad moment to realize we would no longer have it to look forward to! My those books on tape really make the time fly!

We drove what felt like forever through a canyon along the Columbia river. I did not like this portion because the high cliffs on both sides made me feel claustrophobic. We stopped at a state park (picture below) and we're tempted to camp because the hot dogs and campfires smelled so good! But alas, we continued on. We reached the Dalles tonight around 7ish and scrambled to find a room, which is why were in this little gem! But, it was cheap and did not get horrifying reviews on Google. So we walked around town, got a delicious milkshake and retired to crap tv in the room.

Tomorrow we face a decision that the pioneers faced, continue north along the Columbia it head south to sweep around mount hood! Which way will we go? Do we pay to float our wagons floated down the river or do we brave the mountain pass?!?! Stay tuned to find out! Goodnight all!