The Oregon Trail!

Hey everyone!! So we can't believe how fast time has been flying as our trip has progressed. Tomorrow (Friday) officially marks our 4th week on the road and although we are still thousands of miles from home the end is very much in site... which is kind of a bittersweet feeling. We are looking forward to getting back and being able to settle down after such a rapid beginning to our summer with finals, graduation, then hitting the road. But it has been fun and exciting to wake up every day and look forward to whatever the day would bring, so we will miss that a bit..

So anyway.. what's new with us?? Well we left San Francisco a week ago (which seems incredible, because it feels like yesterday..) headed for Portland, OR with a brief stop in Redwood National Park to see some reaaally big trees. My parents and brother Joe flew out from Boston to meet up with us in Portland at my Uncle Brian and Aunt Tracie's house. We spent 3 nights in Portland visiting with family and checking out some of the local sights, as well as Brian and Tracie's farmhouse outside of the city in beautiful wine country. We loved walking around the land and driving the tractor! :) The house is gorgeous and full of character and the views from the porch were incredible... even without being able to see Mount Hood because of the high cloud cover. We also spent some time driving around the Colombia River Gorge, and viewing all of the water falls that feed into the river before making their way to the Pacific. On our last evening, we went to check out the Portland Rose Garden and walked around getting plenty of pictures of.......roses. Portland was a really beautiful city where you could drive through downtown and see trees, grass, and parks everywhere. We also had the opportunity to enjoy some delicious home-cooked meals, so that was a really great treat for us having been on the road for so long!

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying summer! Thanks to everyone who has been a part of our journey so far by giving us places to stay, things to see, and keeping up with our blog and pictures.. we love being able to share a part of it.

Next up... Washington, the STATE!

-Dan