On the road again! Started the day in Anaheim with an odometer reading 10654 miles. Drive was to be 394.3 miles long, which should have taken about 5.5 hours. Unfortunately, we hit construction, traffic accidents and detours. It took forever to get to the bay area and then we got in rush hour from Livermore all the way to Walnut Creek!
Not many high points from the day , particularly not the 6 miles of backup due to long-term road construction!
Fortunately, we were able to end the evening on a high note. Dena joined us for dinner at the hotel and we were able to catch her up on the trip since we saw her last. The girls were very happy to see her again – which helped us forget about most of the driving day.
On Saturday morning, Day 15, we woke up in Walnut Creek. After a quick breakfast in the room and packing the car again, we were off. This time it was going to be a long day – about 510 miles. The odometer reading was 11059 and we headed North. We ended the day in Eugene, Oregon. I finally got behind the wheel again for the drive through Southern Oregon (oh joy!)
The first room we were given at the hotel was one of four rooms on the Lower Level and right across the hall from the pool. I couldn’t stay in the room, it had such a mildew/musty smell because of the moisture. So, we got a new room on the first floor. This room was fine, nothing spectacular (not that we thought the Comfort Suites would be.) Our room was actually a suite, with a separate bedroom for Sam and me, and Camryn’s bed ended up being a King Sized one in the main room.
We went out for dinner to Off the Waffle. They say their business is crazy busy for breakfast and lunch, but since we were there for dinner, we were able to enjoy without a huge crowd. I had The Hot Avo – fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, avocado, tomato, a dash of sea salt and fresh ground black peppercorns drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and the rest of the family treated themselves to some kind of chocolate & fruit concoction. The waffles aren’t so massive, which meant that none of us overate!
After dinner, we went to Skinner Butte park (yes, the same place we went on Day 1). Since it was evening and nowhere near as hot, the girls were able to go on the slides and some other things that they couldn’t do last time. A great way to end a long driving day.
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Sunday morning, Day 16, started off with the continental breakfast at the hotel. We got in the car around 9:30am with 11580 miles on the odometer and plans to be home in the early afternoon. Well, the drive was coming along fine until we hit the Washington border and traffic slowed way down. We stopped for lunch and gas around Chehalis and I took the wheel for the final stretch. And, what a final stretch it was – the traffic was so painfully slow it added about 30 extra minutes to our drive!
Finally, we pulled into the driveway at home around 3pm on Sunday afternoon, with a final odometer reading of 11881. That gave us a grand total of 2802 miles for the trip!
What an unbelievable and unforgettable journey. Thanks Sam, Camryn & Hayden for the amazing two weeks 🙂