Day 1: Portland, OR - Bellingham, WA

Ohhhhhhhhhh my dog...

This past week has been intensely busy, and the exact opposite of what I wanted from my last week in Portland. Instead of spending my last few moments chatting at coffee shops with best friends, hitting up the bar, playing some pool, and grabbing final bites from all my favorite restaurants, I spent my time frantically packing, selling, shipping, organizing, cleaning, and running countless other errands in preparation for this trip and moving out. I thought an entire week off was more than enough, but I clearly have more to learn about this. One time does not make me an expert by any means. Though not spending every last minute with my friends was a hard choice, it was the right one. I mean, I regret not being able to hang out with them more, but if I did that instead of everything else I did, I would probably still be in Portland come this Tuesday.

As for the trip!!! We woke up at 5am and loaded the car with all of our stuff, and got on the road at about 5:30am. Loading the car was a surprisingly pleasant experience. After the trunk was loaded, we only had a few bags and one suitcase to put in the cab. In comparison to our last trip, our car is half the size, twice the age (almost), and half as weighed down. Our secret? Selling, shipping, and donating. We made about $1000 selling the bikes and some other household items. We shipped our PCs and a lot of clothes back to NJ for a depressing total of $380. But it's a lot better than having to buy a new car back on the East Coast because we over-loaded our current car and ran it into the ground (a mistake we made last trip)!

After driving only 25 minutes this morning, everything became unrecognizable, and that's when I realized Toto and I were no longer in Kansas. However unfamiliar everything was, it was absolutely beautiful. After the early morning fog burned off, we found ourselves cruising up Rt 5 on a perfect autumn day. We stopped in Seattle, WA and met Arlo's cousin Jenny and friend Jess for some coffee. We shared friendly conversation of future plans and past adventures, and parted shortly after to resume our separate road trips. But before we split, we met Jess' dog Celia! She's a corgi/chihuahua mix puppy, and cute enough to steal without second thoughts (don't worry, I didn't!).

We admired Seattle's genius architecture and had fun walking the streets. Just a couple more hours up the road, and we found ourselves in the company of Arlo's family once again at his cousin Nat's house (where we're staying the night). What a cool place! This is a small town I think I might like to visit, or even live in, for awhile. BUT IT'S COLD UP HERE!!! Too cold for my blood. I'm missing summer...

Time to go out for some dranks!!!