Rose Bowl Trip - Day Two

Happy New Year's Eve! 

We left at 9:37 AM, which seems to be the time we leave. The sun is shining and B is especially happy about it.

We covered new ground yesterday, and you know what that means:

Hubby and I have decided to visit all fifty state capitols. Today we stopped to grab Sacramento:

Of course, we had to visit the mothership

Back in the car. Among our multiple stops: a gas-and-gummy bear errand.

The weather and scenery were pretty - we saw lots of farm equipment, green fields, and happy cows. But we noticed that Coalinga REEKS. What happened in that place??

Google Maps warned us of a traffic incident that would add at least a half hour onto our travel time - an accident in a construction zone. GM Lady gave us an alternative route, but did quickly we obey? No we did not. We continued down I-5 and encountered the longest traffic jam EVER. Boooo, us! 

Next time GM Lady tells us to take a detour, we're taking it.

FINALLY we reached Los Angeles around 8:00, in just over ten hours. I'm no road trip wimp but that was more than enough time in the car for me, and my family agrees.

We met up with Kristy, Steve, Lori and Teri at their hotel restaurant for some New Year's Eve appetizers...

....found our hotel (Quality Inn in Rosemead), and collapsed into bed. We have a huge busy day tomorrow! 

Rose Bowl Trip - Day One

Crossing the Columbia! There's one state down, one more to go....

Folks be sleepy in Salem

All tucked in

Hello, new favorite snack!

South of Eugene, I took over driving from Hubby. We had rain and a LOT of spray, followed by a rain/snow mix, going through Roseburg until we arrived in Grants Pass. We drove through for lunch at Wendy's, filled up with gas, and kept on driving through Medford and Ashland. Siskiyou Pass was overcast but the roads were clear. We crossed the Oregon/California border at 3:06 PM exactly. We crossed Oregon in five hours, baybeeeeee!!

Coming down the hill, we had our first sighting of Mount Shasta.

STUPID CLOUD

Even with the cloud, Shasta was gorgeous and huge. 

Tiny Elvis: "Look at that mountain, man. That's HUUUUUUGE."

We had dinner in Redding at Ye Olde Garden of Olives, and got into a good game of Alexander Hamilton ("If Alexander stuffed a whole bunch of food in his mouth, his name would be....Alexander Cramilton!!! teehee").

Our hotel room (Best Western Plus Corning Inn) is enormous. Hubby and I took a dip in the pool....

....and were later joined in the hot tub by two couples from the Salem area, who are on their way home from taking their kids to Disneyland for Christmas. Their 7-hour trip turned into 12 hours today when I-5 was shut down in both directions near Grapevine, CA. 😳 We'll be watching that area closely tomorrow morning! Hopefully it'll all go smoothly. 

Free Falling

Hubby's commute: Kinda snowy.

On the way home, I stopped at Officers Row.

The Grant House (and the bus stop)

Kitties! Kitties! and Packing

Yes, our room is a mess. My apologies. 

"Doesn't exactly travel light, does she?"

Shut up, Bodine!!

We went from a hugely snowy morning to a beautiful afternoon with clear roads.

Picked up Hubby at work, we did four Sh*pt orders, and we spent the evening getting ready for tomorrow. IT'S TRIP TIME.

YEAH!!

The Busy Snow Day

Woke up early. The job texted and said they were closed, due to weather, and I had the day off. SWEET.

One last tree pic, before we take it down tomorrow....

Crocheted a while with Magenta's help

Enjoyed the snow. Lit candles in the cages.

Enjoyed being with these folks. Made coffee cake, washed and ironed clothes, watched some TV.

Went with Hubby to have the car serviced, did two Sh*pt deliveries in Portland, picked up B, had dinner at the spaghetti place with H as our server (he didn't feel like being photographed but we had a nice group hug with him before we left, which was probably weird for the table next to us).

It was nice to have alone time with B, as he will be leaving us for the next two months and we'll miss him. 

A very good winter day, indeed.