And We Are Off...

Departing West Linn! Yes, our eyes are closed...Chia tried.

We finally left Portland and have headed out on the road trip! We left Thursday afternoon around 3:00pm, and didn't leave the county until 6:30pm... What were we doing, you might ask? Stocking up. First stop was REI where we bought camping utensils, bowls, water bottles, food, flashlights, stuff-you-don't-think-you'll-need-while-camping-but-you-do, and Leann got hiking boots. They are pretty sweet, pretty much plan on owning the wild in them. After REI, we headed to Target where we bought some other miscellaneous things like chairs, a small cooler, an air mattress pump, an air mattress....?

We finally left the Clackamas County area and headed east. Our first stop was Sonic in Madras (don't be jealous, cause you can find Sonic pretty much anywhere), then we went to our campground. The campground cost $13, 10 of which we had in bills and the remaining $3 were composed of coins- 8 quarters and a bunch of dimes, nickels and pennies (you're welcome Haystack reservoir campground). It took David a solid 5 minutes to shove the coin-saturated envelope into the only-made-for-dollar-bills-sized slot. Solid. Then we set-up camp! Our first night was delightful: drunken neighbors, a blaring-spotlight moon, and...where's the air mattress? You may wonder, as above we said we got it at Target. Well... We started unpacking the car and setting up the pump, talking about how excited we were to have bought an air mattress. Then we searched for the air mattress. And the Subskee (Subaru) isn't super big... "Uh, David did you put it in the car? Cause I didn't." Then we thought we had left it at the counter at Target... "Did we even buy it?" Leann goes to grab the receipt- no air mattress. We stood in the aisle deciphering between two mattresses, made our decision and immediately grabbed the pump- not a mattress. We then got in our car at 10:30 and drove 20 minutes to a Wal Mart and bought an air mattress. Moral of the story: Leann and David literally own an air mattress now. 

{Just playin' with his stuff from REI}

{Morning at our camp site}

The next morning we met up with Laurel (David's sweet-awesome-always-a-good-time cousin) at The Green Plow in Redmond for coffee. We spent a couple hours with her, it was a delightful conversation. We heard that Whitney and kids were coming the next morning... and it didn't take much to convince us to stay. We drove to Bend for part of the day (because we love it) and saw The Help. We have decided to blog about that later, as it was incredibly moving for us. We headed back up to Redmond to spend the evening with the Welborns! We spent a lovely evening on their back porch, which isn't even a back porch, more like a glorious and relaxing outdoor living room. It was rather delightful. Dina made chicken enchiladas and rice. We sat at the patio table for a while, eating and talking. It was wonderful. 

{Laurel, Gordy and David- catching up}

{Laurel showing us the sites of Redmond- Fred Meyer}

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{Dina, Claire, Whitney, Cruz and Laurel}

Whitney and the children arrived the next morning (Saturday 9/10) and oh. my. goodness. They are quite possibly the most entertaining and hilarious children we have ever met. Grandpa G, Grandma D and Auntie Laurel were oh so happy.

{Claire eating "Yum" aka rice crackers}

At first Claire was a little scared of David- it was the facial hair...naturally. But it didn't take long for her to warm up to David.

{She crawled up on him over and over and over...}

{...and it's probably only because he had food}

{Happy lil' Cruz and Grandma D}

We are headed out to the Painted Hills tonight to camp, headed to Boise, ID tomorrow! We will miss the Welborns, but will be back. Often. You can count on it.

Thank you Lord for wonderful family and providing a wonderful place for us to stay and eat and feel loved. 

Hope y'all are well! :)