summer roadtrip

Tuesday at 2am i left my home in Washington and headed with my youngest daughter (11) and my niece (12) to Lake Tahoe to stay a few days with my oldest daughter, who turned 22 today, and her boyfriend.  They rented a vacation home for the week and offered to have us stay with them for some of the time.

It was so much fun, and the timing was perfect-- it was a few comfortable 80* days at Lake Tahoe compared to hot as hell, record-breaking high temp days in Washington.

I have never driven so far (13-15 hours) solo before, but it wasn't so bad.  We left early in the morning and stopped at VooDoo Doughnut in Portland on the way down (at about 4:30am there is no line, btw).  The girls were freaked out a bit because, I don't know if you are aware or not, Portland has a bit of a homeless situation.  Lots and lots of homeless folks.  They line up along the sidewalks in their blankets/sleeping bags.  Maya was really freaked out; I don't know how to mellow her out about homeless people.  She worked at the Mission this spring and was really afraid of the homeless men and women that were served there.  I had to assuage her fears that no homeless person was going to attack us (???).

We stopped again in Ashland for lunch, which I had packed.  Ashland was quaint.  It was very Leavenworthy.  We eventually found our way to Lithia Park, which was beautiful.  I wish we had more time to enjoy the space, but we were trying to get to California as quickly as possible.  I was so afraid of falling asleep, so i took a few catnaps on the way.  I have always been one to fall asleep in the car, so i was hyper-aware of my sleepiness level while driving.  i did not want to doze off.

We finally arrived in Truckee, California, where we met Paige and Harrison at the home of a guy Harrison knows, so we could load his paddleboards on my van.  From there, Paige drove us to the house they were staying in at Tahoe Vista.  It was a great little house tucked up in the woods.

I really loved Lake Tahoe.  I was sad that my husband couldn't come, too, but I told him already I want us to have a family vacation there next year-- all our girls and their respective beaus.

We stayed there Tuesday-Friday.  We left today (Friday) but only drove halfway home.  My awesome husband reserved a room for us at a hotel in a town half-way to home--with an outdoor pool ;-) It was 100* when we arrived here, so a dip in the pool after a long drive was absolutely perfect.