Mostly Happy Trails - Road Trip to Oregon, Part 1 of 3

As I explained here, we had some trepidation about traveling 1,600 miles round trip in a car with a one-year-old. But we faced our fears and did it anyway, and although we wouldn't want to do it again any time soon, the trails were mostly happy. It was far better than either of us expected. We divided the trip into two travel days to get there and two more to get home. We we stayed in Ontario, OR on the way over and in Boise on the way back. Each of the four travel days was around six hours of driving, give or take, and of the four days, three were amazingly easy. We timed it so Swen would be napping during the morning drive, and then we stopped for long lunch breaks and let him play. That meant way too many meals at McDonald's, which has the best play areas, but it was worth it. All three of us actually love McDonald's food, but one day we ate all three meals there, and yes, that was a bit much.

My favorite McDonald's stop was in Hermiston, Oregon, the second day en route to Portland. How do YOU spell "nostalgia"? For those of you who don't know, 30 years ago today (!), Gerald and I were married in Hermiston. I only lived there under two years (he lived there longer), but still there are memories that never fade about that little town in the middle of Nowhere, Oregon. I was freshly graduated from college when I moved there for my first teaching job at Armand Larive Junior High School. Gerald had been there a few years already, working for the newspaper. A city girl, I had never lived in a place so small. I figured I would die there, single, among the tumbleweed, dust, cowboys, and girls with tattoos (no judgment here; this was before girls got tattoos). I was wrong. I met Gerald just four months after moving to Hermiston, and we were married six months later. Luke was born about a year after that, and we lived in Hermiston until he was six months old.

We didn't drive around the town as much as we would have were it not for Swen needing to GET OUT OF THE CAR, but we did go by the apartment complex Gerald and I lived in and the Shari's restaurant where we ate the night we met. Next time (distant future, but still...) I will definitely spend more time there and explore further.

I mentioned that three of our four travel days were easy. That is true. The only sketchy day was the second one driving from Ontario to Portland. Swen slept in the morning, but by the afternoon, he was pretty much "over" his car seat. Shulamith has taught him to say "up," when he wants to be picked up. Poor baby did his legit best to say "up" as clearly and as sweetly as possible, over and over, but sadly, no one could pick him up. We were in the middle of ridiculous traffic on Portland's Banfield Freeway during rush hour, trying to get from the east side of Portland over to Hillsboro, where my mother lives. It sucked, and Swen thought so too.

Our only salvation was Seth, the most awesome helper ever. The last child in the family, he never had the opportunity to be a big brother, but he'd have been a rock star at it, given the chance. He sat in the back with Swen, read him books, fed him snacks, played him Baby Einstein videos, gave him toys, sang him his favorite songs (The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star), and did all he could to make him happy. Honestly, we could not have done this trip without Seth. Here he is duct taping the DVD player so Swen could see it from his car seat. Thank you, Seth. You are amazing!

Not gonna lie. It was a long drive. Very long. But we are glad we went and glad the trails were mostly happy.