Hillsboro to Boise

We made it! We left a little earlier than planned (which was good) and arrived a bit earlier too. Google seems to be ok on estimated travel time for now. 7 hour trip. We got drinks/snacks from 7-11 and made it thru the Portland interchanges in the most miserable gray weather.

First actual stop was at Memaloose Rest Area where we were greeted by the biggest and most friendly squirrels! The term "tree rat" seemed most appropriate for the rascals eatting from tourists fingers! Note for future travelers: bring snacks for the squirrels and try to stop right after they've cleaned the bathrooms because it's nice =) I picked up 2 travel coupon books that cover the entire Pacific NW (Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Utah) and found quite a selection for Boise.

Tonight we are staying at the Fairfield Inn (Marriott) for a mere $60 from the coupon book. I thought it was "ok" til I saw the listed room rate on our door of $169 and found online that next Friday night w/ no discounts is $84. Wow for interstate books! =) Who knows what deals we'll find the rest of the trip! We are near the airport but I can't hear any planes *inside* our room, only in the parking lot. We're also near Boise State University...home of Smurf Turf!

Baker City was a great spot to stop for dinner (Subway) and gas (we made a full tank last over 300 miles!) The attendant was really nice. He just graduated high school but didn't start caring about his grades til his senior year so he's gonna do some extra classes to improve his transcript and then he hopes to go to Oregon State like his uncle Brad who just got the highest meteorology degree possible! Oh, and his cousin has a '06 Tiburon. Yes, he was talkative. =)

A couple different thunderstorms along the way but mostly good weather and good traffic. The Columbia River is fun to follow. And these mountains are huge...especially when seen in perspective, such as a farm house in the valley at the base of one mountain.

I took 183 pictures while Nathan drove. He had plenty of caffeine (and adrenaline) which is good because my left contact has been giving me fits all day. The car has been fine. Cruise control is great! We made a playlist on our iPod that has ~750 songs and on shuffle, it created a varied selection that was fun!

We miss the boys. It was hard to leave them but honestly, who wants to travel in a coupe w/ TWO cats??


For tomorrow: We are in the Mountain Time Zone now. The hotel has a continental breakfast which should hold us over til we get to Ogden, Utah. Ogden is one of my favorite cities on our trip. Why? Because it is the first city we come to that has a Chick-Fil-A!!! =) We have 696 miles to cover in 9.5 hours. We will be taking I-84 down thru Utah to pick up I-80 which we will be on for a looooong time. Our plan is to stop in Laramie, WY tomorrow night. Laramie is near Cheyenne and is also the home of University of Wyoming.

Thanks for keeping up with us. See you soon!
Much love,
Katie and Nathan