Pacific Northwest Bound!

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December 2004:  We've all safely made it to Yakima, Washington, to our temporary home.  A week after moving into the house, we woke up to our first snow of the season!  Lots of unpacking and organizing and getting ready to celebrate Christmas activities are underway.   

Having high ceilings in our great room has allowed us to buy and decorate a beautiful 8+ foot tree.  Our Christmas Bears bring a little polar feel to our room as well.  It truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  More updates to come as Christmas arrives.

November 2004:  It's time to pack!  Jimmie had the joy of carrying our wine from the wine cellar up to the dining room as we begin the process of organizing and packing up our belongings for our trek to the Pacific Northwest.

Jimmie busily loaded our wine and more fragile belongings onto the trailer to make the trip with us.

On November 22nd, the movers arrived at Becca's parents house to load up their belongings.  Then on the 23rd, the movers arrived at our house in Santa Paula to load us up.  It was a long day of loading, loading and more loading.  The movers arrived just before 8AM and finally pulled away a little after 3:30PM with a fully packed moving van.  After spending an hour finishing up the last of the cleanup, we said good-bye to our beautiful home.  Becca and Millie piled into a fully loaded Jeep and Jimmie into his trailer-pulling truck.  We were off!

Our first night was spent near Coalinga, CA.  It was a little over 190 miles from Santa Paula and about as far as we could go on the first night.

Day 2 was our longest day.  We drove from Coalinga, CA to Yreka, CA.  A very long and dull drive up I-5, about 450 miles.  They only interesting part of the drive was around Mount Shasta.  It was a clear day that afforded many views of the Mount as we drove toward and passed it.

Day 3 was another long day.  We had several mountain passes to work through, lots of rain over this 415 mile drive from Yreka, CA to The Dalles, OR.  It was Thanksgiving day and I-5 was very busy around the Portland area.  The drive up the Columbia Gorge was beautiful as we moved away from the Portland area toward The Dalles.  Unfortunately, The Dalles was fairly closed up for business by the time we arrived.  So, we made due with a take-out Denny's turkey dinner, and we were grateful to have it!

Day 4 was a light drive from The Dalles, OR to Yakima, WA, less than 100 miles.  The drive up the gorge and across the Indian reservation provided many views of the gorgeous mountains:  Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount Baker, Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helene's.  We took a quick break along the road to capture photos of Mount Hood and Mount Adams.