Road Trip Part 2! The Trip Home

 We woke up early, before the free hotel breakfast was available and before Starbucks was open. We headed to the barn and grabbed Leche. She loaded with minimal fuss as we closed the trailer up and made our final checks before saying goodbye. We hit the road earlier than Cortney expected, as she had budgeted for about an hour of loading sillies.

We did manage to find an open Starbucks as we got closer to the highway, and because it was still awfully early for a Sunday, we just parked in the middle of the parking lot with no mind for spaces while we grabbed breakfast and drinks. 

On the trip home we had clear skies to watch the sun rise over the same fields we'd watched it set on less than 36 hours before.

Shasta in the distance, we're nearing the end of California

At our first rest stop, I checked on Leche and discovered that she'd pulled (likely pawed) almost everything that was stored in front of her including my Back on Track sheet, most of a hay bale and various other sundries. She'd also pooped and peed on everything. She stood calmly and watched me while I extricated everything and relocated it to a safer spot.

The aftermath. All that lovely hay and alfalfa just churned into the shavings. Ugh.

It was great to see Shasta getting larger, as it meant we were  nearing Oregon!

The funny ski area, with even less snow!

Every check on Miss Thing revealed a slightly surprised filly who looked expectantly out the door at the new sights. She did not exhibit any signs of nervousness and stood quietly. 

In Oregon, at our diesel stop, I made a mash for Leche, since she was refusing water plain water (filled at the California barn). I was concerned about colic and wanted to get her as hydrated as possible. She happily ate the horse soup I concocted and we both ended up wearing it.

The last rest stop before Portland, OR

What a relief and whirlwind to make it back to this sign!

Washington was quick to remind us that she is Washington as the rain set in and we got several calls from family hoping we'd get in before the sn*w hit.

On the approach to Seattle.

Exiting off the freeway, to cross the trestle into Lake Stevens!

Lights on the water of the Lake

Headlights at the barn

We let Leche loose in the arena so she could stretch her legs and roll if she wanted. She was curious, exploring every corner! She peed and everything looked lovely.

I tucked her into her new stall and got her blanket on. The temperature was dropping and we were in for frozen precipitation. Welcome to Washington!

Road Trip Part 1! Travel South

I really haven't had time to sit down to write any of this other than getting photos into a post and even that was a struggle. So now, over a month later, I have the tale of the drive down.

My trailer was packed, with, in hindsight, more shavings than I needed and plenty of Leche's new things.

We left early enough that we were catching the early glimmers of sunrise coming up over the Cascades. This is a view I love. 

 Unfortunately, the clear skies left fairly quickly as we proceeded south through Washington. The timing of us leaving worked perfectly with all the respective rush hours of the various cities we had to pass through (Redmond, Bellevue, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia)

Marshy areas south of Olympia.

We hit some fog in Southern Washington and I had to do a double take with this car because there was an INCREDIBLY realistic, lifesize decal of a cat. As you can see. 

And then before I knew it we were crossing the bridge from Vancouver WA into Portland OR!

There are lots of bridges in Portland, mainly because a river runs through dang center of the city. 

After Portland we were on a very VERY boring straight away through the Willamette valley. It was flat forever, with mountains far in the distance. 

But as we reached the southern portion of the valley, the mountains reappeared and we began our ascent toward the passes that would encompass much of southern Oregon. 

Lots of farm fields and sheep.

The mountains looked familiar, very much like the western side of the Cascades. 

This part of Oregon is very pretty, but also not incredibly populated. There were small towns here and there, but we weren't near major cities at this point. 

You hit the passes in Oregon, much higher than any pass is in Washington state, and that's how you know you're almost done. Because coming down out of the pass you get your first views of California with just a glimmer of Mt. Shasta in the distance.

There she is and we'd get MUCH closer as the day wore on.

When we could see the California border on map, it was a big deal.

We made it to California!

We spent a long time on approach to Shasta and it really impressed just how giant it is. 

Fun fact, Shasta has the greatest prominence of the volcanic peaks in the Cascade range, which means that you can see the majority of it from base to peak, as opposed to peaks like Rainer which have quite a bit of foothills to hide the true height.

There was this tiny little mini peak off to the side, which I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what exactly it was since it wasn't fully labeled as a solo item. It seems to just be the Shasta Ski slopes but didn't have much snow.

And as full circle to the day, after we left Shasta in our rearview mirror and came into the valley, the sun began to set and the remaining travel time dwindled.

We were squarely in farmland again and eventually the sun fully set.

My friend was off at dinner, but we got there, and I got to see Dulcinea in person, finally!

Cortney and I found a hole in the wall mexican place where everyone who was eating there was speaking spanish, so we figured it had to be good. We managed to come in during a lull so the wait was minimal. Friends were surprised we managed to even get a seat. 

After food we headed back to the barn to meet up with Keila and say hello to Baby Girl again, who was suspicious and perplexed. I promised her we'd have much more time tomorrow to get acquainted. 

Soooooo narrow hahahahah