Family Road Trip

I'd been dreading this trip. Rather, this drive. Portland to Tahoe is no easy feat - 600+ miles. And the Bean had gone no further than Yakima one way, Bend another, Seattle north, or Eugene south. We have historically planned drives around her naptimes, which has more or less worked. But she can get pretty whiny and demanding in the car when she's not sleeping, neither of which Alex and I were blessed with too much patience with. But she was a rockstar. Rock. Star. She proved me entirely wrong, on all fronts. First of all, she was as pleasant as can be for 11.5 of the 12 total drive time hours. Secondly, she barely slept, maybe 3 hours total, instead staying awake past 10 p.m. hanging out and chitchatting with us.

Alex: "Man she's at the best age. She's old enough to use the potty, but young enough to still piss herself and not mind."

We stopped for dinner at McDonald's in Salem. It's the first true fast food experience we've exposed the Bean too. And I'm disgusted before even walking in the doors. McDonald's might be the most depressing place on earth. I hadn't even eaten my wrap yet and already I hated myself. I was proud that Francie ate maybe three bites of her plain cheeseburger and declared herself full.

Beautiful scenery. The willamette valley. Shasta. The Sierra.

She finally fell asleep after 10 pm. "So dark. So so dark. Where moon? See moon!"

She woke up and cried out every 20 minutes, probably beausec she wasn't laying flat and had never slept at night in her car seat. Even though we were fueled by caffeine and a touch of Adderall, we stopped overnight in Redding to get a few hours of consolidated sleep on a flat surface. Our hotel had two beds so I got to sleep with Francie. Free bfast in the morning helped ease the pain of 90 bucks for 6 hours of shuteye, and we were on the road again. 

Sacramento Valley berry stop. Check.

And we made safe and sound and no worse for the wear. We can only hope the drive back is equally as pleasant.