The drive to Portland

The journey began at 10:30pm on Wednesday August 13. I had a wonderful day with my amazing friends and family (thank you so much for all your help Kayla and Christywinkle!!). I picked up Cathleen at 10pm and from there we headed to...you guessed it, Starbucks (where the girl working there happened to be from Portland). Starbucks did its job because we managed to stay awake through the night! I love driving at night; my favorite part is watching the slow progression of night becoming day, culminating in a gorgeous sunrise! We made it to Sacramento at 6:30 am and decided to park the car and check out the Capitol building. Considering that we were ridiculously tired we did not stay long but hopped back in the car to find a place for breakfast, We located an IHOP off the freeway. We parked there and slept in the parking lot for about an hour (just imagine how comfortable that was, and the peolple walking by seeing two girls sweltering from the heat, sleeping sitting up, drooling I am sure). After that we headed in for some breakfast. Our waitress was super nice and was from...you guessed it, Portland. Any who, this is getting too long. Long story short, we left Sacramento around 9:45am and drove through the heat in my non airconditioned car for 5 1/2 hours till we got to our destination for the day, Grants Pass Oregon, where my sisters sister in-law lives. We got there (which was insanely beautiful, they have a river running through their backyard) and 15 minutes later crashed out for a 3 hour nap...YES!! Woke up for a yummy homemade dinner, then back to bed for a full nights sleep! We left there at 10am, had a wonderful yet hot 3 hour drive to Salem where we had lunch and headed 1 hour further north to arrive in a 105 degree Lake Oswego (directly south of downtown Portland). Thank you God for a safe & smooth trip. My little Honda Civic, which we ended up naming Stella (don't ask me why...I never thought I would name my car) made it like a champ :) Thank you all for your prayers for our travels, they were beautifully answered!!