6/26-27/10: Bend

(26) The 26th was a driving day. We drove, and drove and drove. We hit a lot of long, out-in-the-middle-of-no-where straight-aways and every once in a while hit a town or a Metropolis. We stopped by the Craters of the Moon in Idaho and a tiny little diner called "Pickles Place" in Arco, well known by Ali's dad. But probably the most exciting thing that happened was when we almost ran out of gas. On the last leg, between Burns and Bend there was a 98 mile stretch with no gas pumps. After about 38 miles outside of Bend the gas light went on . . . after the light goes on the car has about 30 miles left to keep moving. We were singing to the car (whose name is Tony by the way) “Go Tony! Go Tony! Go-Go-Go Tony!” and stroking the doors, leaning forward up hills and coasting downhill. We did make it to a gas station thankfully, but we laughed at the idea of breaking down on our last leg.



Dorota was our host for the night and she was the sweetest hostess ever! She made us dinner (lots and LOTS of dinner), gave us her bed and even gave us our shower towels with mints on them!! She gave Ali a French-Press for her birthday and gave Rachael and “tickle” as a gift just because she loves her :) We slept well that night.

(27) We woke up to breakfast in bed. Dorota had gone to church and set out hot coffee and muffins for us. It was a lazy morning and we took our time getting ready. When Dorota got back she took us for a walking tour of neighborhood. On our way downteh street we realized that the name of the cross street was Delaware! Why is that significant? Because Delaware was the ONLY license plate we didn't have. So, we thought it was fate and added it up to our list :) There was some bicycling event going on so there was a lot going on. Bend was really nice and it was cool to see the places that had become special to Dorota and to see her in element.



When we had made it back full circle to her home, we sat on the porch for a bit and relaxed before heading down to the Old Mill District. We walked into some fun stores, tried on some clothes and then went to a coffee shop that Dorota really liked. We talked for a little while and then we decided we better start heading out towards Sheridan. After a few big hugs, muffins to go and a few honks down the road we were back on the highway to finish the shortest drive of the trip – 4 hours aaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

We made it back to the Andy Fam in time for dinner. We perused some pictures and caught up. The following days would be filled with house and job hunting and one full day of doing absolutely nothing – so nice :)

But that’s all folks! Thanks for following us over the course of the last few weeks. It was a great way to end the school year and now we are excited to start our new Portland adventure. Lots of love!!