All 50 Road Trip-May 18, 2018, Day 7

(click here for today's pictures)

Boise, ID to Portland, OR

Hotel sleeping is really just the best sleeping ever. We all snoozed until 7 when we started to stir. I had my shower and then everyone else got ready. Whitman was moving the most slowly this morning. Everyone else had their shoes on by the time he took off his pajamas-even Reagan, and that is saying a lot.

Robby and the boys took a load to the car while everyone else headed to the car. If we can get by without a cart, that is always nice. Yesterday, Robby was bringing a cart to the car to unload when it started to roll away. He quickly grabbed it and off rolled a wheel. He took it back and returned with another cart. As he was pulling it over a curb, the top part came off. He was able to shove it back together and return it, at least, in tact. Needless to say, it is probably best that we didn’t use a cart from this hotel.

After we had our breakfast, we went back to the room for a bit and then were back on the road. Today’s drive was scheduled to be about 7 hours. While still in town, we stopped at Walmart for an assorted list of goodies-pull ups (Whitman uses them at night and is usually dry so I didn’t bring many, but going to bed so late has caused him to go through more than I had planned), tortilla chips, pringles (easy to store), salsa, cheese, turkey and shoes for Graham (his were fine when we left the house but the sole is now hanging off, so these should at least get him by a few more days.)

Before we entered into Oregon, Robby checked Nonna and Pops in for their flight tomorrow. Our first stop of the morning was at the Oregon welcome center. Oregon marks off another state of Graham, Campbell, Keaton and Whitman. We took a picture at the visitor’s center and then found a few things to try to do during the day.

We stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. It was a neat little place. Campbell found a bingo card of things to find in the museum so her and Reagan went to town on that. Whitman found a hands on room and was delighted to pretend to pack a wagon and walk on the Oregon trail.

We watched a film before we left, but the highlight was probably climbing on the covered wagons near the parking lot. We then went back to the interstate and pressed on. The visitor’s center suggested a fish hatchery, so that was our next goal.

I made lunches in the car while everyone listened to a podcast about the Oregon Trail. Sometimes my podcasts are interesting. This one was, I thought, but at least 4 of the kids fell asleep during it.

We stopped once for gas, then soon afterwards for a potty stop. In Oregon, you can’t pump your own gas which is always odd to us. Actually, you can’t start your own gas, you can stop it though.

We did text the kids dentist, because Robby’s tooth is bothering him again. He has had problems with it for almost a year despite a new crown. Their dentist was quick to call back telling Robby what to do and even prescribed him some meds. So if you happen to need a great dentist recommendation, I certainly have one for you.

The goal was to make it to the fish hatchery by closing time at 5. The kids passed the time by watching a movie, playing on their ipads and eating snack after snack. Robby and I listened to a few podcasts and studied the atlas. The drive was absolutely gorgeous with the Columbia River Gorge right beside us for most of the route.

We made it to the Bonneville Fish Hatchery by 5 and saw the sign said open until dusk. We didn’t have to rush after all. The grounds were gorgeous; there were flowers everywhere. We waked around and saw Herman, a 10 foot large, 450 pound, 70 year old sturgeon. There were ponds full of rainbow trout.

It was a nice chance to stretch our legs for a bit until we loaded back up again. We then just have about 10 minutes until our next destination, Multnomah Falls.We had 3 GPSs all talking to us and all of them were telling us different directions. Thankfully, the signs were clear and the parking lot was just right off the road.

The Multnomah Falls is a double waterfall. Between the first and second waterfalls is a beautiful bridge and Robby and I remember walking across. Unfortunately, a fire last year has caused their trail to become unstable so you can not go up to the bridge right now. Without the bridge, we weren’t there as long as we would have if we climbed the trail so we left an hour ahead of the scheduled time on the marker board that I scribbled out earlier.

The Vista House was right down the road. It is a beautiful octagon building at the top of the Colombia River Gorge. It had amazing views on all directions. The road to the top was quite a climb. We walked around the viewpoint areas, and then climbed back in the car to go and find supper.

We passed out drinks to everyone before we even made it to the interstate. It wasn’t long after that we stopped for our first fast food stop of the trip. We ate at McDonalds. The weather was nice, yet a bit chilly, so we ate outside.

Voodoo Doughnuts was our next stop. It took a bit of time to find a parking spot in the busy city. We walked to the doughnut place and introduced the kids to many types of people. Gracious me! We did give the “this is a big city, stay near us” speech when we left the car. Now, Robby and I never let on that big cities make us a bit nervous, but my Graham is a nervous wreck. He walked right by me, asking if Alaska would be busy cities like this, he was ready to leave as soon as we could and pushed his way back into the car.

It was a pleasant evening, and there was definitely lots to see. There wasn’t a line at Voodoo so we were able to carefully pick out our doughnuts. Campbell had a hard time deciding and then finally picked “cock and balls.” We quickly vetoed her pick and urged her to pick the one that was made similarly but was in the shape of a doughnut and not a male’s anatomy.

Whitman wanted the gay pride doughnut, but opted for the plain one when Robby told him that plain one was the best. After we all picked our non-obscene doughnuts, we found a spot to eat on the picnic tables out front. The doughnuts were excellent. We bought the ones that were not cake filled so they were like glazed Krispy kreme with all kinds of crazy, rich toppings.

We finished the doughnuts and then walked back to the car. It took us a bit to get to Walgreens to pick up Robby’s medicine. He stocked up on some tylenol and such as well since he was there. He started his prescription meds tonight, but his tooth/jaw actually has fever in it tonight. Hopefully, the meds and steady tylenol/aspirin will keep it at bay for a few more weeks.

Checking in was easy tonight, and we didn’t destroy any carts along the way. The laundry was open so we again did a load of laundry. There is nothing better than having all clean clothes, even on vacation.

Once the laundry was done, it was bedtime. Everyone is excited about seeing Nonna and Pops tomorrow.

Current Dennie Kid State Count (May 18, 2018):

Reagan-needs Alaska
Anderson-needs Alaska
Graham-needs Alaska, Washington
Campbell-needs Alaska, Washington
Keaton-needs Alaska, Washington
Whitman-needs Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Washington

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