The road home

Quiet returns to Spring River

Monday morning rolled around too soon, and suddenly it was time to pack up and say goodbye.  Everyone hit the road with worn-out kids and good memories from our first family reunion.

The "Bleam" siblings

Many thanks to Marji and her daughter April for arranging the fabulous accommodations (we were totally spoiled) plus all the wonderful breakfasts and dinners prepared by the families. I don't know where to start.  When I get a chance to sort through all the pictures, I'll put together a little slide show with some of the highlights.

Home away from home

 Julie, Brian and the boys drove all the way back to Utah yesterday; Jordan, April and their boys are home in Medford; our intrepid sister Marji is piloting her RV back to Las Vegas now; Dave is home; the Twispians took the rest of the week off and camped last night near Mt. Bachelor. They are on their way to the coast today.

John and I drove a different way home to Seattle, up through deserted north-central Oregon to Yakima, then eventually over Snoqualmie Pass. We were joined by about a million other cars and trucks. That route took us almost 8 hours, including one stop at McDonald's and another at this spectacular Oregon rest area with a truly terrifying cliff.

It was a long drive, but at least we avoided the Portland-to-Seattle rush hour nightmare and didn't hit a traffic jam until Mercer Island, about 15 miles from home.

Any trip where you arrive home safe and sound is a good one, but I have to say I'm nostalgic for the days when we could chug along through some remote part of the country and not meet another car for whole minutes at a time.  When did there get to be so many of us on the highways?  And when did we get to be in such a hurry?