Epic road trip: Day 3

Day 3 arrived, and we were starting to feel the exhaustion from driving so many hours each day.  But this was the day of our 20th anniversary!  We talked some about it and I know I spent time in my own head reminiscing about our wedding and the past 20 years.  Mostly we just enjoyed being together.  

For breakfast that morning in Utah, we turned to the Happy Cow app and found a local coffee shop in Odgen, Grounds for Coffee, that offered a few vegan items.  We had a breakfast sandwich made with veggie deli meat, cheese, and bagel.  

Eventually we reached Idaho, another new state for us.  Idaho was quite beautiful--my favorite so far on our trip.  

Mr. GV did a geocache along the interstate.  

Whole Foods in Boise came to the rescue for lunch.  We had a couple great salads and a few other items as well.  I also grabbed a couple chocolate cupcakes for our celebratory anniversary dessert. 

Oregon!  Our first destination!  We were so glad to arrive at the state in which we were going to spend a week.

The view from our room.  I wanted to stay somewhere special for our anniversary, and the place I chose lived up to the beauty I had wanted for this memorable day.  

We slept with the double doors open that led out to our balcony.  No bugs, no humidity, a little bit on the cool side, trains coming by every now and then but not really being a bother.  It was fantastic, and a highlight of the vacation for me.

Our view

More of our view

Unusual (for us) things we noticed on this day:  

All kind of interstate signs warning against:  Dust storms, wind gusts, game crossing, deer migration.

The distance between exits:  Don't get below a quarter of a tank of gas.

Large trucks:  FedEx truck with 3 trailers being towed by one cab.  

Epic road trip, Day 2

(Obviously we are back from our vacation.  And although I had good intentions, I was too exhausted/too busy/enjoying myself too much to blog while we were gone.  So I will catch up now!)

Breakfast the second day consisted of my homemade breakfast sandwiches plus an Amy's breakfast burrito we picked up at Whole Foods the night before. 

We drove another long day, through Nebraska. 

Finally we were in a state we'd never been to before--Wyoming! 

Wyoming was a tough state to drive through. Tons of wind hitting us head on plus rain made it challenging. The next day I woke up stiff in my arms and shoulders from trying to hold the wheel steady!  

Gas mileage was interesting, to say the least. Normally our little Prius gets at least 50 mpg. But on this road trip we had the bicycle creating drag, altitude (climbing a lot so our electric engine could not kick in), increased speed limits ( we were doing 80 at some points.)  Combine that with headwinds in Wyoming and our little car felt as though it was trying to climb with its not-so-powerful gas engine while it was going 115 mph!  

The scenery started turning very beautiful of course, and that was a bonus. 

We started seeing quite a few wind farms. If ever there was a place for it, it was in the part of Wyoming we were driving through! 

We drove into Utah, and arrived just before sunset in Ogden. The Best Western there has a beautiful pond behind it with walking trail, koi, and a falls.  It was a very nice way to end the second long day of driving. 

Just had to add this picture of a cattle farm in Wyoming. THIS. This is just one of the many reasons we choose not to eat other living beings. 

Epic Road Trip, Day 1

Day 1 of our trip began bright and early. We were on the road by 7:30. We only made it 30 minutes down the road before it was time for Mr. GV to fuel up with some coffee. 

Happy picture at the beginning of our Roadtrip. Hopefully we will still look happy after 2 1/2 weeks alone together. Ha! 

Won't you enjoy my artfully framed photo of the St. Louis Arch?  It takes a skilled photographer to get that perspective. (It's under the Goodwill billboard, in case you can't find it.). 

J's lizard hopped a ride with us. J asked me to take this little plastic guy along, so I agreed. Hopefully I will remember to snap a few shots with him. 

As the sun was setting, we drove through Lincoln, Nebraska, where we made a quick stop at Whole Foods. 

Finally we arrived at Kearney, Nebraska. We put the baby, I mean the bike, safely to sleep and then enjoyed our comfy hotel room. 

Not the best picture, but that's what you get in a dark hotel room. Bean salad, tofu "egg" salad, and Better than Meat curry.  It was all really good. The selection at the Lincoln Whole Foods was lacking in the cold case, and it was late so the hot bar was sparse as well, so we were lucky to get this. 

Dessert!  Because I'm not going to pass up a vegan dessert when I find it. Chocolate cake for me. 

And Chicago Diner strawberry cheesecake for Mr. GV. 

And then we fell asleep and slept like rocks. 

Epic

Mr. GV and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary very soon!  Just like everyone else always says, it's hard to believe it's been that long. But in another way, it's as though I hardly remember my life before we were together. We have been a couple for almost 27 years. 

To celebrate, we are going on an Epic Roadtrip!  And now that I found out there is a handy dandy little app for Blogger, I can blog as we are riding along in the car. That should be a lot easier than saving it all up for when we get home!  

I'll be talking at you soon! 

Failure, once again

This came in a fortune cookie I shared amongst our 3 dogs. Pretty accurate I think. Oh and yes I said THREE dogs. 

This is Mobey. He came to us 2 weeks ago as a foster, returned after less than a month with his former mom, because he was pulling too hard on the leash and she has a bad back. She was heartbroken about returning him. 

His original owners gave him up because "they didn't have enough time to spend with him" according to his relinquishment papers. It is sad when someone can no longer take care of a pet for any reason, but I am so glad they saw fit to take him to the no-kill shelter, where dogs usually have to go on a waiting list to be taken in. 

Mobey is a 4 year old pug mix. He is larger than a pug at 37.5 pounds, and has a longer snout. He has the cutest underbite and curly tail, and the softest fur. 

Of course we weren't going to keep him when we began fostering him. But we had already been talking about getting a playmate for Milo, and then he and Mobey got along so well and are well matched in strength and speed. It just made sense to make him a permanent member of our family. 

He loves everybody he meets and is super-friendly. He is also always ready for a ride in the car. It's a problem keeping him out if you ever open the car door in his presence. Ha!  

So now I think we are done with long-term fostering. I have found out that I can do short-term fostering for puppies that will only be with the humane society for a few days, until they are transported to another city or up north for adoption, so I might do that. 

Did I ever even mention that we decided to keep our first foster, little Miss Thing that you see here?  Oh yes, Chubby was a perfect match for our family from the first moment and we are so glad to have her. 

So when you add my sweet Milo, who has been with us for 2 1/2 years, we are up to 3!  The hair is over.the.top, but I am completely thrilled with a houseful of doggy love!! Foster failure x 2, that's us!