Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Tour d'Oregon Day 1

Before beginning our travel narrative, a brief but important shout out to Jenna Malinen! I love that you have the same duckie slippers as Luke, only a few sizes larger. It brings a HUGE smile to my face and puts a spring in my step to think of you wearing them.


Slight tangent: For any of you who think me odd for having loved my position as a junior high teacher, please note that there are fabulous junior highers in the world and they turn into even more fabulous high schoolers, and yes, even adults. Have a little faith in the children, people!


Okay. And now for the travel narrative. How I wish I had the style and charm of John Steinbeck in Travels with Charley. Unfortunately, I am completely mommy-brained and will be lucky if all my sentences are conjugated properly. Oh well.


We began our journey early, loading Paul into his car seat before 7 am. The trip down I-5 through the Willamette Valley always makes me think of two things. What must it have been like for pioneers as they crested those rolling hills and glimpsed their first view of Oregon Country? And what about the Native Americans who were already here watching them take land that couldn't be bought or sold before the appearance of the white folk? Perspective.


Continuing south, we stopped off in Eugene for a diaper change (Paul's) and a bathroom break (mine). Leaving Eugene, we traveled a stretch of road that neither of us had driven for at least nine years. Things hadn't changed much. Towns like Wilbur, Drain, and Talent are still there...looking roughly the same as they did ten years ago...I think. I couldn't really remember what they looked like ten years ago. Small.


We arrived in Ashland to a very warm reception given by one of the doctor's offices that Erik visits. A wonderful lunch had been catered and everyone wanted to give me a hug and hold the baby. They oohed and aahed over him. They fed him while I ate with two hands. It felt like family. Does that sound strange? It wasn't. The family that runs this particular practice loves the Lord and meeting them for the first time, this was evident. God's Holy Spirit really does dwell in the heart of every Believer, making first impressions more like homecomings.


And now for the part of the blog where I post pictures of my adorable son(s). I sadly do not have any picture of Luke to post, but here are the shots of Paul checking our accommodations for the evening.


Paul checks out the hotel's amenities. He really likes the light next to the bed.


King-sized accommodations make Paul look even smaller!

Yes, he's holding his pacifier in his mouth with his hand. This only lasted for a few minutes, but I still say he's brilliant!

Check back tomorrow for Day Two of Tour d'Oregon!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Tour de I-5 by Oma and Luke:
Our trip began at 7am also with warm coffee and milk enjoyed by both parties. My tour guide was very quick to point out every digger (even ones on trailers), BIG trucks, and Rvs. Much to the guides delight there were bunches on the freeway.

We stopped for breakfast. Again much to the delight of Luke we could see the freeway form our booth. Soooo the naration of passing machinery continued. Luke ate a man sized portion of scrambled eggs and we were soon on the road.

However, I discovered that my tour guide had fallen asleep. Upon arrival at Oma's house I was removing one sleeping prince for the back and he asked, "Are we at Oma's house?" "We are at Oma's house." "Yep!" was his reply.

We had a quiet afternoon of rediscovering toys and books.

Love, Mom/Oma