Amy's America

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My dad will be happy: I made it to my destination in the daylight! It helped that I left Idaho fairly early, and that I didn’t see too many places that lured me to stop. Can’t say there’s that much to see right off I-90 in Washington, so I pretty much repeated yesterday: put the heat on, finished the book on my ipod (excellent) and drove. Six and a half hours (not counting stops) and 430 miles. Can’t believe I’m not sick of driving yet!

The one really good stop of the day was at a scenic lookout over the Columbia River and the Ginko Petrified Forest State Park. I was diligently both watching and listening for rattlesnakes (per the warning signs) when I heard a sound and nearly jumped out of my boots! It wasn’t a rattlesnake, though, it was Tim McGraw singing to me from my bag – Tina’s ringtone. I breathed a sigh of relief and answered it, inviting her to enjoy the view with me. It really was breathtaking –  of course, I think that about nearly every body of water, and the surrounding mountains and forest just added to it. I wished I could spend a few hours getting lost in the forest, but I knew I still had a long way to go…

I hadn’t originally intended to go to Vancouver. In fact, I had specifically said I was NOT going to go to Canada at all, but I blew that the first night when I went to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls! So when Jeff and some of his friends were insisting that if I was going to Seattle I had to go to Vancouver, too, I couldn’t think of a good reason not to check it out. Especially since it looks like I’m going to skip Vegas and the Grand Canyon, as the people who were going to meet me there canceled. I don’t feel like going to Vegas alone (and I have been there before) and I’d rather see the Grand Canyon when my mom can join me, as that’s always been her dream, not mine. So it looks like I have a couple extra days to play with and Vancouver seemed as good an addition as any. Will let you know tomorrow if it was worth it!