If you’re not used to us moving a million miles an hour, you better get used to it because that’s how we have been for basically the last year and change. So we will continue that way, haha! Once we were back in Eugene, we scrambled to get the van in order in hopes that we had packed everything properly previously when we left Eugene for Denver. I think we had most of the essentials so that was one to check off the list.
The next important part was spending some time with my parents, we had a delicious Italian dinner at Placido’s and enjoyed each other’s company though it was short and sweet. We even planned for them to come visit us in Denver mid-August and booked that flight! Dad made me sushi as a going away meal, and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
Meanwhile, Scott and I are checking off random doctor’s appointments we had to schedule all in the one day we were in town. I had an eye appointment, he had a foot appointment, and then we both had to schedule an appointment to take a COVID-19 test. This proved to be especially challenging because we had no symptoms. The reason we had to take the test is because the first portion of our “road trip” was to Alaska, and in order to gain entrance to Alaska without a 14 day quarantine, you must test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of your flight. So two days before we officially left we needed to take the test. Luckily, we tested negative, and after a little hassle of getting the proper documents, we had no problem getting into Alaska.
As if our only day in Eugene wasn’t chaotic enough, Scott’s family friend Pat was in town, so we got lunch with her, then finished up some chores and THEN we had two photoshoots! Photoshoots, you read that right… apparently, we are the right amount of interesting and lucky to have two amazing photographer friends offer to do photoshoots with our van on the one evening we were home (Jay Eads, and Mecca R-R)! We were bouncing around like balloons for sure.
The next morning, we were off in the van, after an emotional goodbye to my parents, we headed toward Portland, then Seattle. In Portland, we scheduled one last maintenance appointment for our van with it’s original mechanic, all checked out and we were off to breakfast with two friends from rowing. Again, moving a million miles an hour, but a big part of this trip was to see friends all over the states, so we took advantage every chance we got. Getting breakfast with Peter and Katy was a breath of fresh air. We got to hear about what’s been going on the last year in their lives and what they expect for the future.
After that we beelined it to Longview to visit with Scott’s Aunt D and Uncle Bill briefly. We had never seen their house so got the pleasure to play with their dogs and hear about their beautiful property. Remember, this is all in one day, we are checking all the boxes here! They left us with some lovely housewarming gifts and hopes that they will come visit us soon in Colorado.
We kept chugging along I-5 to our destination for the night, Renton. For a few months we had been planning to come up and surprise our friend Greg with the help of his girlfriend, Bridget to go to a country concert. Unfortunately, the concert was cancelled, but we still got to surprise Greg! Greg had been working countless shifts, as he is apart of Seattle PD, but it was nice to see his face light up when he saw us! We enjoyed catching up with Bridget and Greg, trying to plan future trips, and seeing their beautiful new home. They even took us to a massive dog park to play with their dog Ted and see hundreds of other dogs. I honestly cannot wait to get a dog!!
After a short visit, they allowed us to leave our van at the house for a week while we flew to Alaska for the first part of our journey around the US. Bridget dropped us at the airport and we were off to Anchorage!
Adventures of Scooter and Hales 