Oregon Trip 2009 – Part One

We make a trip up to Oregon to visit relatives every winter, either for Thanksgiving or for Christmas. This year it was the former.

These trips usually last for nine days. Those are bookended by two days at the start and two more at the end, which is how long it takes to make the lengthy interstate drive.

Because we went in November this year, there was less snow to deal with. Last year, our December trip had some pretty heavy snowfalls to cope with, resulting in closed roads, detours, and some tricky driving conditions. This time we saw no snowfall, and not much snow on the ground. We did get rain, of course, a little hail at one point, and some pea soup fog in some areas.

Overall, it was an excellent trip. We visited some places we’d only driven past before, as well as several other locations we’d never even heard of. We were able to see many of the relatives we’d made the trip for, which was great, because we really do like them all. Allison was able to spend some time with a couple of cousins she’s only seen a few times before, and others she’d never met. She really enjoyed that.

There was very little geocaching on this trip, because it was not such a priority for me. I did make nine finds, which had a nice symmetry, and was pleased with the quality of those I made the time for. Two were in such wonderful locations that they went onto my favorites list. Another filled an annoying “hole” in my cached Oregon counties map. There were two Earthcaches which were educational, and a traditional cache that marked an excellent bakery cafe for us.

I was also able to engage in minor indulgences in some of my other weird hobbies, including benchmarking, hiking, and Landie-spotting.

So, it’s finally time to share the fun, with the first trip gallery. I hope you enjoy it. Some of the disclaimers from last year’s trip gallery still apply, but I think this year the galleries will remain mercifully free of artsy black and white photos.