{summer vacation part XVII, leaving oregon, trip home}

Day 9 still. Leaving Portland, Oregon. My heart was aching. I don't know what it is about Portland that tugs my heart strings but now I know it's real. It was so hard for me to leave Portland. I felt really emotional inside. So much so that when the others wanted to stop at this beautiful waterfall, I stayed in the van and tried to get my emotions under control. The scenary outside Portland was amazing! I didn't take even one picture. I just sat there in the van wondering when I will be able to come back. These waterfall pictures were taken by Jay.

After awhile, I got a hold of my feelings and started snapping pictures again. I missed all the beauty of the area near Portland. Just believe me when I say it looked gorgeous. :) It was amazing how fast the scenary changed all the time. We all commented that as we were driving. One moment it's green and lush, next like flatlands, then something different again. The perfect rows of trees picture - it was unbelivable. We saw these tree farms with perfect rows of trees. Acres and acres and acres of it. Tons! It made a huge impression on us. I wrote down the website but haven't had a chance to check it yet: www.greenwoodresources.com. I'm curious to find out more about the huge tree farm.

There were so many windsurfers on the gorgeous Willamette river. We saw three dams, wind turbines... The 5060 kms drive that we did on our vacation was never boring.

We spent the night in Spokane, Washington.

On Day 10 we shopped in Spokane. We would have left Spokane sooner if we had realized that the drive to Lethbridge took longer than we thought. We never got to Lethbridge until 1am. Our friends D&C let us stay in their home even when they were in Calgary. Thanks guys! It was so nice to stay in a familiar place instead of looking for a hotel when it was so late. Sorry we missed you at Peter's the next day but we just couldn't get up in the morning to leave on time.

Coeur d'Alene by the way seemed really nice. A future vacation spot for sure.

Southern Alberta's flat prairies welcomed us home. On Day 11 we got home at 7.30pm. We had an awesome trip but it felt good to sleep in your own bed again.

Yey, I'm done with my vacation pictures. Feels good. Lots of pictures to go through.