Medford, OR

For our first leg of our journey to Virginia and back we have made it as far as Medford, OR. And what sealed the deal for the place we are currently staying? The included continental breakfast - it is the little things.

Currently I am glad to have two laptops with us so I can attempt to document our journey. It is about midnight. This is not bad given our later start of around noon, and a very necessary detour to see our Grandpa in Castle Rock, WA.

There are 4 drivers between two packed cars; 3 of us experienced and one with a permit. :) By the end of this trip, our permit high school driver will have more than enough hours to apply for her WA license.

We have fairly successfully stuck to a 3 hour rotation of drivers which does seem to be helping. Our high school driver even did some homework after her three hour rotation.

Obviously I brought the Weather Ninja along. We have decided that if he doesn't give us at least passable weather he gets left in a mystery state. So far today has been a fair amount of rain, and some fog later this evening. I don't know how to get along with the weather ninja; all I know is that we don't want to get snowed in anywhere.

We have also adopted a buffalo apparently named Zeke.
And a bat. I do not know his name.

And of course Albert.
For one of the party, happiness comes in the form of a stretchable dinosaur.

Note: This is a restaurant in Salem, OR. Not so good as far as Mexican food goes. Moreover, there was no coffee to be found in Salem. We will never stop in Salem again.
Our proud permit driver has officially driven in a new state. We celebrated over the radios. She handled rush hour traffic bypassing Portland and Friday night traffic in Salem; which, despite their lack of coffee, is somewhat hopping. She put up with my lane changes (I was driving lead car), u-turns, and maintained freeway speed. She is going to be a pro by the end of this.
Look at us, already in the Valentine's day spirit...on the road. In Salem. Never again in Salem.
Plenty of knitting going on, this is a baby blanket pattern.