The Longest Journey

We all (myself, the kids, Grandma and Grandpa, Jason, and his wife Whitmey) piled into our van to make the 90 minute drive out to McMinnville to see the Spruce Goose at the Evergreen Aviation Museum on Tuesday (Dec. 29). Just as we were finishing our lunch and headed to the museum, snow started falling. We were really excited to see the big white flakes falling. (Plus, we thought it wouldn't last because all the weather reports said the snow would quickly turn to rain.) So, we went to the museum, enjoyed our over-priced view of the largest wooden seaplane ever to fly. We all decided that Howard Hughes was slightly disturbed. The plane is so huge that we couldn't really photograph the whole thing no matter where we stood. This is the best we could do.

While we were visiting the planes, the snow kept falling. By the time we headed home, 3-4 inches had fallen.
We all piled back into the van (now 4:30pm) and began our drive toward our dinner destination at the Cheesecake Factory. This should have been a 45 minute trip; but due to the snow, not so much. The snow continued to fall - over 6 inches in the area where we were. (This is a huge deal here in Portland.) Here is a photo of the traffic we saw for the next 4 1/2 hours as we drove to dinner.

Not only were there tons of cars on the road with rush hour, but the roads were snow-packed (very few people here have chains and snow tires); cars and trucks were sliding off the roads and being abandoned all over. We almost slid into a highway patrol car on a steep hill because we had to keep stopping for traffic. According to the local news, by the time the storm was over, there were over 1,000 abandoned cars left on the shoulders, medians (and sometimes smack in the middle of the highway lanes) throughout the city. They say it was the worst traffic jam in the history of the city - how lucky of us to be able to be part of HISTORY.

We all stopped for a bathroom break at Jack in the Box. Although we were only 12 miles from our last bathroom break, it had been over 2 hours. Uncle Jason and the kids built a snowman in the parking lot before we continued our treacherous journey.

We had our dinner at 9pm, and finally got home (after one more major traffic delay) at 11:35. With the time I spent behind the wheel this day, I could have easily driven to Boise from Portland. So (those of you who travel with children), imagine an 8 1/2 hour drive without snacks, drinks, entertainment, etc......how would your kids survive? I have to compliment mine, they were fantastic. No whining, no complaining, just singing along to music and drawing on what little paper was in the car.