August 17 - Day 66
After 66 days, 28 states, and over 10,000 miles, we made it home to Portland on Wednesday, August 17th (though this post wasn’t completed until later)l ! It has been a great trip, but I believe everyone is glad to finally be home. School starts next week for Elias with the other three starting in the next couple weeks. Since we don’t plan on homeschooling, we needed to get back home.
We still hope to recap our trip through one last blog post, so stayed tuned.
In the meantime, here are a few highlights from our final day:
The kids were excited to go to a program this morning in the camp ground where they would meet “Smokey the Bear”, but were greatly disappointed when he did not show up (OB had donned his Jr. Ranger attire for the occasion). They were told that Smokey was in a helicopter fighting a fire…;) But they still enjoyed learning about Smokey, wildfires, and the state park system in Oregon.
Prior to leaving Bullard’s Beach, we had to say goodbye to our good friends Mary and Jaco (and their kids) after a wonderful couple days together. While we don’t see them as often as we’d like, we are thankful that they are in Oregon and that there is not half the country between us.
Driving home was full of mixed emotions. We were certainly excited to get back to what we know and I’m pretty sure that when we pulled up to our street, numerous family members were cheering. However, part of Becca and I were also sad that the trip we’d spent years planning had come to an end. It has been an experience that will never be recreated and one that our kids will hopefully talk about for many years to come. We are thankful for God’s blessing of this opportunity and will treasure the memories we created.
Becca’s sister Millicent was immediately there to greet us with hugs upon our arrival in Portland - a sweet reminder of the people we returned to!
Here are a few pictures from our day:
