On Sunday morning, the whole family and I got up early in the morning and piled into the van to head back to the Portland area. I got to observe first-hand once again the radical changes in climate going from one side of the mountains to the other – when we left Bend, it was sunny, dry, and hot but as soon as we got to the top of the mountains and started heading down the other side, it started pouring! The rain continued the rest of the day, so I decided it was a good day to take my first full rest day of the trip.
The rest of the afternoon was not very exciting – a date with Star Wars Episode V on the couch. But it was just what I needed! The kids came and watched with me too, which was nice. Basically my only productive activity of the day was later that night when I packed and organized my bags for my trip into Portland the next day.
Beyond the Automobile 