The past week has been a big change for me. From Texas me and Vanessa have decided to take a huge plunge and finalize living in Washington.  This means I have had about a week steady on the road. As I was in her car, I didn’t want to drive much (and she didn’t really want me to drive too much either) simply because the idea of holding that responsibility in my hands is a little bit scary, so, the trip back home took a little longer than we had planned. While I did drive, it wasn’t very much, and we ended up having to get a hotel just about every night, for 5 nights in total. The drive however, was still beautiful almost all the way through.

Pretty close to the route we took, minus some small detours for food, lodging and leisure.

The drive through Texas wasn’t anything to shake a stick at.  I stopped at Roscoe to visit some friends for a few hours and we had lunch.  On the way there I was surprised by the amount of trains carrying whatever is in their endless carriages from place to place.  Even living in Tennessee I’ve never seen so many, and the closer we got to New Mexico, the more trains there were.  This all of course made sense since Texas has been an agricultural and shipping hub for ages now, and ultimately was fun to see.

Travelling through New Mexico was fun.  The highway was capped at a speed limit of about 80 and it’s pretty much just a straight line through the deserts and towns. At night it was beautiful and of course, more trains by the hundreds. However you’d imagined New Mexico, it’s probably like it. It’s definitely an acquired taste but has it’s own charms. The desert is vast and beautiful, but at times relentlessly boring. The art throughout New Mexico was incredible though, and the themes often morbid. Beautiful all the way through though.

Visiting Utah I didn’t have as much fun as I thought I’d have to be honest. It seemed a little superfluous in environment but I probably just went through a bad route. Some lovely scenery regardless and definitely broke up the trip from New Mexico.

Idaho was fantastic as well but my real favorite was Oregon. Oregon was truly fantastic in every way. Towards the end of the trip seeing Mount Rainier was one of the most exhilarating experiences ever… both because of it’s beauty and because it meant we were two hours away from our destination point.  As for the whole of the trip it went incredibly smoothly.  It was enjoyable all the way through. I’m glad to be back in Olympia (I’m currently unpacking to move into my new apartment) and can’t wait to do my presentation the coming week.