Road Trip Day 5: Pendleton to Portland

My alarm was set for eight am on Monday, but I awoke at six and found it impossible to get back to sleep. Instead I watched TV, texted my family, showered and packed. Soon I was leaving Pendleton behind me and heading for my final destination: Portland. The drive from Pendleton to Portland took five hours. It could have gone much faster, but I stopped a lot and once again drove slowly through mountains, this time the Cascades. Plus, at one point I drove ten miles the wrong direction after an attractive guy pumped my gas for me and laughingly explained that this confusing quirk was just a part of living in Oregon, after I was obvious flustered and asked why other people were pumping my gas for me.

The drive was spectacular though. I caught my first glimpse of Mt Hood far sooner than I had expected to, and indeed couldn’t quite convince myself that’s what I was seeing. As the interstate joined along the Columbia River I became slightly nervous about somehow ending up in the river. Along the way, I recognized a dam that I had seen on Jim Stadick’s Instagram feed. This was very exciting to me, as I realized I must be getting very close to Portland. I passed through the Cascade Mountains, hardly breathing (partly from fear, partly because everything was so beautiful). It seemed one minute I was in the mountains and the next I was in Portland. 

I was freaking out a bit about the mountains and the move and I took a posted a video or two to vine and sent several snap chats, but unfortunately any pictures I did have have since been deleted from my devices. I didnt remember to save pictures for this blog post, although there are some on my instagram (kaitlinaudrey). This is a text heavy post because of my lack of foresight.

I found my way to my new apartment complex with relative ease, considering I had never been to this city or even this state before that day. The maintenance man showed me my apartment while we waited for the office staff to return from lunch. After about an hour of walking through the lease and its components, I signed and drove up to my new place. I have a designated parking spot about two hundred feet down from my apartment, but wasn’t feeling like carrying everything I owned up that two hundred feet of hill. Luckily one of the two free spots right next to my front door was available. I unloaded my car, not without some difficulty, as my sister and I had shoved things into every open space we could find and most of my toiletries were loose on the floor. I can’t complain though, because I had only brought what fit in my car: no furniture aside from an IKEA bookcase and not a lot else. It didn’t take too long to get everything dumped onto my living room floor. I was home.