These are pictures taken from my vacation this month (July, 2006). I took two weeks off from work to go and visit my family. I usually do this every year, though normally I go by plane, and until recently, I only had to go to Washington, but my parents recently moved to Montana to take care of my Grandmother, which would make this trip slightly more difficult, having everyone split up. Needing a car to get to Montana from Washington, where my brother lived, I decided that I would take a road trip from Phoenix, to Seattle, stay a week, and then go over to Montana with my brother. I would then drive back to Seattle with both my brother, and my mom. We would drop my brother off, stay a night, and start driving back to Phoenix. We decided to drive up to Seattle in a single trip, without stopping for anything except gas. Google said it would take 25 hours, but we did it in a mere 23 by driving at an almost constant speed of 85-90mph. You’ve got to love freeways at night! It took us about 8 hours to drive from Seattle to Hamilton, Montana each way. For the trip back to Phoenix, we took things a little slower, since my mom was with me, and stayed the night in Medford, Oregon after driving along Highway 101 for a while. The next day we took the 101 again, and went down the the National Redwood Forest, which was not only great to look at, but really fun to drive through with all the twists and turns, providing you didn’t get stuck behind a camper or something. My mom decided that we shouldn’t spend the night again, and should just drive straight to Phoenix, and we ended up getting back at around 7am on Sunday morning. All in all, I put over 5,000 miles on my car in two weeks time, and spent a good deal on gas, the hotel room, and airplane tickets for my mom and brother, as well as many other miscellaneous things, but it was well worth it in the end, and we all had fun. PS. You can click on any of the images below to enlarge them in a new window.
And we’re off!		The California sunset		Mountains in Northern California
Mt. Shasta... I think...		Good times! Although we didn’t see a single cop all the way from Phoenix until we hit Washington, we only did this once.		Oregon countryside
Seattle lights		Myself, Ian, and his girlfriend Wendy		3rd of July fun
You’ve got to love making your own fireworks, and throwing them in beat up old trucks...		Old friends		Fireworks at Bellvue Square, next to the Westin Hotel where my brother works.
My old stomping grounds. This is on top of Mt. Erie, looking over Puget Sound in Washington state.		Fort Casey, built in WWII to protect against the Japanese that never came.		One of the many Ferries that float around Puget Sound.
Sunset in Hamilton, Montana, from my Grandmother’s porch.		A lake in Montana we hiked around... well, halfway...		Cooling off.
Clockwise starting with my Grandmother, Mom, Dad, Brother-in-law, me, sister, and my brother.		My brother, with his soon to be broken .308 rifle.		My brother’s cat, Tigger.
My brother and dad, getting ready to shoot trees.		At the Sea Lion Cave on the Oregon coast.		And here are the sea lions...
The Oregon coast.		More sea lions.		The Northern California coast.
The California Redwood National Forest.		View from the inside of a dead Redwood.		Fog can really make some great looking pictures :)
More of the Redwoods...		A Dragonfly near the coastline.		Fields of grape vines in California.
		Look what I found in the forest!