Can Smell the Pacific...

Well, we made it official. Last night, Drew and I purchased our tickets for our trip out west this coming April. We are taking the trip during his spring break which runs from April 5th to April 13th. The plan is to leave Flint on Saturday morning early with a flight from Flint to Los Angeles, with a stop at Minneapolis. From there, we have a lot of decisions to make about what we want to do. We should be getting in Los Angeles in the middle of the day and have the rest of Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to kind of do what we want. There are many options that I've been pushing around in my head. We'd really like to get up to Portland and Seattle and visit a couple friends. Our friend Rob lives in Seattle and we'd like to get there to see him. Also, Drew's sister is going to school in Spokane and could probably meet us in Seattle or somewhere closer. We'd have to book it up the coast, but that is kind of what I wanted to do anyways.

Portland is somewhere that I really want to stop. My late friend Mike lived there and I really want to experience some of the same things he did. I was even thinking about visiting the bridge where he passed away... but I'm not sure if that will happen. San Francisco is another city that I hear is awesome and a must-stop, so that will most definitely happen. We may even be able to sneak away for a Giants game - with or without Barry playing. No matter what we choose, we have time to stop and check out different areas. We've got a bunch of leeway.

After we finagle our way up and down the western seaboard, we are to return to Los Angeles for a train trip back east. The train leaves Wednesday afternoon/evening and we should be getting into Chicago Friday night. We should be passing by the Grand Canyon, through Albuquerque and Kansas City and will go through a total of seven states. We didn't get a room because of the price and instead will be sleeping on train seats that recline. Hopefully we don't go too stir crazy, but I think it's not a matter of when, but where (hopefully close to the end). By getting back to Chicago and the Michigan area before the weekend, we allow ourselves some time to decompress and pout about how much we miss the west coast already.

I'm obviously elated about the prospects for this trip and have now taken it upon myself to move the priority in getting my camera fixed several slots up on the importance list. I will be missing a full week of class, but will get everything taken care of way ahead of time. And because we purchased the tickets so far in advance, we saved ourselves a bunch of money. The plane ticket and train ticket were around 140 dinero each. The most expensive cost we're looking at is the rental car plus gas which could be a pretty penny. All the more reason that we got some of the expenses out of the way early.

Here is a link that shows the route of our Amtrak train: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Horizontal_Route_Page&c=am2Route&cid=1081442673827&ssid=132

Here is some of the places I'd like to visit:

Portland, Oregon

Big Sur, California

Seattle, Washington