Seattle or Bust

We ate breakfast at the KOA on Sunday morning. Not quite as good as the pancakes at the Mt. Rushmore KOA, but a little more variety: Eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast hash, juice, and pancakes. Our next stop before Seattle was to see a friend of my family from our horse-back riding days at Chapparell Farms in Denver, PA. Sam moved out to Montana about eight years ago after helping us train one of our horses. Him and his wife Kim were kind enough to treat us to dinner at their house and give us a warm bed for the night. As always, it was great to catch up with old friends and get some travel tips for their beautiful region of the US. I hope to see them again soon while we're living so close out here in Seattle.

The drive out of Montana was very scenic, but paled slightly in comparison to Beartooth. Unfortunately, we were in a rush now to get to our apartment, so we didn't stop much for pictures. The excitement of coming "home" for the first time was beginning to gnaw at our patience, not to mention the large amount of work ahead of us with unpacking/organizing.

However, we were still pretty excited to drive through the Cascade Mountain Range. The peaks were much more jagged and harsh looking than the mountains we had seen so far. They were also very fertile, densely covered in trees and plants. It was very humid to drive through. It rained, on and off throughout the drive and clouds and fog were nestled in between the peaks giving an eerie floating effect. It was very cool to drive through.

Finally, we made it to Seattle and hit traffic on I-5. As if we could wait any longer! We did arrive at rush hour, so it was no surprise that it ended up taking a half hour to travel the 10 miles up the highway to our place. Fortunately, our apartment is VERY easy to get to from the exit ramp for the highway. Close enough to be convenient, and far enough that the sound is just a dull roar in the background noise. It was nice to finally walk into our apartment and inspect everything thoroughly, since the last time we were here the tenant was showing us around, and we didn't want to feel like we were invading her privacy by poking around. Everything was 100x cleaner and nicer than the apartments in State College. And so far, the service has been leagues better. They actually make you feel like they care about your comfort and opinion. I guess that's what it SHOULD feel like to live in an apartment. So far, living here has made us feel that much more bitter about the way the landlords treated us and everyone else in State College.