First Family Vacation

On Friday we drove from Vancouver, BC to Portland Oregon. Total distance is about 500 km/360 miles and normally takes about 5-1/2 to 6 hours. Our trip down took about 10 hours.

Heading down we got stuck at the border (US Customs) which took us 2 hours to clear – 1 hour and a bit for waiting to get to the border kiosks, then just under an hour waiting inside (Becoming A Mom is travelling on a foreign passport despite being a Canadian Citizen). After than it was about an hour to feed baby Juliette before getting back on the road. About an hour later we found ourselves in a 2-hour traffic jam from just south of Everett to somewhere south of Tacoma… dead stops at multiple points along the way, with no period driving above 60 km/hr during that 2 hours. Frustrating! Another stop to feed and give Juliette a little exercise and outside time, then it was the final stretch to Portland. With Juliette screaming in the car seat for the final hour of the drive.

Once we got to Portland everything settled down. Baby Juliette was surprisingly happy to be in the hotel room and fell asleep almost instantly after having a sponge bath and feed.

We had a nice relaxing weekend, and Juliette seemed pretty happy with the change of scenery. We’d worried that she’d freak out not being in familiar spaces, but that didn’t happen.

The drive home Sunday evening was uneventful, though we once again spent too much time at a dead stop or crawling along at 60 km/hr or less for at least an hour from Olympia to just north of Tacoma. Sheesh!

All in all the vacation was a success – the car performed well with all the baby stuff (portable crib, stroller, changing bag, car seat, toys) and little Juliette didn’t mind it to much at all. This bodes well for future trips away.