A road trip through the Pacific Northwest visiting northern Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada.
Excuse me while I take three deep breaths in an attempt to not have a panic attack. You see, I'm in the throws of finishing up plans for a two week road trip through the Pacific Northwest...Just the girls and yours truly. No farmer. He's doing all those farmer things farmers do...like farming.

(Drive that tractor, plant that field, fertilize that dirt? That's a thing.)

Okay...so remember when I was like - Yay! Blog rebrand. Name change. Travel! Vacation! My gals! Rainbows and unicorns! 

 Now I actually have to follow through, because I'm no quitter. (Only sometimes.) But I'm going to give this an honest shot. And I figure - If I can survive a two week road trip with three girls solo at this age...anything after this will be a piece of cake, right? Baptism by fire? That's also a thing, right?

The Plan

 The plan is to leave the last week in September and head north. I'm banking on the idea that we will never travel further than what three - four hours will take us. Because let's face it, when a map says it'll take three hours - when you have three kids, it'll probably take more like five hours.

We are going to hit up towns where we know people! Yay! And each of our stops includes people with kids the same age as the girls...such a bonus. Not only are we lucky to have long-time friends all over the Pacific Northwest...but as it turns out, I've "met" some great blogging gals along the way...and now I'm going to get to meet them in real life! So fun.

The Stops

 First up, we'll drive west, then north from the farm and hit up a night (or two) in McCall. It's three hours from the farm and my farmer's parents just haaaapen to live there. So that's a no-brainer.

From there we'll continue north and stop in for a day and a half in Coeur d'Alene! (On our way to Coeur d'Alene we might have to stop in for a photo opp at my farmer's alma mater - The University of Idaho. The gals have never been there...so it's kind of a photo-op must.)

After our time in Coeur d'Alene we'll head three hours west to central Washington. We have some friends who own a gorgeous ranch there that we've known since some of younger days (ie. too much drinking, too much country swinging, too much calling in sick to work). They have two boys now, the same ages as Kaye and Sawyer, so it'll be so much fun to see them play together for the first time.

Once they kick us off the ranch we'll head further west and hopefully meet up with Andrea and her sweet family on our way to Portland where I'll get to see some dear friends that I've known since college...again...when we were just slightly more caution to the wind-esque. They have a son Kaye's age who I haven't seen since he was just a babe!

Next...It's on to California. We'll be meeting up with my sister and her family at Shasta Lake. This was her idea, so it better be good. Do you hear me Kelli...it better. Be. Good. Joking! Kelli and her family will head north from Chico and the girls and I will travel south from Portland. This will be the first long stretch in the car (6+ hours!)...so it'll be nice to spend a few days there with them!

Then...they'll get to see us even more because we'll travel further south to Chico and spend another day or two. I mean...why not?

This officially concludes our travels away from the farm, and from here we'll start heading east to get back to southwest Idaho. Luckily, we'll only be spending a quick three hours in the car to get from Chico to Tahoe! Tahoe reminds me so much of McCall...except bigger, I can't wait to actually spend some time there. I'm crossing my fingers that Natasha and Tiara will be able to visit and point me in the direction of delicious food and beverage...and maybe even an easy hike or scenic views or a nice family that wants to temporarily adopt three young girls...because I have a feeling at this point I'm going to need a quick break. :)

But my quick break will be just around the corner, because following Tahoe we'll make our push for home with a lengthy 7.5 hours in the car (possibly nine hours...it all depends on these crazy gals).

Expectations

 We've taken road trips before. But always with our farmer and we've always pushed the entire length in one day. (We also always leave suuuuuper early in the morning...3 am-ish.) So for this trip, since it's just me and my three best gals, I think it's best to have extremely low expectations.

My number one goal is to not turn around and head home after McCall. Ha! My second goal is see as many friends and family as possible along the loop. And my final goal is to make sure the girls have a  great time...and don't miss their farmer too much. We'll be away from him for about two weeks, which will definitely be the longest stretch for any of us. (Well, at least since I lived in Prague 11 years ago.)

And that's it. So we're just a few quick weeks away! Before we take off we have to celebrate Elli's first birthday...and also throw in some cake and candles for our farmer as well as me. As I've said before, September is full of reasons to celebrate!

(If you have a spare moment, comment below with your most favorite road trip hacks and advice!)