The August Trip {Amy} (Picture Heavy)

In August Earl and I packed up the car and headed to the Northwest. In all, we hit Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, and - of course - Arizona.
The night we left there was a terrific thunderstorm on the way to Vegas.

When we map out our route, we always look for roads we haven't driven before. Because we couldn't dilly dally, we had to stick to actual highways. This is why we ended up taking a rather directly northern trajectory for the first part of our trip.

 

Nevada is actually a lot prettier than I expected. I'm not sure why I thought that, since I live in Arizona, a state known mostly for the desert sand, but is actually incredibly ecologically diverse.
Idaho was quick, and smokey.

 

There was a fire a ways away, but it was big enough the plume was huge! It made the sunset pretty gorgeous. :/

Oregon was the bulk of the trip, as usual, I love my home state. This is the first time we didn't make our way to the coast, we spent the majority of the time in Portland, visiting friends and  some family, doing a smidge of the touristy stuff...

There may have also been a wedding in there too :)
But Allison and I will talk about that later.

At the end of the long drive home, I was just happy to see this furry face waiting for me.