In April we did a two-week roadtrip to Oregon for some conventional fun—we stayed in rentals, visited museums, ate at restaurants, visited relatives, walked on the beach. To me it represented a coda for Covid, now that Karen and I are fully vaccinated and we’re all trying to safely emerge from our seclusion.
We managed to find some great isolated spots to camp just off of our route, which allowed us to avoid highway hotels and enjoy a few beautiful camp spots. I think this made a big difference in the overall feel of the trip. Moving into and out of a hotel each for two nights on the drive, both there and back, would have been… less fun. And more expensive. The Holmes way, however, was to spend 20 minutes driving away from the highway into empty public lands until we were completely alone, then spending a half-hour setting up camp while the boys turn sticks and old rusty parts of camp chairs into pretend rifles and blaze away at every bush and tree in sight.
First destination was a rental overlooking the beach in Newport. Karen’s family spent a lot of time there when she was a kid and she was excited to get back to the ocean. We spent a week there, going whale-watching, eating chowder (I ate lots of chowder at least), beach wandering, going to the Aquarium, and exploring tide pools. Second destination was Portland, where Karen’s brother and sister-in-law live. It was good to get the kids out and about in Portland and visit with Brian and Allison. Generally I wouldn’t think of Portland as particularly cosmopolitan, but in comparison to Los Alamos… yeah.
For my part, I enjoyed eating. Living in Los Alamos NM, I especially miss the diversity of food options available in a city. The outdoor food pods (popular in Portland) were great, due to being more Covid-acceptable and all. For the boys there was lots of pizza. Two out of three boys eat it, which is unfortunately the best ratio we yet have for any food-stuff. I swear Emerson subsists on “dew and universe juice“.
Jasper turned 8 while we were in Oregon. His is currently obsessed with aviation. He received a foam board RC plane kit from my mom and we built it together just before our trip, not to mention cardboard contraptions he’s glued together, lots of lego plane builds, etc. We visited a spectacular aviation museum in McMinneville, Oregon, which contributed to the inspiration. On his birthday he came up with an idea for a full-size plane he wanted to build and described it to me, in detail (talking non-stop for a half-hour). We also went to the OMSI the day of his birthday and explored an old WWII submarine, which was pretty cool.
In total, we spent six full days in the car driving back and forth from NM. Those conditions can be trying for adults; for 5-9 year-old boys all up in each other’s business it can be a disaster. The boys were phenomenal though, and coexisted in the car like naturals (sure there were rocky moments). We’re lucky that they get along so well together.
Roadtrips had a formative influence on me when I was in college. I spent a lot of time on the road with good friends. Over a span of 10 years I drove across the country 27 times (home and college was east-coast; all the good climbing is in the West). One memorable summer I drove 13,000 miles by myself in an enormous figure-8 around the west, meeting up and caravanning with friends for climbing and random adventures. To this day, roadtripping brings to me a sense of freedom and independence. It’s exciting to be reaching a point where I can share that with my family.
