The Coast is Clear!

As we left Sutherlin we had no idea which route we would take heading North. After several phone calls from most of our relatives in Oregon and Washington we ended up leaving I-5 at Corvallis and headed for Newport.
This photo shows the views on our route. Roads had been plowed and were not icy, but you can see plenty of snow--a beautiful sight.

We had a nice lunch at a pizza place with Gary's brother, Alan and his wife, Karen who live in Newport. We hope to see them in Seattle on Christmas Day, but it was nice to have this unexpected visit in case either of us can't get there.

We left Newport and headed up the coast--check out the sunshine and lack of snow after we left Tillamook.


We are so glad we left I-5. The snow was getting pretty thick at Corvallis and we heard Salem had an ice and snow storm today. Portland has a total of 14 inches by now and they are running out of the de icer stuff they use on the roads. There is no way we would have gotten through that. Now we just have to wait to see if we can get through Astoria tomorrow. They had over 6 inches of snow (Seaside has had none) and the roads were closed. Tomorrow is supposed to be dry and slightly warmer. If we can get thru Astoria, we plan to head up the coast to Hoquiam, then over to Olympia and up I-5 from there. My brother-in-law found some website that shows the temperature of the road beds. He is keeping us posted on the best route to avoid ice.

A very nice thing happened. The snow plow cleaned off the road in front of my Mom's house AND came up her hilly driveway and cleaned it off for her! The city and police all know Mom's age and they take good care of her. We are so happy that she actually decided not to drive in the storm! There was an accident right in front of her house last night and that scared her a bit.

So tomorrow we have high hopes of getting to Mom's eventually. It will be a long day, but should be safe. We have been very lucky so far. Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts!