An unexpected pleasure drive

One thing I love to do is go for a nice long drive. Oregon is filled with A LOT of scenic areas to drive through and I have had the good fortune of seeing a lot of country-style villages, lots of farms, a lot of beautiful land, forested areas and rivers. Especially rivers! I have also seen creeks, ponds and lakes. Any opportunity I have to go for a drive is something I would jump at! I also enjoy taking my kids along for these scenic drives, too. One reason why we love visiting other places in Oregon like the coast, Salem or Portland is because the drive there is beautiful. Oregon is beautiful!

 

Unfortunately, because I am still unemployed, I have to be careful with gas. I can’t really drive around as much as I used to because I don’t know when I’m going to have any gas money again! My husband has helped me out with gas money but we are up to our eyeballs with bills and he also needs to buy groceries for the whole month. If I didn’t need to worry about having money for gas, I would be out on the road all the time! You sure wouldn’t find me at home!

 

But, yes, I have had to be very selective when I drive somewhere and very careful about how much gas I use up.

 

Because of this, I was not sure about driving my youngest, Jax, out to his friend’s house today. First I was told that they were near Pleasant Hill and, since I could still remember my drive out to Pleasant Hill, when I was on the job as a DSP, I said it was too far. Then the location changed: Now they were in Springfield. I told Jax I could totally drive out to Springfield. So we got ready and hit the road!

 

The location in Springfield ended up being close to where I used to work, and so I knew the area well. On our drive out there, I told Jax about how I used to drive all around that area. So I knew my way around.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the friend lived in a very scenic area out in Springfield. Up on a hill and in the woods. It was BEAUTIFUL! WE really enjoyed driving up that hill and through the woods. Yeah, the hill was a little scary to drive up, but we made it ok. (At least I wasn’t driving a big old van!) But I gotta say, as much as I enjoyed driving that route, I really started to miss driving the Jeep. If only we could get the Jeep fixed and I could drive it again! Ah, well. My car still managed.

 

When I dropped Jax off, I really didn’t want to leave. I wanted to park somewhere and go play in the woods! Oh, to be among the trees! I love being out in nature, especially in the woods, and it was just so tempting to go exploring.

 

But, alas, I chose to go home instead. I was not able to get a signal on my phone to use Google Maps, but fortunately, I remembered how to get back. Yay!

 

I am so glad Jax asked me to drive him out there. It was a very nice drive! I kept telling Jax that his friend was lucky to live out there. There are so many times I wish I could live in a cabin in the woods. That would be nice! It’s a dream, actually. I hope that can happen someday.

 

For now, I have to settle for just driving to forested areas and up the hills. It was really nice to get out for a long drive today and I’m so glad that it happened. I am also glad I had enough gas for it! I look forward to going back sometime and definitely going on more drives just to enjoy the scenery when I am able to do that again.

 

These are pictures I took on my drive down the hill.