After the inspections we all went down to our team vanes, gave one last hug and good luck, then I got in my overly packed van and left. My team departed around 8:30, and our first stop was Weed, California. We stopped at a pizza place there to have lunch. But the one thing that was amazing there was Mt.Shasta! Also known as the tallest mountain in California. It was Beautiful! I even face-timed my dad because he wanted to see Mt.Shasta for himself. My team then loaded like sardines into the van and our next stop was the hotel in Salem Oregon. We passed the Oregon state line and it actually took a while before I started to see all the trees; the rain however came quickly. We arrived to the hotel around 9:40. Most of my team seemed to be pretty aggravated with each other, which was understandable. I tried my best to keep things positive through the group... I decided that all they needed was sleep. However one thing that I was looking for was the pool at the hotel! One problem. It was to close at 10! You can bet your bottom dollar I quickly changed into my suit and headed down to the pool. The water was so warm and it felt great to glide in the water after being stuck in a crammed van with 10 other people, having to stop every 2 hours (because that is Americorps rules) just to climb back into the van. After about 15 minutes I headed back to my room. that I was sharing with 3 other girls on my team, took a shower and went to bed.
Sunday morning we all woke up early and set off for Portland Oregon because we had a few hours to kill before we had to be in Washington. Everybody seemed to be in high spirits for Portland. Our first stop in Portland was a well known doughnut shop called "VooDoo Doughnut". It was almost like going to see the "Hollywood" sign in California or visiting the "bean" in Chicago; it was just something you had to do. The line was relatively short when we went in, but after about 5 minutes, there was a line out the door. They had so many doughnuts it was hard to choose one! I chose "Portland Cream" which was considered Portland's official doughnut. I will say it was one of the best, if not the best doughnuts (with cream) I have ever had. My teammates got different kinds, varying from plain glazed to ones with Oreo's with peanut butter drizzled on top.
After the doughnuts we decide to go to Washington State park (Unless it was named differently.. I just thought it was weird having it named Washington State park). It was beautiful! On some of the trails, the trees would cover you completely acting like an umbrella for the sun. I even found a leaf bigger than my head! It was a well needed little break to just get out and see what we could be working with for the next 6 weeks. We packed up back in the van and were so excited because our next stop would finally be our destination! The old Carnation genetics lab that was converted into a "house" that we'd be staying in for the next 6 weeks. Driving through Carnation was amazing. The fog would roll out of the trees on top of the mountains, that looked over valleys with farms and streams going through them. We arrived to the house and met one of the camp coordinators for Camp Korey. She was super nice and gave us a "tour" of the house. The house is really one open building with dividers as walls separating the girls room from the boys. There is a kitchen, one shower that also has a toilet and then another room with a toilet. There's also a main area that is also separated by room dividers... Really you could have a full conversation with someone just fine from one end of the building to the other. I am not complaining though!! I actually don't mind the living conditions like the rest of my team. It could always be worse! We didn't have running water though all of Sunday and a little in the morning on Monday. It made you think of all the people in California that have had no water for weeks and months.
I'll write about my first week in Washington in my next post!
~Savannah
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