bellingham --> telluride

Alright so this is my first post!

My first little adventure was and is making my way to Telluride for Christmas break, and back to Bellingham after the holidays.

I decided to drive myself and Rocko my one year old puppy back home for the holidays.

I left Bellingham on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at around 6:30 a.m.. The first day was the longest and such a journey. I can't remember where it was but around one in the afternoon I reached a point where the highway that I was currently on and taking was closed due to weather. A snow storm was coming in and they closed the road toward Boise, Idaho. With that being done I was left with having to take a back road.

Not really being good with directions, maps, or traveling on my own I used Siri and my phone to help me map out a new route. Which ended up being the wrong way that I was initially trying to take due to the highway being closed.

Taking the back road seemed great at first, some dry roads, no one else there so that I could just cruise on by, but then it started to get very snowy.

The drive however, was absolutely gorgeous! I had never seen that part of Oregon before and I loved it.

Other than the beauty of the drive it was pretty bad. The back road that I ended up taking took about four hours and I was going 30-40 MPH by the time I had hit icy and snowy roads. It was terrible! Worst driving ever, I hadn't seen anyone on the road for the longest time, until finally I came to a point where I saw two cars. One had hit a patch of ice and slid off the other side of the road into a ditch, completely crushing the front of their car, the other was an elderly couple that had stopped to help them.

After stopping to make sure they were okay and didn't need a ride or anything, I continued on. I had no idea how long it was going to take to finally reach an actual town or road with other cars on it.

Still driving I continued to see no one else for at least an hour and half. Finally I saw a truck that had hit an icy spot and fish tailed it's back end off the road.

Finally after my four hour journey on a terrible but gorgeous road I made it to a small town just as it was starting to get dark, this was around five or six at night.

I had finally gotten service back as well so I called my mother to tell her where I was and that I had made it somewhere. Mid conversation a little cat was crossing the road. I thought oh its fine it'll move quickly and make it. But just as I thought it was going to make it I heard a bump...I had hit the cat! On the phone with my mother I just immediately start crying and can't talk to tell her whats going on. Finally I am able to tell her I hit a cat. Worst driving experience. I still feel terrible about it. R.I.P. kitty.

After reaching a certain point I decided that I needed to make it to Salt Lake City by the end of the night no matter what. That was my original goal and I wanted to make my trip the next morning a lot easier.

The storm was cleared through by the time that I hit Boise, so I kept going. Finally I made it to a small area about 20 minutes out side of Salt Lake City Utah at midnight.

There I decided to stay at a hotel and get a little sleep before getting up again and driving another seven hours.

Next morning, Rocko and I headed out and our drive to Telluride was much better than the first day. We made it back home at about two in the afternoon, which was perfect.

I am so happy to be back home for the holidays and so very grateful that nothing bad had happened on the way there.

Never ever again will I do that drive alone though.

Happy Holidays! I'll be posting pictures of home!