Road Trip - Pacific Northwest

Seems we've been using our weekends to travel to the 'big city' around here. :) Seattle this month and Portland, Oregon last month when Corey was home. Both Corey and I loved our time in the Alps, but traveling around here is quite beautiful as well. The Cascades are gorgeous, and while I couldn't capture them in all their glory, I snapped a few shots from the car coming home from Seattle.

Luckily, we've been able to make these trips after having purchased our 2nd car in Portland. I'm happily driving around town in a used Subaru. So thankful as well to have sold our cars in Germany with little to no problems, a great feat for any expat.

The story about our car purchase was quite funny. Once we decided that it was the car for us, the salesman asked us if he could make a copy of our licenses.

Um...yeah, we only have German licenses. But Heather has a copy of her American license. Will that work?

He agreed, then asked us for our current insurance cards. We couldn't find the new one, but I had an expired one that he agreed was fine. Is this your permanent address? he asks.

Umm, well, no, we're building a house. Corey volunteered that I was living with my parents. At this point I think I would've told us to take a hike.

The salesman was ok with the temporary address, then asks how we were planning to pay. I couldn't help but laugh when I said, "Would you take a check?" (On which was a completely different address and phone number!)

He was very trusting of us, and we drove home with the car. I still laugh thinking about it. But, I made sure, as soon as I got home, that I went in and got my license replaced. It was the smoothest process I've ever had at the DMV and I'm also thankful for that.

It's humorous to compare how easy it was to buy a car here vs. buying in Germany. It probably helped that the economy is struggling, or maybe the salesman wouldn't have been so forgiving of all our 'shady' documents. :)