Today was a warm day, hardly any clouds in the sky, the sun was shining. Mom and I spent most of the daylight hours sitting on the porch, our eyes glued to pages of the books we were reading. I think I got a little sunburned from the afternoon sun. And as we were absorbed in our reading, we found ourselves with company: a tree frog had himself wedged in a crook in the service berry tree in the front yard.

Cherry tree looking like it will bloom tomorrow or, perhaps, the next day.

Two weeks from yesterday, we are planning on departing on a three week road trip across the country. Our destination is the west coast in Oregon and Washington state. We've wanted to see that part of the U.S. for a long time now; we've been talking about it for years. 

As I have finals next week and the we have the vacation time, we decided that this year we will finally get ourselves out there and see for ourselves what the west coast is like. So, at the top of the blog, I have placed a tentative map of the routes we are planning on driving with pins representing destinations and green markers pinpointing places we might see on the way there and the way home. I will be posting from the road and updating the map as we go. Looking forward to being on the road again!

じゃあね！