So many adventures, so little time

I'm a little bit overwhelmed tonight because there are just so many awesome things to talk about, and I feel like whatever I say could never justify the meaning of where they're coming from. I have learned so much in 3 days!
Sunday morning I left home and drove in my little hot sweaty car aaaallll the way to Elgin Oregon. Officially the smallest funniest town I have ever met. (And I really do feel like we got to know each other pretty well over night).

I stayed with my cousin Gina and her family of 7. Her kids are SO funny. I was laughing almost the entire time I was there. We went to a ward potluck, and the girls decided they were going to wash all the dishes. So cute.

Sofie kept losing her doll, so she found this nifty place to plop her :)

That night we played Extreme Connect Four. Those girls kicked my trash.

The next morning I started off bright and early, but I only got about 2 miles out of town before Mora started chugging. BAD. I was up in a little canyon in the mountains and couldn't get cell service, so I prayed real hard then looked over and noticed a snow hazard warning sign that happened to have a ladder up to it so they could change the snow condition status. So I climbed up it (luckily I was the only person in that part of the country), got full service, and called my dad!

Mora decided she would get me back into Elgin where I found a little hardware store. The owner/only real employee wasn't there yet, but there were a bunch of old guys with their dogs hanging out. They were talking about their dead wives and debating who should run for mayor. "You would make a great mayor, Norm." "I was mayor back in '67... How about you George, you haven't been mayor yet" and on and on.
About 15 minutes later the owner/Rick/only real employee/exact Stanley Tucci look-alike came in and told me to drive a couple blocks down the road to Bryan's house. Bryan is the town mechanic.

Bryan's shop is in his back yard amongst 7,505.2 buicks. Maybe not quite that many.... Nah, I'm pretty sure that's about right.
Bryan was awesome. I guess Rick had given him a call and told him I was coming, so he stuck on a wife beater and got most of the breakfast out of his beard and met me outside just as I was pulling up. (Or chugging up). He took a quick look, told me a story about his dad that rolled an Alfa Romeo 6 times after swerving to miss a skunk, then took off in poor Mora. I sat on the hood of one of his buicks.... called Jayne... Checked my emails... Laughed a bit... then he came cruising back! He got out, gave me a weird look, and promised me there was absolutely nothing wrong with my car. WHAT! It was my turn to give him a weird look. But he was right! Mora hasn't skipped a beat since.

When I was growing up, my dad and I used to take trips up to Portland. My friend Natasha lives there, and he had business stuff a couple times a year. We always made a point to stop at Cousins' on our way home. I'm not sure why... but I'll admit, it's quite the experience.

The food is trashy, the bathrooms are kinda grodie, but ar ma garsh. This place is awesome. Only awesome restaurants Moo at you when you go through the front door before being greeted with "Hey Cousin!" by one of their many old lady waitresses. Not to mention the full size tractor in the middle of the dining room.

I have been thinking about what to order since.... last week. I used to always get a kids meal (it came with a plastic pig on the plate, how could I pass that up) but I figured going in there alone was weird enough. So then I was thinking of getting a grilled cheese and making it into my farewell last-cheese-of-the-year thing, but then I remembered my dad getting biscuits and gravy. His favorite. So since I love my dad, and he has done a lot of amazing things for me lately, I decided to go with it. I even sent him a picture. His message back to me said, "You!!!!". I guess he wasn't very happy bout dat. Sorry Babo. (Hey, if i never had a farewell cheese meal, I guess I can still eat cheese! Awesome.)
Anyway.... I kept driving (Mora told me I looked fat when I got back in her... Sorry dear) and finally got to Vancouver Warshington! I hunted down Natasha and her mom (or Mum) at their tea house cafe.
The Bantam and Grouse cafe is so cosy and awesome. It sits in the middle of a garden nursery, and mum Gail serves tea and other little brittish cakes and stuff to cute grandmas and... garden nursery people :) It was so fun to hang out with them. (I just realized I didn't get a picture of us. Lame.)
Anyway, the drive was amazing, and I got here all safe and good! More tomorrow!