happy thanksgiving!

happy thanksgiving everyone! today was part two of our roadtrip to portland, with a safe arrival here in oregon. we started yesterday afternoon, leaving san francisco at 4. actually, let me revise that statement. we left our apartment at 4...we left san francisco at about 5:30, so yes, that means it took us 1.5 hours to drive a distance that would have taken me about 30-45 minutes to walk. we decided to sedate the kitties which turned out to be a wise choice, especially since our trip ended up taking us about double what it should have. the cats were unhappy in their carriers, then they calmed down, then they freaked out, then i put them in one carrier and they calmed down for a bit, but once we actually started moving they were REALLY unhappy. i was trying to follow the vet's recommendation/safe route by keeping them in their carriers (in case we got into a car accident, there would be a much lower risk of losing them) but that didn't last. first stuart made me panic because he started panting and his paws were clammy (who knew that happened in cats) and then ben busted out of his carrier--while i was holding it shut.

brandon and i decided to just go with it (and we needed to calm stuart down) so we just let them out. i was in the backseat with them, and brandon was driving. at first they meowed a bit and wandered around to check things out (i was wondering when those so-called sedatives were supposed to kick in--we were well past the 1-2 hour mark the vet said it took for them to kick in...our cats must be in that population that "fights" the effect), and then after about 20 minutes they decided they weren't dying, stu's paws cooled down and he wasn't panting anymore, and they settled in for the rest of the ride to redding. ben slept most of the way, while stu was a little more restless, but he was calm.

after our night in redding, we packed up the car again and headed out early this morning. we relied on the leftover effects from yesterday's sedative (the vet said it works for a day, and that seemed to be the case). they were very well behaved, with the exception of one panicked meowing/car exploration outburst by ben for about 10 minutes (i was mostly afraid he was getting sick), but other than that they were great. ben slept in the carrier (he wanted to be in there as long as the door wasn't shut) for 99% of the drive, while stu rotated from the rear window to my lap to my feet to the other carrier about every 15-30 minutes...

beautiful mt. shasta during sunrise

at one point stu decided to join ben...in the small carrier. ben was thrilled, as you can see

the fog had settled into the valley, making it look almost like a lake

stu checking things out

typical positions



the backseat arrangement

after arriving in portland, we settled in and had a wonderful thanksgiving meal. i hope everyone was able to take a moment and reflect on that they are thankful for as we enter this holiday season, and that you had a wonderful day, whatever you were doing.

tomorrow i think we're heading to powell's bookstore...i can't wait!