Hello Again

Well, my last post was nearly two months ago, and now that there are several things to post, I thought I would sit down and fill everybody in on life in Portland.

On Sept 25, Adrienne turned thirty. I think it was a little bit depressing for her. She kept talking about how frustrating it is that she was thirty and hadn't started her career. I kept trying to explain how it was really pretty awesome that she was able to hold out for so long. We had a really nice evening, as we went to the Portland City Grill for tapas and drinks, and then went to the Last Thursday street fair in the NE (Alberta). The street fair is really pretty cool, as they shut down a main street in the neighborhood, and many local artists, performers, musicians etc. sell their wears or perform. It brings a really interesting mix of people, so it is a great place for people watching.

On Oct 6th, Adrienne finally started work. Now she is officially a member of corporate america, as she got a badge and a cube. It is actually only down the hall from my space. Since she didn't have to be there until 9:00 for orientation we didn't go in together on her first day. That being said, I really enjoy going into work together in the morning. We catch the street car together, and get to chat in the morning the whole way to work. I think I will like working together. It reminds me of going to class together in college.

On October 24th, I was forced to address my wife as Doctor Menniti. This is the day that five years of hard work was granted with a PhD. For those that don't know, the process ends with a presentation to a committee of 5 PhD's. Two of which have to be from a university that is not your own. Adrienne chose to have two of her members from France, so she gave her presentation via video conference. So after you give your presentation to a general audience there is a short Q&A session. Then the general public has to leave and your committee grills you for another two hours. At which point they pass or fail you. Adrienne passed of course. It was really great to watch her presentation and I am really proud of her accomplishment. It was a long road with lots of ups and downs, but all in all the PhD experience was a good one for both of us.

November 1st, I finally got Adrienne to go hiking with me. She had been really busy since she got to Portland with the big push to finish her degree, so we hadn't had the time to go. With the fall colors it wasn't hard to convince her, but it did take some persuasion to talk her into a weekend off. Based on some reading about fall colors in Oregon, I chose to go to Silver Falls. I had went on my first weekend in Portland, but with the colors it was supposed to be even better. Let me tell you it didn't disappoint. It was fabulous. I don't think anything can really compare with colors in West Virginia, but there aren't to many waterfalls as backdrops for the colors. We spent the afternoon walking to a couple of the bigger waterfalls and took lots of pictures.

I am sure I will post again after the holidays, as we will be travelling. It will be nice to see family and friends.

Here are a few pictures from our hike. I will have pictures of the PhD day after Thanksgiving.

New Apartment

So since I haven't posted in a while I figure I will give you a recap of the last 6 weeks of my life. Starting with Adrienne's visit at the end of July. While Adrienne was here, we spent our time searching for a great place to live. By the end of an exhausting weekend, we had looked at more the 10 apartments, Adrienne had trianed at two gyms, and we went to the farmers market. By the time Adrienne left we had a new apartment picked out.

August 8th, I went to LA to watch Adrienne take the silver medal at the World No-Gi BJJ tournamant. It was a really nice mini vacation, as we stayed at a hotel real close to Hermosa beach. After Adrienne was done competing on Saturday, we went for dinner on the pier, and spent most of sunday relaxing and planning the upcoming move. This is also the weekend my buddy from work Brian played Handyman at our housing, fixing the items from the inspection. Much appreciated!!!!

August 15th is the day Adrienne and I closed on our house, and are no longer homeowners.

August 21st I met my sister in Dallas Texas to see my grandfathers grave, and officially say good bye. It was a really nice weekend spent with family. We did everything we wanted to do, and had a lot of fun together. It was a nice way to say goodbye and share memories together of Grandpa.

August 23 Adrienne got to Portland. I was in Texas Adrienne went to the new apartment today and got the keys.

August 24 Adrienne and I are finally in Portland together for good.

August 26 our stuff arrives. WOW!!! I don't know how we accumulated so much stuff over four years. It finally dawns on me that we have a lot of stuff to get rid of.

August 26-September 14 - Lots of trips to Ikea, and lots of hard work moving boxes around and it is amazing to me just how much garbage you generate in a cross country move. I bet we have filled our buildings recycle bin with paper and carboard.

On a really cool note, our friends Rachel and Glen were able to come to Portland tonight and see our new apartment. We went to dinner at the Bridgeport Brew House (within walking distance to us). It was really nice to be reminded that we met some great friends while we were in Champaign. Friends that will be around for a long time.

So here are a few pictures of our great downtown aparment. See my Flickr page for more.

Our new address is:

900 NW Lovejoy Apt. 708
Portland, OR 97209

Major Update♦

Well it has been a few weeks since my last post, and I have been really busy, entertaining guests out here in lovely Portland. As I indicated previously, my parents came to see me in all the way out here in Portland. They arrived on July 16th, and took a red eye flight home that left Portland at 12:00 AM on the 21st. I was able to work some the weekend before so I could take the Thursday and Friday off to enjoy the company. On Thursday, I decided to take them to the Oregon Coast. I have heard it was really beautiful and to me it didn’t disappoint. It was really cool and overcast when we got to the coast, but during our drive south it cleared up really nice and the sun was out. We stopped at Cannon Beach and walked on the beach, and through the city. I of course bought some saltwater taffy from the local candy store. It was a nice quaint little town with many bed and breakfast places just off the beach. I would definitely go back. After driving south, we went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was very crowded. I think I read that they get over 1,000,000 visitors per year. They have an observation deck where you can watch them process 50lb blocks of cheese and package them into 1lb blocks. The automation is really fascinating. In addition to the observation deck, they have cheese samples which are really good, and they make really good ice cream as well. On Friday, we went to the 9:00AM IMAX showing of the new Batman Movie. I thought the movie was great, but maybe 15 min to long. That afternoon, we went to check out an apartment on the River. I figured we could do some advanced scouting before Adrienne comes out. On Saturday, we got up and went to the Farmers Market. We bought blackberries and raspberries and blueberries, and also bought some baked goods for breakfast. After the market, we decided to have another travel day, as we went to Mt. St. Helens. We had been previously in 1992, and my parents were there again in the late 90’s. I decided to take them to a different observation point than the one we had been to previously. I think it gave a much more direct view of the mountain crater, but not as much perspective on just how devastating the eruption was. It was really neat to see areas that had been planted at the same time, because all the trees were equal height, and all the trees seemed to have branches level with other trees. This gave a really neat optical illusion. Saturday evening we made Blackberry Jam (I don’t think I can get enough homemade jam) Sunday was a day of relaxation, as the only real thing we did was go to my office, and up to the Rose Test Garden. All in all an extremely enjoyable weekend for me, and when my parents came the fridge was empty, but when they left if was full of leftovers, which fed me for days.













My next visitor Nate, a buddy from when I lived in Cincinnati, flew into town late on Tuesday the 22nd. I was unable to get any time off for his visit, but since he had spent some time in Portland before, he knew his way around town and also had another friend in the area which was a teacher. On Wednesday, after work we went to see a free street show in downtown. It is really neat, as they shut down a city street at 5:00 on a Wednesday, and throw up a stage and let you drink and listen to music. After the show, we went to a local bar for a few more drinks. (we received an offer on our house on this day, but more about that later) On Thursday, we went to of Timbers (the local soccer team) game. It just so happens that they call it thirsty Thursday when the timbers play on Thursday and have great drink specials. It is always a good time, as the atmosphere at the timbers game is always really fun on thirsty Thursdays. On Friday, I was able to get out a little early, and we made our way down to the Portland City Grill. It is a restaurant on the 30th floor with great views of the city and surrounding area. After we had our happy hour food, we decided to make our way to the Portland Brewfest. It is at the waterfront park, and this festival has about 70 varieties of local and regional microbrews. It was a blast, as there were tons of people but it never felt really cramped unless you were in line. We sampled 8 different beers, and my favorite was a raspberry wheat variety. On Saturday we made our way up to Trillium Lake near Mt. Hood. It is supposed to be one of the only places your get a really nice view of the mountain, with water which gives a great reflection. The wind was a little bit strong to get a good reflection in the water, but it was very picturesque nonetheless. Sunday started with breakfast at the tin shed (really great food) and then we went out to the gorge and hiked triple falls. It was a 5 mile hike that took us by four different water falls, and ended at triple falls. At the top, there were many places to go out and sit in the river and relax before heading back down the trail. I think it was one of the better hikes I have been on in the gorge. That evening we went to a local bar called Laurelthirst. It was really crazy, as the band we saw on Wednesday was playing when we arrived, and the place was really hopping. After they were over, the place cleared out a bit and got real calm for the show that we went to see. It was a conglomeration of musicians that came together to play a few small shows in Portland. I guess the most notable artist would have been Paul Simon’s son. Monday was Nate’s final day in Portland, and he decided he wanted to spend the evening in the NE. After work, we met up in the NE and went to a great Creperie, another bar, and then went on back to the Portland City Grill to see the city at night. So as you can see it was an action packed week with Nate, and I went to bed really early last night to recover before my next guest (my lovely wife) arrives on Thursday.



















Back to the house on Tuesday the 22nd we received our first offer to purchase our house. We countered that evening, and the buyer accepted. The only drawback to the offer (other than the dollars) was the date on which the buyer wanted to take possession August 15th. I am really excited, as I get to have my wife here in Portland with me a full month before we really expected. I think it will add some stress to her life since she will have to take care of most of the stuff, all the while dealing with the stress involved in finishing a PhD. It will all be worth it, because we get to live in Portland together. Now, much to my relief, we get to pick our Portland apartment together, instead of me having to pick something and her agreeing from pictures. All in all, this is a great thing for us and I can’t wait to have her here with me enjoying the great summer weather. I foresee lots of hiking and small trips in our very near future.

So it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for me, and I only have until tomorrow when my next visitor (Adrienne) gets here. I think we are going to go coffee shopping this weekend, and check out various coffee shops in downtown. Hopefully we can find a good one where she can spend lots of time writing in an effort to finish that PhD and start her job in October. One thing we will be doing is going to the Flugtag competition (http://www.redbullflugtagusa.com/Portland2008) this weekend at the waterfront. We will also check out a few apartments, and just relax. It has been two months since I have seen her, so I am much excited for her to be here in Portland with me. Not only that, I forget some times that she only spent 2 days in Portland, so it will be fun to play tour guide and explore the neighborhoods to find a place to live.

Fourth of July Weekend

This past weekend was my first three day weekend here in Portland. It was nice and relaxing, and the weather was excellent. On Friday morning I got up and went to Krugers Farm (www.Krugersfarm.com) and purchased strawberries to make some jam. The strawberries here have to be the best I have ever eaten. Super sweet and very fragrant, no sugar required for eating. It was quite a process making jam, as I really didn’t have any of the required cooking utensils. It turned out to be quite an expensive undertaking this time, but next time will be very cheap. It was well worth it, as it has to be the best strawberry jam I have ever eaten. I think maybe next week, I will try blackberry jam, as they are now in season. After making Jam I went to see Hancock, and the I went to Jason’s house for a fourth of July party. All the people living in his building had a little potluck dinner on their nice front porch. It was really a nice evening, watching the fireworks along the skyline of SE Portland. We couldn’t see the main fireworks in Downtown, due to trees, but all in all a nice place to watch the skyline light up with fireworks.

Saturday came and I decided a movie would be good, so off to Wanted I went. It was as expected. I also spent the day going to several Columbia Clothing outlet stores. I didn’t realize it, but Columbia is local to Portland. There outlet stores are really nice, as they have everything from coats to shoes. Since living here, I have found that it would be nice to have nice hiking attire. I guess you could say performance clothes. So I went to the outlet stores looking for some Performance Clothes. What I found was a brand called Mountain hardware, owned by Columbia, at prices I could actually afford. It was a worthwhile trip, and one I am sure I will make again soon, as they are having big sidewalk sales in the coming weeks.

Sunday I went for a bike ride and enjoyed my final day off before heading back to work.

All in all a really nice three day weekend. My mom and dad are coming for a visit on the 16th of July, so I am sure I will have an update after then. Otherwise, I hope you all had as much fun on your long weekend as I did.

Update on Life

Hello everybody, It has been awhile since my last post, and a lot has happened in my life since then. To summarize the recent activities:

· May 14^th I left Portland to travel home and see Adrienne. It was nice to get a hug and kiss after 5 weeks apart. I really did miss her

· May 15^th We left Champaign to go to Italy to celebrate the near end of 12 years of college for Adrienne. The plan was to spend 6 nights in Rome, and 4 nights in Sorrento. See Adrienne’s blog for a recap of the vacation from her perspective (www.bjjchic.blogspot.com)

· May 26^th Back to reality. After getting back to Champaign, there were lots of little projects to complete around the house.

· June 1^st The house for sale sign was put in the front yard, and I again had to leave my beautiful wife to go back to the Pacific Northwest.

· June 14^th My five year anniversary. I spent the day on a wine tasting tour of the Willamette Valley near Portland. Adrienne spent the day at martial arts and then went for ice cream with our good friends Elizabeth and Bill.

So that is a little recap of the goings on in my life over the last month, which brings me to the June 21^st weekend. My first visitor to Portland was Adrienne’s dad. He was on the west coast for business, and decided to travel to Portland and hang out of the weekend.

It was interesting playing tour guide, in a city that I have only lived in for a brief time. It was also fun, because I got to show him my bachelor pad (I don’t think he was impressed), the areas of town where I think Adrienne and I might live, and my office. Greg got in on Saturday afternoon and then left on Monday morning. Here is a list of activities:

My office

My Apartment

The Pearl District and NW Portland (potential locations to live)

The Market Street pub for a beer (as usual good beer but terrible service)

Salty’s for Dinner (supposed to be the best seafood in Portland, but I thought it was only okay. The best part were the views of the Columbia.

Crema for breakfast (really good coffee and baked goods)

Multnomah Falls and Horsetail Falls (you can drive up and see them, we did hike to the bridge at Multnomah)

Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery (a very large hydro dam with a fish hatchery where you can view the fish in the fish ladder)

Timberline Lodge (at 6000 ft up on Mt Hood for lunch. It was great to sit and watch people skiing in June. All natural snow, as they get an average of 21’ at the lodge every year)

Bridgeport Ale House at Hawthorne (Just an all around good atmosphere on Hawthorne. The neighborhood that in my mind sold Adrienne and I on Portland)

June 28^th Weekend

HOT! HOT! HOT! That is what I can say for this weekend. The temperature this past weekend reached 99 on Saturday (a new record) and 92 on Sunday. I would normally stay inside and enjoy the cool house, but since I don’t have any airconditioning in my apartment, that really isn’t effective. So I went hiking with Jason (my office mate) and his soon to be wife Stacy. We went to Eagle Creek and hiked about 6 miles total. It is a really nice path, as it follows Eagle Creek. As you may have already guessed, there are waterfalls along this path as well. I don’t have any pictures of this hike, as the camera had a memory card issue and I forgot to bring my backup. A pretty big bummer since there are some spectacular views along this hike. At one point there is a little trail you can take which leads you down to the pool at the bottom of a water fall. Since it was really hot out, there were many people enjoying the cool water at this location and all along the eagle creek.

On a side note, the Hood Strawberries are finally in at the Farmers Market. They are ultra sweet, and really fragrant. I think I am going to pick my own berries this coming weekend if the weather is nice. Maybe I will make some Jam.

Flickr

I just wanted to give you all an update on the geotagging of my photos. I have finally been able to get this feature set up and running. I have now geotagged all my pictures for my move to Portland, and my two hiking adventures. I had some technical difficulties, and battery failure on my travels as I am learning how this works, so not every picture got tagged. That being said, it is really cool to see on a map exactly where my photos were taken. To see the map function on flickr, there are several options. One way is from the main photostream page, there is a link to map. If you click this, it will blow up a map showing the locations of all my pictures. If you want to see the location of a specific set, click on the set link from the photostream page, and then click on map. That should take you to the map location for just that set of pictures. It is a pretty neat feature. If you have technical difficulties accessing this feature, please let me know as I have invested time and energy into making it work. Hope you all enjoy my pics.

Multnomah Falls

Today I decided that I would wait until later in the summer to visit Mt. St. Helens, and opted to go explore the Columbia River Gorge area. This is a National Scenic Area approximately 30 miles east of downtown Portland, along the Columbia River. There are more than 50 different hiking trails in this area, my first choice was Multnomah Falls. I believe I would call this the tourist trail. It is a completely paved trail that is around 2.5 miles round trip. If you take it to the top of the falls the trail goes up in elevation approx 700ft. In the first half mile, you hike up to and across Benson bridge (see picture). I thought is was a great bridge, because as you crossed you were getting sprayed from the mist of the waterfall. On the way back down, this was very refreshing. At the very top of the falls, the destination of the trail, there is a platform to stand just where the water drops over the side of the cliff and begins its free fall. It is really quite a site, and even though it is not the most naturalistic hike, the views were well worth it. So you know about this water fall, here is a little background. Multnomah Falls is the the second-tallest year-round waterfall in the nation. The water of the Falls drops 620 feet from its origin on Larch Mountain. I look forward to exploring the many other trail in this area in the future.

Silver Falls State Park

Yesterday I took a day trip from my Insiders Guide to Portland, OR (thank you Elizabeth, Bill, and Caroline) to Silver Falls State Park. It is located about 70 miles south of Portland in the lower elevation of the Cascade Mountains. The book describes the Silver Falls State Park as "being located in a temperate rain forest. Canyon trail or Trail of 10 Falls is one of the most beautiful trails in Oregon. It descends to a forest floor covered with ferns, mosses, and wild flowers amid a forest of Firs, Hemlock and Cedar. The trail follows the rushing waters of Silver Creek."

I took the Trail of 10 Falls and started my hike at the South Falls. What a start to a hike. The first thing you see is a large waterfall of 177 Ft. It is beautiful, and the trail actually walks you behind the water if you choose. I of coarse went behind the water and got wet due to mist, but enjoyed every minute of it. My overall hike was approximately 5 miles and I saw 7 of the 10 falls. I decided to save the final three for when Adrienne gets out here. Here is a link to the park page if you are interested (http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_211.php). I have also posted my pictures from my journey on Flickr for anybody to check out.

If the rest of the hiking in this area is even close to the hiking experience from Saturday, I am going to love hiking and riding my bike here. I have decided my next day trip (also a recommendation from the book) will be to Mount St. Helen's.

Office or better yet Cube

Well on day one of my new job, I spent most of the day in training and trying to get my computer and telephone working properly. It is interesting working for such a large firm, as they have a call center for computer assistance. It is like calling Verizon, except these people actually care and want to help. It is however still a phone conversation and sometimes can be frustrating. So my space is in a quad of cubes. Basically it is four cubes down a aisle. Me three other 'quad mates' are great. We are a pretty young crown down our aisle and I am grateful to have fun people to sit around all day. The first project I am going to be working on is a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane addition to a really busy intersection in Tacoma, WA. My first task was to spend time reviewing the design manuals and try to get up to speed on the requirements. A challenging task seeing as how this is not real exciting reading. It should be a fun challenging project to work on since I will be exposed to many new techniques and requirements. The pictures show my space after a few days, and the board shows the messages left for my by my quad. On a side note, my first Friday was ended with a happy hour (hours) to a local pub. I think I could make that a Friday routine, as it was a nice way to wind down the first week.

Grandpa Thompson

With everything in my life a whirlwind, I recieved some bad news on Friday April 11th. I lost my grandfather to illness. This was a tough pill to swallow. It is tough to think I will never get to talk to my grandpa ever again. He was never much for words on the phone, but was always glad to hear from me. It was always an option to call him before now. I have lots of fond memories of my grandpa that I will never forget. The last time I made a trip to Texas was this fall to visit my family. You never know it is going to be the last time, but I had a wonderful visit with everbody, especially him. He made a brisket for the family at my request, and even shared with me the rub he uses, and tips for making a good brisket. Now I get to remeber him everytime I use my smoker which is quite often. One of my final memories of my grandpa was during that trip this fall. My grandpa was a avid Cowboys fan and the weeked I was in town was opening weekend for the NFL season. The cowboys played the sunday night game and he and I sat up and wathced the whole thing. It was so much fun. I don't ever remember him staying up that late before which made it that much more special to me. I am posting this here because I know if he were still alive he would have visited this blog and read all about my journeys. If he is reading this from above, I want him to know I love him and am I glad he was such a great grandpa!!!

The Portland Apartment

So I pulled into Portland on Tuesday without a place to call home. I had hotel reservations for my first two nights here, but needed to settle on a place sooner rater than later. I had tentatively lined up a place, but needed to see it so I could sign a lease. This apartment had a lot to offer i.e: walking distance to work, 6 month lease, garage for my car, and unknown to me at the time, a farmers market three blocks away every Saturday. I came to look at the apartment on Wednesday the 9th. The pictures i got from the manager, were accurate, and the the only con I found was the proximity to the interstate. The pros were to many to pass up, and I signed the lease and had a place to call home. My new home is 2073 SW Park Ave, #203, Portland, OR 97201.

The only thing left to do now was the move in, unload my car and then buy everything I needed to get settled prior to my first day of work on April 14th. After several trips to IKEA and Target, and Walmart, the apartment is now ready to be lived in. It is quite a bachelor pad as you can see from the pictures. Plenty of space for me, and I have decided I am really going to love it hear in Portland. My first weekend here the weather was gorgeous, and I finally got to see Mount Hood. By sunday I was completly settled and just needed internet to I had some better entertainment. All in all a great experience moving to portland and getting settled has been stressful, but really fun.

Here are some pictures of my apartment.

The drive to Portland

On March 21st, Adrienne and I decided that Portland Oregon would be the best fit for our future. The only catch to this was I would have to start my new job with CH2M Hill on April 14th, a full 5 months before Adrienne will start. So I put my two weeks in at HDC on March 24th and the planning for my move began. I am putting this blog together to chronicle my experiences in Portland.

So lets see I am moving to Portland to start a new job all by myself. The only things I will be able to bring are what I can fit into my car and drive with me. I won't sign a lease on an apartment sight unseen, so Ill have to find one after I get into town. This might be appealing to some, but based on my control freak kind of personality it was a stressful two final weeks of work.

I pulled out of Champaing on April 5th at around 12:00. I listened to my final reds game on 700WLW, as this will be the first location I have ever lived where I wont get this station. I held out as long as I could, 8 full innings, until it became unbearable with static. Now you have to realize unbearable static for the reds is extreme static. I can remember listening to reds games on the radio with my dad in Toledo growing up it was always a bit staticy. I think the static would drive most people crazy, but to me it has always been a part of the reds on the radio. On day one I drove for a good solid 9 hrs made it to Sioux Falls, SD a total of 637 Miles.

On the second day, I was heading to Badlands National Park. The park is located in western SD about 300 miles west of Sioux Falls. During this portion of the drive, snow and ice became an issue. I had to actually stop the drive and eat in a random diner in the town of Murdo, SD. The diner was called the GTO Cafe (http://www.gtodiner.com/) I was surprised to see they even had a website. So after an hour lunch I continued my drive. By the time I hit the Badlands, I had blue skys and lots of sun. A great day to drive through a gorgeous park. Lots of wildlife in the badlands, and not very many people. I saw only three other cars the entire time I was there. It was a really nice relaxing afternoon. After the badlands, it was off to Mount Rushmore. Not a bad thing to see in person, but to me it is like a monument. After you spend about 15min looking at it you have seen it with your own eyes, not much else to see. I had intended on walking the trail for different views, but snow prohibited this part of my journey. After mount Rushmore it was off to Deadwood, SD for the night. Deadwood is a great town of casinos. I don't think any building there didn't have a casino housed. I bet there were 50+ casinos in a town with really only one main street. I ate at the Gem Saloon, saw the location where wild bill hickock was shot, and gambled very little. (Not a lot of cards being played this time of year on a Sunday night).

Day three I had a stop planned for Devils Tower. Based on the weather forecast before I left Deadwood, I decided to forgo this stop to try and get north of a front coming through my drive route. Since I didn't make that stop, and the NCAA championship game was this day, I drove until this game was to start. My final destination was Deer Lodge, Montana. A quaint little town west of Butte. The view from anywhere in town was just awesome. I don't think I could get tired of looking at snowy mountains. It recently snowed and the scenery was great.

Day four I was awoken early (6:30) by someone who forgot about the time difference (Adrienne). So instead of rolling back over I just got on the road at 7:30. I thought I might stop in the Columbia River Gorge area east of Portland, but decided I needed to arrive at my destination and be done spending long days in the car. I did stop along the way and take pictures in Idaho at a rest area, and then again in the Gorge area. The drive from about 90miles east of Portland is just great. You are basically following the river the entire 90miles, and the scenery is breath taking. Several locations there are 100' waterfalls visible from the road.

I pulled into Portland on Tuesday April 8th around 5:00 PST I drove a total of 2,364 miles, averaging 22.2 MPG, using a total of 106 Gallons of gas over my four day journey. The drive was awesome, and the scenery was so pretty. By the end I was ready to be out of the car, but I would do it again in a heart beat.