“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!” -Thomas Wentworth Higginson

My most recent adventure found me looking winter fully in the face, and honestly/shockingly, loving every single minute of it. Lol

I don’t like winter. I don’t like the cold. I don’t like the drab. I just plain down don’t like winter.

But when a friend mentioned the need for someone to drive a car across the continent this December- I jumped at the chance. My friend Ben agreed to help me tackle the challenge. And away we went.

We left the Valley as a freezing rain settled in. With thankful hearts we watched it in the rearview as we motored our way west.

Snow flurries in Nebraska

And although we didn’t get into a full blown wrestling match, Winter kept nudging us along the entire trail. And really, it added so much beauty to the journey.

Admittedly when I agreed to the trip, I immediately remembered all the stories I’d heard about snowstorms in the Rockies. “Winter travel is no joke” they said “a storm will come up and they shut down the interstates immediately.”

“Wow” I thought ” Can we do this?” So we committed our journey to God, and watched as He took care of us. Time and again and again.

A beautiful-9°F sunrise in Wyoming

I kept pretending that I was exploring the Antartica or at least was an ice trucker- 🥶😂 can’t imagine their view is much different from this.

Utah felt a little bit less like a wilderness. But still beautiful.

We grabbed a delicious meal at Jakers in Twin Falls, Idaho. The fact that they serve mainly food raised in the northwest added a local flare that was perfect. We walked out on the bridge spanning the Snake River and watched several guys jumping/parachuting the 486 feet to the bottom of the canyon. It was a bit above the temps we’d encountered in WY, but still a very chilly descent.

And Oregon 💞 I have never experienced such a glorious wintery sunrise as I did the first morning in Oregon. The fog froze onto everything in the 0° temps and the world was a magical kingdom.

Praise the Lord.

How good it is to sing praises to our God,

    how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

    his understanding has no limit.

He spreads the snow like wool

    and scatters the frost like ashes.

He sends his word and melts them;  he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

Praise the Lord.

Excerpts from Psalms 147

As we traveled along, we drank in the vastness of the open road, the complete solitude of the eastern part of the state, and enjoyed the ride.

2,770 miles into our trip, found us delivering the car to its new family with super thankful hearts. Praise God for watching over our journey.

And because I had scheduled in a bit of extra time before our flights home (in case Winter stopped us in our tracks) the adventure wasn’t quite over. ☺️

Crater Lake:

The West Coast:

This finds me back home again, curled up beside my wood stove, reliving the journey. But mostly, just thanking God. The unique variety in His creation is wonderful. And the opportunity to experience so many good things just leaves my heart overwhelmed. He is such a good God. 💞

Praise Him,

Kendra