I brought him along with me on my last day at work in Seattle, when my desk was all cleaned out and I was ready to go! We celebrated with friends and munched on delicious chocolate cupcakes!
Here’s Flat Stanley waving hello and goodbye to the Space Needle from my apartment!We started out on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, but driving was slow with all the other cars out on the road with us. We only got as far as Portland, Oregon that night, about 3 hours south of Seattle.
But the next day we made good time, and before we knew it we were in …
CALIFORNIA!
We decided it was time to have some fun so we visited the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. It’s a strange old house with 160 rooms (some were never finished), staircases that went straight up to the ceiling, and 2,000 doors, some of them on the second and third floors lead to the outside! Yikes, watch your step!
In the gift shop, there was a Zelda fortune telling machine, so we got a fortune – “Life is so busy for you. No time for rest. Too much to do.” – and that was very true!
And of course we got our photo taken in the photo booth! 
Then it was back in the car and down the beautiful California coast – just like in the movies!
In Arizona, we stopped for a bite to eat on the historic Route 66, which goes through 8 of the United States (Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California).
Then before we knew it we were in Texas!
We stopped to see the tallest cross in the world – it must have been the biggest thing in the tiny town of Groom. Everything really is bigger in Texas!
Driving through the skinny part of Texas (we call it the panhandle) doesn’t take long and right on the other side of the eastern border is Oklahoma!
We stopped to visit with my parents (Haley’s great aunt and uncle) …
… and we went to a ladies’ basketball game at the University of Oklahoma, where my dad teaches science.
Flat Stanley liked the halftime show the best!On the next day we crossed back into a state we had visited before … Texas!
Since the Texas panhandle sticks up on the west side, we drove through it twice!
Then at long last … .my new HOME in Dallas!
Flat Stanley and my cat Seuss became fast friends!
Before I sent him on his merry way, I showed Flat Stanley Reunion Tower, a building on the Dallas skyline. The globe lights up at night and you can eat at the panoramic restaurant at the top that slowly rotates so you can see the view in every direction while you eat!
Flat Stanley and I saw amazing and beautiful things along our 3,000 mile journey all the way from Washington State: snow-capped mountains, Sequoia trees as tall as the eye could see, the balmy Pacific Ocean along Highway 1 on the California coast, surfers and sea lions, cows and sheep, vistas, mesas, buttes, valleys, bluffs, and desert! We drove over rivers and ponds and washes and streams, the big Colorado River, the Little Colorado River! We drove by a Hidden Valley Ranch - I didn’t know that such a place existed! Oh and we also raced with a train and won! We saw signs to watch for rocks and deer and elk, and ice and something that looked like wild boar! We drove from Seattle through Tacoma, Portland, Salem, Eugene, Medford, Eureka, Ukiah, Monterey, Carmel, Cambria, Bakersfield, Barstow, Needles, Kingman, Flagstaff, Gallup, Amarillo, Norman, Tecumseh, Denton, Lewisville and finally Dallas – just to name a few! Flat Stanley was an excellent traveling companion, and I hope he had as much fun as I did! Thank you Haley for letting me take him on the road!
