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| Our new home |
We did it! We are officially east coasters.
For a few months, at least.
It's pretty weird to think that we just
drove across almost the entire continental U.S.
We traveled through nine states,
seven of which I have never been to before.
Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan,
Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
We moved out of our apartment in Springville on Friday, May 30th.
It was sort of sad to say goodbye to our first little home.
Especially since we met in Provo, and all of our old spots were just a few minutes away.
Not anymore.
We'll have to make new spots.
We stayed with Colt's sister, Kristy, and her husband Ryan and our nephew Ethan until Tuesday before heading out.
When Colt went to pick up the U-haul trailer on Friday, the truck started making some strange noises-
the steering pump was leaking, they said.
Of course it was.
So we had to stay an extra day with Kristy and Ryan so that could get sorted out.
Shoot. ;)
Thanks for letting us stay, you guys! We love you!
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Off we go!
We broke up the drive, so we could stop and see family along the way.
Our first stop was Denver, to stay a couple of days with
Colt's parents, and to see his sister Alisha and her family.
The Whitesides' are moving to Washington this month, which is enough crazy for anyone.
But to top it all off, Alisha was due to have her baby June 10th.
They're handling it like champs.
We hung out, drove to Greeley to play with Miss Bailey and help Alisha pack up a few things, and ate lots and lots of yummy food.
A few hours after we left Denver,
Colt's mom texted to tell us that Alisha had gone into labor!
Later that night, our newest nephew was born.
We're sad we just missed meeting little
Bentley Matthew Whitesides,
but we're so happy he's finally here.
Congrats Matt, Alisha, and Bailey!
After we left Denver,
we drove through some crazy thunder and lightning storms in Nebraska and Iowa.
I was a little afraid we would have a tornado encounter.
I made us create a safety plan, just in case.
Turns out, there's not a whole lot you can do
if a tornado is headed in your direction while you're
stranded on the freeway.
Just do what everyone else is doing, I guess.
Dig a hole and climb inside?
We stayed in a motel in Des Moines, Iowa, had a delicious
breakfast at a place called "The Machine Shed,"
then set off for Colt's sister Lindsey's house in
Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Upon arrival, we were enthusiastically greeted
by Lindsey and Jared's pup, Charlie.
Charlie is awesome.
He and Colt hit it off immediately.
I'm pretty sure Charlie increased my chances of getting a dog at some point in the future by at least 75%.
Jared is doing his residency in an ER, and had to work night shifts while we were there.
We had lunch with him and visited for awhile, but the poor guy had to sleep,
so it was up to Lindsey and Charlie to show us around.
We saw the sights of Kalamazoo, took the dog for a few walks and runs, watched inordinate amounts of Modern Family (per my request),
had a barbecue, took naps...it was awesome.
They have a great couch for napping.
We also went to an alligator preservation farm!
I faced my fears and held an alligator.
A very tiny one, but an alligator just the same.
We're still waiting on the pictures of that momentous occasion,
but I swear, it happened.
We took off after a couple of days to start our final
leg of the journey.
Three states, thirteen hours, lots of toll stations-
which, by the way, what the?!
Nobody told us about those.
Tolls are ridiculously expensive, and I hate them.
Shouldn't it be free to drive on freeways?
It was a long day, but we made it.
Colt went in to sign some papers for work on Wednesday afternoon,
and today he's at orientation. He officially starts on Monday.
We can't move into our apartment until Sunday. So,
we're currently staying with a friend, Ryan, who has an empty house this week while he goes back to Utah to move his family here to Pennsylvania.
What's it like here?
A lot like Oregon, actually.
Super green, tons of trees.
We haven't seen the sun since leaving Michigan.
Also, the air is a lot like Oregon.
In Utah, the air is dry and arid.
In Pennsylvania
(and Oregon),
the air is full of moisture.
I forgot what this does to my hair.
It's been so long since I lived in Oregon, I'd forgotten
that I looked like a chia-pet all through high school.
In Utah, my hair straightens easily if I want to straighten it. It curls and holds with no product necessary.
The air has no water in it.
Here, the air is super heavy. Every day is a bad hair day.
It's so sad.
We wanted to see the city yesterday, but it was pouring rain.
Hopefully we'll go tomorrow, so we can see the Liberty Bell
and eat a Philly Cheesesteak sammich.
This post was terribly long.
I'm glad it's over.
So was the drive.
I'm glad that's over, too.
It was all worth it,though.
I just found out they have Baja Fresh here.
Hallelujah, amen. |
