Florida with the Greenes

We had the chance to stop in Florida for a visit with our friends, the Greenes. They are back from Uganda for a couple of months and we haven't seen them in a year and a half. We shared stories and reflected on the past year, read books to the kids, wondered how the kids grew so much, walked on the beach, and just felt so loved. We have really missed them.

Back to the West Coast!

It took a week of long driving days (for David) and lots of candy (for both of us), but we made it! This drive felt quite a bit different from the trip out to Baltimore because we were exhausted from finishing school, packing up our apartment and moving all within 2 days. I was tired. And exhausted. But, we got to see some great friends, family and places along the way. Here is a little taste.

Davidson, North Carolina

New Orleans, Louisiana

San Antonio, Texas

Las Cruces, New Mexico

Beautiful Santa Fe

Welcome to Maryland!

(Our new apartment. Notice the exposed brick walls and the faux fireplace. Love it.)

(Our first meal in Baltimore: much-needed pizza and beer.)

We made it! Our neighborhood is lovely, full of museums and interesting architecture and restaurants. We feel a bit out of place, but I expect that feeling will pass quickly. At least I hope it will. Our things come on Monday, so we have a few days to clean, get the apartment ready, and pray that our couch will fit through the front door. It's quite clear a boy lived here before us and the place needs a bit of love, but we've brought love and tools and we're ready to fix things up. Pics to come shortly.

Thanks to all who prayed for us and thought about us on our adventure. We love and appreciate you.

St. Louis, MO to Hilliard, OH

All the driving made me confused; we actually have 1 more day to go. Days spent in cars don't feel like normal days, especially when the surroundings don't change much. We passed through 3 states today, 3 states that are new to me. I noticed that Illinois and Indiana seem to be in a fight over who gets to claim Abraham Lincoln as its own. Both had signs boasting ownership over various parts of his life. "Lincoln's Boyhood Home." "Land of Lincoln." "Home of Abraham Lincoln." I need to learn more about him.

After St. Louis we spent the day in Ohio with my former coworker and her wonderful family. At Lifewater Carol was my mentor, teacher, encourager, genius, etc. It was great to get to spend time with her family, especially her hilarious little ones.

Highlights:

- Carol made ratatouille for dinner using vegetables from their garden. Delicious!

- As we were leaving, Jude handed us each an old-looking penny he'd dug up from their backyard. To him they were ancient buried treasures. He's convinced there are also dinosaur bones buried in the yard.

- Before we fell asleep we giggled for about an hour. "We're moving. We're really moving" was the phrase we kept repeating.

Kansas City, KS to St. Louis, MO

(That time David walked on the moon without a space suit.)

Had a short drive to St. Louis, where we did the only thing we knew to do: visited the Gateway Arch. We took the metro, completely packed with Cardinals fans headed to the game, to the Mississippi River and the Arch. It was beautiful, but the most interesting part was the museum under the arch. We saw a huge Amish family touring the exhibits and stopping to watch a video about something. Amish people watching TV. I didn't know what to think. I tried to take a picture but my super spy stealth skills were lacking.

Only 1 more day until our new home!

Denver, CO to Kansas City, KS

This was a strange day.

First, we tried to find a post office on the route. Our GPS (Sheila- she's from Australia) led us to a real life ghost town, complete with boarded up buildings, empty playgrounds, and primary school buildings with broken windows. It was eery.

Next, we decided to stop and see the world's largest prairie dog and some 5-legged living cows. Can I spend a moment to tell you how sad this was? The prairie dogs were fake (sorry Sada), and the cows had partially-formed extra legs on their backs. I'm not sure why I expected a happy cow running around on 5 legs, beating those silly cows with only 4, but that was not the case. I won't show pictures because it's not a pretty sight.

David is huge!!!

The only pretty thing at the animal freak show.

And this is what the rest of the drive looked like. For hours. And hours. We went across the entire state of Kansas.

The silver lining? We stayed with parents of friends at Lake Quivira, a community located on a lake and golf course. David said, "This place is nicer than any place we stayed on our honeymoon." A nice run around the lake and I was finally able to shake the images of deformed cows and miles and miles of wheat fields. I'm feeling better now.

Santa Fe, NM to Denver, CO

(David eating clouds.)

The drive itself was less than exciting, but we had a great time with David's grandma, aunt, and uncle in Denver. Grandma made us a delicious slow-cooked dinner as only grandmas can, and when I asked what David was like when he was little she said, "Oh, he was an ornery little guy." Ha ha ha.

During dinner I heard thunder and rain out the window and became embarrassingly excited. I know I'll miss SLO's ever-perfect weather, but for now I'm looking forward to storms and dark clouds and change. In SLO I often forgot what month or even what time of the year it was. I want to crave seasons. I want to need spring to come and take winter away. Silly California girl.

Phoenix, AZ to Santa Fe, NM

Route 66- I don't think any part of the drive will be able to beat this. It was irreverent and ridiculous and I loved it. Also, I don't think any stop will beat Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a sweet town, and we wished we could have stayed longer. We wandered down the narrow streets, peeking into courtyards full of lights and peppers hanging from the walls, listening to music from guitarists and bands, and both thought that we could live there some day. David said, "It captured my heart." More pics of Santa Fe to come.

Highlights:

- Driving through Holbrook, a stop on Route 66. Dinos, tee pees, murals, everything.

- An unexpected time change (1 hour difference) meant that our drive was shorter than planned. Nice!

Lowlight:

- For months we had planned to have a burger from the famous Bobcat Bite Restaurant. We called on our way and they said, "We're out of meat. Oh, and we close at 7:15." We were set to arrive right at 7:15.