Day 6 without furniture...

The subtitle of this post is, "or why I did 2 and a half hours of cardio on Monday." Yes, two and a half hours. That's because I just had to see the season finale of The Bachelorette (I've already invested 8 weeks in this show, so clearly I'm not stopping now!), and the only place to do this was down in our apartment complex's gym where there is a TV (seeing as our TV is currently on a truck somewhere between Oklahoma City and Galveston). And, being that The Bachelorette falls on a Monday, and many people work out on Monday evenings, clearly I had to get down there a half hour early to stake my claim on the lone TV in the gym. So I managed to walk and bike for 2 and a half hours while I watched the show (with a few prolonged "stretching breaks"), while attempting to pretend that it wasn't actually me who had changed the channel to ABC and that I wasn't actually riveted to Jillian and the selection of her future husband-to-be (all the while cringing every time the three guys sharing the gym with me glanced up at the TV and witnessed my reality TV shame.) And then of course I had to do the same thing last night (but only for a little over an hour) to catch the After The Final Rose episode.

Let's just say I'm looking forward to my couch arriving.

That, and a bed to sleep in that does not involve a battery pump. And a table so I can stop eating on the floor or hovering over the sink. Oh, and dishes. And cookware. And clothes other than the 5 outfits I've been wearing since we left for our trip two weeks ago... You get the picture. We can't wait for that moving truck to arrive. We're told it should be tomorrow, so I'm crossing my fingers that the next time I update this blog it will be from the comfort of my cushioned couch!

Road trip recap, part 3

The final leg of our trip took us south into New Mexico and deep into the southwest. After Mesa Verde, we set out for Santa Fe. Driving through southern Colorado and northern New Mexico was spectacular-- beautiful rolling green hills, pine forests, and jagged rock formations. Unfortunately we rolled into Santa Fe a little later than we had hoped, so we didn't have much time to sight see there, and I didn't get any pictures. But we had a nice pasta dinner and wine at a delicious Italian trattoria in the old town, followed by a romantic stroll past some of the old churches (many built in the early 1600s!), quaint courtyards, and town square.

The next morning we headed back into the town center in search of a quick breakfast. On a whim, we ended up bypassing Starbucks and buying homemade steak and chicken fajitas grilled on the corner by a street vendor at 10:30am. We ate them on benches in the shade of the tall trees in the town square. Unexpected, but delicious. Afterward, we drove south through New Mexico and down to Roswell. We stopped for a Blizzard at the local DQ and of course we had to visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center. It was in an old movie theater, and it laid out all the evidence for the famous Roswell UFO crash back in the late 1940s. Some of it was pretty convincing, some of it was definitely debatable, but it was entertaining all around. This is J observing the alien autopsy, and then the front of the museum.


Next, we drove down to the very southern part of New Mexico to stay in Carlsbad for the night. Unfortunately, I don't have many positive things to report about this town, but the fact that we felt unsafe hanging out in our hotel room that evening prompted us to go find something to do and we wound up repacking all of our belongings back into our car and seeing "The Hangover" at a drive in movie theater, which was a blast. I hadn't seen a movie at a drive-in since 1983 when I saw "Return of the Jedi" with my family as a very small child. Neither of us had seen previews (where they usually show you all the funny parts), so we laughed like crazy.

The final stop on our road trip was Carlsbad Caverns National Park the next morning. Unlike the town of Carlsbad, the caverns were really interesting and well maintained. The main "room" of the caverns is the largest single cave room in the entire western hemisphere.


An hour southeast of Carlsbad, we crossed our final state line:


We continued east on I-10 for about 6 hours and arrived in San Antonio, where we spent the night with one of my best friends from college, Anne, and recuperated over some delicious Tex Mex. The next day, we made the short trek from San Antonio into Austin. During our road trip. we saw so many beautiful, funny, and uniquely American things, but, after 8 days of driving, we were so happy to have finally arrived, and we celebrated that night with dinner at Austin's legendary BBQ establishment, The Salt Lick. We're looking forward to many more adventures ahead as we explore Austin, settle in, and meet new people.

Road trip recap, part 2

Picking up with my last post, day 3 concluded with about 6 or 7 hours of tearing down I-15 through Utah. We spent the night in a shady, and extremely hot hotel room in Price, Utah. Things didn't improve much the next morning when we drove around for 30 minutes looking for a cup of coffee. No dice in this small town. I'm going to reveal our stereotypical Seattle coffee snobbery here when I say that in a moment of desperation we pulled into the McDonald's drive-through lane to procure said cup of coffee. If we would have gone with the straight drip coffee, I'm sure it would have been fine, but, being that it was 100 degrees out, we opted for the iced coffee instead. Big mistake. Our iced "coffees" were literally white with cream (as in not even remotely lightly tan colored), and we had specifically asked them to go easy on the cream. So we had about one sip each and then tossed them in the nearest trash. But I digress...

The rest of the day in eastern Utah was splendid. First we checked out Canyonlands National Park, which is essentially like the Grand Canyon, except that there is no one there, and there are no guard rails. So you can wander right up to the edge of these plunging red rock canyons and peer down to your potential death several thousand feet below. Amazing. We took some great pictures there, but both J and I started to get that nervous roller coaster feeling in our stomach any time we looked over the edge, so we didn't get too close. It was also about 105 degrees there in the blazing sun, so short half mile excursions out of our air conditioned car left us sweating like we'd just run a marathon and panting for water.

Next up was Arches National Park, which is just 30 miles down the road from Canyonlands. I had expected to like Arches better, and although the huge red rock formations were extremely cool, I think Canyonlands won out for the sheer drama of the scenery. However, we checked out some of the famous arches and took a bunch of shots and I'm very happy to have had the opportunity to see both parks.

Back in our car and relishing in the blissful AC, we drove through Moab, Utah, where we stopped at a cafe for an ice cream (me) and an iced coffee (J) that was called "Wake'n'Bake." Classy. And kind of unexpected for Utah. Moving on...

We spent that night in Durango, Colorado, which is a fun little western town. It definitely has relaxed, outdoorsy ski town vibe and, more importantly, it offers an array of dining choices, which we were extremely excited about. After several days of Subway and other quick, side of the road food, we were in the mood for something different and made a b-line for the Durango's Indian restaurant. It did not disappoint.

We finished off our stint in Colorado the next morning with a trip to Mesa Verde National Park, which is home to a collection of Native American dwellings that were built into the sides of cliffs around 1200 AD. They are really well preserved, and you can actually walk through some of them. A very cool and unique experience.

Next up is Santa Fe, Roswell, Carlsbad Caverns, and then, finally, the great state of Texas.

Road trip recap, part 1

We started our road trip early last Thursday morning, and we knew it was going to be a long day of driving and not much sight-seeing. The high point was stopping in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, for lunch followed by a short walk through the resort and along the scenic lake.

I haven't spent much time in Idaho, but driving through on I-90 towards Montana was some of the most beautiful scenery we saw on the trip.

We spent our first night in Butte, Montana, and, to be quite honest, the highlight of our time in that town was standing in front of the sign right off the freeway and taking our picture in front of it so that it said, "Butt." Yeah, we're 7th graders at heart, and, really, when the only other thing in town to see is a collection of abandoned mines, taking pictures of a sign that says "Butt" seems pretty entertaining.

Oh, yeah, and they sell bear repellent in Butte. We couldn't figure out if that was something you spray on yourself or at the bear who might be attacking you.

We spent the next two days in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks. Yellowstone was stunning, but very crowded. We saw a bunch of sights, but had to follow a long line of SUVs and campers to get to each one. Fortunately, the traffic didn't scare off the wildlife.

(It's hard to tell, but that is actually a buffalo causing the traffic jam above.)

We saw a moose (or J did...I was driving), a few elk, and a whole bunch of bison. We also saw Old Faithful, lots of smaller geysers and thermal pools, Yellowstone Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs, and probably some other things that I'm forgetting. We spent the night in a little cabin right on Lake Yellowstone, and had a delicious dinner of grilled bison filets (it sounds a little strange, but it's just like filet mignon, except that it's leaner, and I actually think it even tasted better!) in the Lake Yellowstone Hotel's fancy dining room.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Another buffalo chilling by the side of the road.

Yellowstone Falls into the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone. Pretty spectacular... I don't think this picture does it justice!

We were surprised to walk out of our cabin and find this guy munching on dinner right in front of us!

Old Faithful, doing her thing...

Beautiful scenery and such.

Thermal pools, hot springs, and geysers, oh my!

After we wrapped up our day and a half in Yellowstone, we headed south to the Grand Tetons.

J enjoying the open road...

The scenery was spectacular, but unfortunately I was a little cranky and didn't enjoy it much. I knew we had about 7 hours of driving ahead, which I was not looking forward to. We also didn't have a clear cut route to get us down to Utah, so after reviewing our trusty atlas numerous times and spending about 45 very painful minutes on a tiny winding 2-lane Wyoming state highway, we decided our best option was to backtrack southwest into Idaho so we could get back on an interstate freeway. And, let me tell you, that was a good call. The scenic, winding 2-lane highway through the mountains only sounds like a good idea until you get stuck behind a line of 11 RVs driving 10 miles below the speed limit. Thankfully, we made it back to I-15 and we were on our way to Utah. More to come tomorrow!

We made it!

We rolled into Austin yesterday afternoon after almost 8 days on the road. We were happy to reach our final destination, but the trip was fantastic. We saw 8 states, toured through 6 national parks, visited two other cool western towns (Durango, CO and Santa Fe, NM), and traveled through several other towns that were not so cool (read: very sketchy.) It was an amazing reminder of how huge and diverse our country is. In 8 days we traveled through so many different climates and different types of vegetation, but yet we just scratched the surface in terms of all the U.S. has to offer. Pictures to come very soon! In the meantime, we're just running errands and getting settled into our new apartment (or as settled as you can be when you have no furniture and are essentially camping on the ground.) Stay tuned!

Let the adventure begin...

• Three solid days of packing? Check.
• All of our worldly possessions loaded into a semi? Check.
• Four grueling hours of cleaning our rental? Floors so clean you could lick them? Check and check!
• Car packed with two weeks of clothing and entertainment, plus bedding and towels and dishes for up to 10 days after we arrive? Check.
• A nice salmon dinner and a cold glass of pinot grigio with J's parents after a very long day? Check.

We're ready to roll... The adventure begins tomorrow morning at 0700 hours. We'll take plenty of pictures and if we can post along the way, we'll do it. Otherwise, we'll see you in Austin in about a week!

Goodbyes

They've started, and I hate it. In addition to being sad because I'm leaving and won't be seeing many of these people for a long time, they're just awkward and depressing. Some goodbyes are teary-eyed, others are stoic and comprised of very few words, some are awkward with promises of staying in touch that we both know will not be fulfilled, and others are just plain sad. Today was my last day at work, and I said many goodbyes-- several from each of these categories. My co-workers, however, did a great job of making me feel special and appreciated with a few well timed surprises, and I know that many of them have crossed over to become real-life friends that I will keep in touch with for years to come.

We began toying with the idea of business school in November, decided that we would definitely go in March, and have been making preparations for Austin since April. So this move has been looming on the horizon for a quite a while. The anticipation has been exciting, but after months of planning, debating, worrying, discussing, and dreaming, I'm ready to get the show on the road and finally start this new chapter of our lives. Now that we've said goodbyes to co-workers, many friends, and most of our family members, I'm looking forward to the end of goodbye and the beginning of hello. Hello road trip, hello business school, hello Austin. Just T-5 days until we hit the road. Hello, adventure.

Fabulous Fourth

We spent the holiday weekend down in Portland visiting with my family one more time before the big move. Knowing we won't be back down to visit again until Christmas was sad, but we had a great time with my parents, my sister, and my brother and his girlfriend. Friday afternoon we logged some pool time down at my parents' country club, followed by a fanatastic dinner of my dad's homemade ribs (in honor of Texas of course!) and an impromptu fireworks show on our back patio.

Saturday, my sister and I took a run/walk around the neighborhood and then headed back to the pool while the guys golfed. That evening we attended a big BBQ and 4th of July party at the country club. However, we were pretty wiped out from the heat, so we ended up staying in and watching a movie instead of heading back out afterwards to watch the fireworks.

The only bummer was holiday weekend traffic and a 4 and a half drive home. I'll sign off with some pictures from our new digital camera!

My brother, sis, and Dad

The whole fam enjoying BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, and homemade baked beans

Sparklers (followed by fireworks!)

And apparently it was a little bit of dance party, too...

J and I at the riverside 4th of July BBQ festivities