3786 miles

Well, it has been a while to say the least. We’ve been in DC for nearly a month now, and I still feel like we haven’t had more than a few minutes to sit down and relax. Between trying to furnish and paint our pad (apartment for those who aren’t up on the lingo), Julie getting started with school, and me trying to get settled with being out here for work, and a million other things…it has been rather hectic to say the least. A few things we’ve learned; 1. The traffic here is even worse than everyone says it is 2. It is a lot harder and more expensive might I say, to furnish an apartment than I ever would have dreamed 3. DC is even cooler than I remember from when I have lived here in the past 4. The melting pot of cultures here is absolutely awesome 5. There is something so gratifying about running for 5 minutes and then being on the National Mall. And 6. The guy who designed the streets/layout of DC was not the sharpest tool in the shed – well he wouldn’t have even made it to the shed, crykee the streets are confusing and weirdly place here…it even confuses the tomtoms and garmins.

Let me not get ahead of myself here…I finally had a minute to put these pics of my computer, so you’re going to get a flyby of the last month of our lives which was highlighted by a car smashed full of stuff driving first from SLC to Big Bear Lake, CA for Julie’s fam’s reunion and then driving all the way to DC. We figured if we were going to drive across the country, might as well drive all the way across, not just the weak sauce SLC to DC route.

First is the car…it was a work of art. I cannot believe how much stuff we got into this little pup. Geometry has never looked so good. As you can see by the pics, we filled it up quite nicely, and after doing so, noticed that the car was considerably lower than before. But hey, it ran like a champ. Not bad for a car that was built when Julie was 2 and I was 5. Shout out to the Japanese. Notice the ample legroom.

From there we headed down to Big Bear Lake, CA, where Julie’s fam had an awesome cabin rented. It was like the calm before the storm. We just got to hang out, talk, eat, and enjoy some open space in preparation for being smashed in car for like 50 hours of driving. Julie’s fam is awesome…it has been so great to get to know them and get to know them better and better. Highlights included GI Joe with the brother in laws, hanging out on the beach, a baseball game, beauty sunsets, playing games and talking late into the night and wicked good food. Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the cabin.

From there it was this: and we were on our way

A look at all the landscapes across the country. From CA, to AZ, to NM, to TX, to OK, to AR, to TN, to VA, to DC there was definitely an abundance of different terrain. It was actually a lot prettier and more diverse than the northern route (I-80)

Stopped in Oklahoma City, which was actually a really cool city. Highlighted by the beautiful memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing. I can still remember sitting in my sixth grade class watching the news the day this happened.

From there, we walked in Memphis, and then stopped where I was most excited about…Nashville! That place is awesome. Here is it is proven, that is is still cool to wear tight jeans, cowboy boots, a flannel shirt, and cowboy hat and go out on the town. They just do their thing. The coolest part was the main street there that was full of Honky Tonks. I have always wanted to go to a Honky Tonk, and we got our fix that night. Just open bar/restaurants with fantastic live country, bluegrass, Nashville music. Country music and its followers are just in a league of their own, but it was so cool to see and hear. Jacks BBQ, supposedly the most famous in Nashville was quite tasty. They were also having a PBR (professional bull riding) event at the arena there in town which made the crowd even more awesome.

Thanks to my brother Josh we learned that the only life size replica of the Parthenon is in Nashville. So we went and had a look They built it for the centennial of the city, and everyone loved it so much, they reinforced it and left it for good. Also ate at this sandwich place called “Which Wich”, you should look up and see if there is one nearby you, cause it was really really good. Julie is sandwich master 3000 and she loved it, so it has to be pretty good.

From there we spent our final day of driving…we began seeing some familiar territory/signs that got us really excited about how close we were. We finally arrived here in DC and then spent the day unloading the car and getting all our stuff moved in. The Legend (the car) was pretty excited to have its burden lifted. We didn’t have a bed, or any furniture so we had our first romantic dinner in our apartment on a cardboard box, and then slept on the floor (didn’t sleep so well), although we did gain a new appreciation for beds.

After 5 nights of sleeping on the floor (ya, I am serious), although it did get a little more comfy when our boxes of clothes arrived and we slept on them for some added padding. Nonetheless, we’d had enough, we rented a Dodge Ram, and went and bought a bed and whole bunch of furniture (somehow still not enough make a dent in what we actually need for this place). The crowning achievement was the bed though… I’ve never slept so well. We tried to craigslist and warehouse mattress factory for the bed, but had no luck and only found stuff that wouldn’t be any more comfy than the floor, so we went to trusty old costco and got a bed.

So, we still need to get chairs for our table (getting a little tired of eating standing up), get our couch (it was backordered being delivered next week), we got chairs for the living room (twice, and took them back twice) so those are still on the list. But we’ve got the place painted, and looking a bit more presentable. As soon as I have some time, I will take some pictures of the finished product, and you can let us know what you think. This is really an awesome apartment and we are loving the neigborhood, the ward, the diversity, and all of the excited going ons of the nation’s capitol. Everything from a great Shakespeare play the other night, to huge rallies and protests on the Hill for the Health Care reform…(there were visitors in church that had flown in to be a part of the million plus protestors…yikes) to museums and restaurants galore. We are loving this place. More to come soon, hopefully this brings you up to speed on the crazy month we’ve had. Can’t complain when this is where this is just a few minutes away for your Sunday walk…

We got to go to NYC last weekend for Tal’s wedding which was so so great. All of the 9 kids were there, no crazy kids, it was just fun to be in the greatest city there is with the best people there are. I will put some pictures of that up soon.