Painting Day

Everything I learned while on SPU's Paint Crew came in handy once again. Ethan and I took a trip to Lowe's and shopped for paint colors. We got "Oatbran" for a couple walls in the living room and "Morning Fog" for the bedroom. It's amazing what a little bit of color on the walls can do!

Boxes, Boxes, and More Boxes

The movers came a week ago and unloaded our belongings. We were left with the fun task of unpacking all the boxes and finding places for everything. Here is what we learned about professional movers: They hate stairs, they can carry twice their weight, and they love packing paper! We found out that last one as we unpacked. When the movers drove away, we were started opening boxes---only to find that every item was wrapped in multiple sheets of packing paper.

It was like an exaggerated Christmas---I unwrapped a microwave popcorn packet, rubberbands from the junk drawer, Ethan opened juggling balls---each individually wrapped. It felt like a giant waste of paper---good thing NYC is a huge fan of recycling!

We had a near disaster---our couch barely fit into the living room, and I mean BARELY. The movers got it through the front door, which is pretty much all they cared about. The rest was up to us. Ethan and I were determined not to have a couch in the kitchen, so we got out the tools and went to work. Ethan worked on taking the short wooden legs off (they were the cause of the problem). After much hard work trying to remove stripped screws, the legs were off and we were ready to bring the couch through the hallway to the living room. We literally had to shove it past the door jamb, but we got it through with only a few scrapes on the wood. Success!

Days 7-10

Day Seven: Naperville, Illinois

We had a short drive day today, a 2.5 hour trip to Naperville (which is west of Chicago). We stayed with Jim and Amy in their nice, new house. Jim was transferred to the Chicago office in May and told us what it's been like, adjusting to a new city and job.

They took us to a nice dinner at Walter Payton's Round House, yes, THE Walter Payton, Ethan's most favorite sports star. The restaurant had a one room museum dedicated to #34 and what better place than that to use as the backdrop to our Day 7 photo. :) (The restaurant is in Aurora, IL, where my mom, grandparents, aunts and uncle went to college. )

Day Eight: Youngstown, Ohio

460 miles later, we stopped for the night in Youngstown. We crossed through Indiana and almost made it through Ohio but needed to stop for the night. It was a long day and we were dead tired, so we ordered pizza in our hotel room, watched Grey's Anatomy and took our day 8 photo.Day 9: Grove City, Pennsylvania and Flemington, New Jersey

We drove through Grove City, PA today, which is Ethan's mom's college town. We stopped at the Grove City College campus and took some photos. Marcia, these are for you. :) Here we are in front of her dorm.

Here is the chapel, along with the inside. It was being decorated for the holidays.

We headed out to New Jersey for our last night of hotel living. We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Clinton, NJ. It was quite a place---it seemed like a town hangout, there was a nightclub/bar in the lobby! We skipped that and went to Ethan's cousin Joel's house in Flemington for dinner. He and his wife Tracy have a great farmhouse with lots of outdoor space for their 3 kids to make use of. Ethan and I are heading there for Thanksgiving and staying until Saturday morning.

Day Ten: Brooklyn, NY

Crossing the Verrazano Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn.

We finally made it! After 10 days of driving and staying in hotels, we are finally inside our apartment. Granted, we are sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags but we made it to our destination in one piece. No speeding tickets, no accidents, no flat tires! It was a fun road trip and we saw many things we had never seen before---national monuments, mountain ranges, historic towns, and pick-up trucks full of deer.

I had never seen a hunter's deer carcass before, but after driving through the Midwest, I have seen my share. Just one of the observations I made during my ten days on the road... :)

Luna did a great job on the road trip. Thanks to the drugs the vet gave us, she slept most of the day and had fun exploring each hotel room we stayed in. However, when we got to our apartment, she freaked out a little and started a new routine of hiding under the covers of the sleeping bag. Hardwood flooring and and empty apartment make a loud, echo-ey combo and Luna didn't like that very much. The first night, she spent part of the night curled in a ball at the end of my sleeping bag, with me in it. I had my very own foot warmer.

More to come later about the movers delivering our stuff and the unpacking process...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Road Trip...Part Three

Day Six: Madison, WI

We drove from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Madison today. We crossed the Mississippi River on our way into Wisconsin! It was a long day but we were glad to see some familiar faces. Ben and Cara took us to a great Mexican place for dinner and we had frozen custard for dessert. A Wisconsin treat--- almost like gelato but probably twice as bad for you. :)

We stopped at the state capitol building, which is just down the street from Ben and Cara's apartment. Madison is a great college town and reminds me of Bellingham.

Road Trip....Part Two

Day 4: Devil's Tower and Deadwood

We stopped at Devil's Tower, Wyoming. Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed here. I forgot my sunglasses and was blinded by the bright sun, so we didn't stay long. On to the next stop of the day...









For those of you who either watch the HBO show Deadwood or are fans of the Old West, you will like these next photos. We stopped in the real life town of Deadwood, South Dakota. The main street still looks authentic, but as soon as you look in the storefront windows, the effect is ruined. Slot machines fill almost every building in this town. Gambling was made legal again in 1989 and it seems like the casino's have taken over the town.









We visited the hillside cemetary in Deadwood and saw the gravestones of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Sheriff
Seth Bullock.

Day Five: Mount Rushmore

We stayed in Rapid City, South Dakota and the next morning, stopped at Mount Rushmore on our way out of town. We figured we would have the place all to ourselves, since it was a cold Monday morning. We arrive to the parking lot and are surprised to see it full of cars. It just so happened that we visited Mt. Rushmore on the day of the new South Dakota quarter unveiling ceremony. There was an ampitheater filled with people, with the President of the US Mint, the mayor of Rapid City and the Governor of SD on stage.

On the Road....Part One

We are now in Madison, WI visiting Cara and Ben. This is the first opportunity I've had to update the blog, so although this is a rough diary of our first few days, it still gives you an idea of what we have been up to. Once we get settled in NY, I will write a more detailed blog. :)

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Day One: Spokane

Luna's first road trip---kitty valium saved us from listening to her cry all day.

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Day Two: Missoula

We visited my cousin Abby at her apartment in Missoula, had some Mexican food and saw the new Will Ferrell movie.

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Day Three: Heading to Sheridan, Wyoming

We stopped at a Cracker Barrell restaurant and checked out a book on CD. Although it made the drive go by faster, the book wasn't that great. (At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks)

We stopped by Three Forks, MT--my Grandma Christianson's home town.

The first snow flurries we encountered---leaving Montana and heading into Wyoming.

Stay tuned for Part Two....