Road Trip!

Change...I think I have a love-hate relationship with change. I love the feeling of embarking on a new chapter of my life, but I hate leaving my family and friends...3,000 miles...or more...I know that with change comes growth...all in all, change is beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our journey began early in the morning on June 22...leaving Virginia, traveling through North Carolina to Tennessee...

Random but meant to be...So, while driving through the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee (thanks Sarah!), Annette's song to me came on the radio!! Reminded me of what a special person she is and how grateful I am to have her as a mentor, friend, and "other Mother."

to Little Rock, Arkansas for the night...after arriving at our hotel, with reservations, we were told that the hotel was overbooked and our room was no longer available. After being in the car for over 16 hours, this was the last thing we wanted to hear...thankfully, the hotel representative called another local hotel and we received a room for free! 

I have bad dreams about these trucks...and terrible visions of the logs falling off the truck and rapidly crashing through my windshield and splitting my...okay you get the picture...someone should make a special lane for only semi-trucks, especially those carrying dangerous objects such as trees!!!

After spending the night in Little Rock, we slept in a little longer than planned before heading through Oklahoma to Texas and finally arriving in New Mexico.

Traveling west usually means the sun will set behind you first but something was a bit off when we crossed the New Mexico border...

After spending the night in the Hard Rock Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we continued our road trip through New Mexico to Arizona...along the way, we encountered Navajo nation, amazing views, a fire, and the Grand Canyon...

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Traveling to the Grand Canyon on the same day of traveling in the car for 6 hours...mmmm...not such a good idea...but, we made it work...note to self: getting to the Grand Canyon requires much more traveling than anticipated...after seeing one of the seven natural wonders of the world...we continued on our journey to California...

This is STILL ARIZONA... 

For some reason, the drive from the Grand Canyon to California seemed like forever! When we stopped for dinner at the delicious In and Out and Taco Hell...I discovered that my left headlight was out - great. With the sun set and high beams on, the last 8 hours of the trip included several cars and semi-trucks flashing their high beams at me, Pepita (my GPS) taking us on a two lane road in the middle of no where, random creatures running across the road, and Sarah and Sarah getting car sick from the two lane road in the middle of no where...there are no pictures of our arrival in California - why? Well, after driving the last 8 hours, mostly on a road that felt like we would be stranded for days if we broke down, the only thing on my mind was getting to the house, sleep, and more sleep...over 3,000 miles later...we arrived in California!