We recently moved 3000 miles, clear across the country from Northern Virginia/DC area to Western Washington. It was definitely our biggest move yet. Since we moved in with Aaron's parents we decided to majorly downsize. We sold lots of furniture and got rid of tons of stuff as we were packing everything up. We were successfully able to move using one shipping container from 1-800-Packrat. I'm so glad we did it this way because we were able to just put all our stuff inside the container, and then they did the rest as far as shipping it to Washington. That meant we got to take a "vacation" of sorts as we drove across the country. This is what our trip looked like.
I started packing our stuff up and going through everything at least a month before the big move. By the time we were finally able to load our stuff up in the container I was going crazy from all the clutter and mess. I function much better in an organized space and nothing about moving is conducive to that. Our shipping container came on a Friday, and we had 1 day to load it up. We decided it would be best to get it loaded during the day, so we could have the pest control and cleaning companies come that night (required per our rental contract). The problem with daytime moving is there aren't any men home during the day to help. I decided to call the missionaries, and they came through for us. They came with another set of missionaries, so we had 4 missionaries there to help us load it all up. Aaron was so relieved when they showed up since he had been loading boxes for at least an hour by himself. He was super grateful for the help. It's amazing belonging to a church where there are always people willing to serve and help when you need it.
Our first stop was Michigan to see my family. We took off Saturday morning, September 12. We stayed at my dad's house Saturday and Sunday night. It was so nice getting to see everyone. I told my dad before we came that my whole pregnancy I had been craving steak. Not just any steak, I wanted the steak like he makes it on the grill. When we got to my brother's Saturday night we had a big steak dinner with Michigan sweet corn and fresh squash and salad with veggies from Angie's parent's garden. It was delicious and everything I had been craving for weeks. I think Noah ate almost an entire steak by himself he liked it so much. On Sunday we had breakfast at Billy and Angie's after waking up to no hot water at my dad's house. We also ended up having to go to the store to get some warmer clothing since I didn't plan for super cold weather when I was packing up our suit cases in 90 degree weather down in Virginia. It was cool in Michigan but was going to be 40 degrees by the time we got to Yellowstone (Yikes!). Unfortunately, Cyndi was in the hospital the whole time we were there with gall bladder issues and some other problems, so we visiting her on Sunday as well. When we got home we had a big get together with the family. I love going home and seeing everyone I love!
Monday morning we hit the road and drove all day. I think we drove about 12 hours on Monday. We stopped somewhere in Minnesota for the night. We made sure to get a motel with a pool; that way the kids could get out some of their energy before bed.
By Tuesday there were major problems at Aaron's work, so he spent quite a bit of the day texting and talking on the phone trying to help debug some problems. This continued for the rest of the week. So much for a week off of work! We stopped at Wall Drug on the way to Mount Rushmore since we had been seeing billboards for about 300 miles. I picked up the brochure to read about their story. Apparently a couple bought the small drug store in Wall and business was really poor for several years. They had decided to give the store 5 years before giving up on it. They were running out of time when the wife figured out how to get people to come to their store. It was a super hot summer, and she could hear the cars going by on the interstate. She knew they must be hot and thirsty, so they put up signs advertising free ice water. Sure enough the signs worked, and to this day they still give out free ice water to their customers. The store is now run by their son I believe. It has expanded to cover a whole square block of town and is a major tourist attraction.
On Wednesday morning we woke up and headed to Devil's Tower first thing in the morning. We were there before the visitor's center even opened. We walked up a little ways to see it but didn't stay long. On the way out we talked with a couple of guys that were getting ready to climb to the top. The boys thought that was pretty cool.
We finally made it to Yellowstone pretty late in the afternoon. It took about an hour and a half once we got into the park to get to Old Faithful. We drove through some pretty strange weather while in Yellowstone including rain and slush. I couldn't believe it was cold enough for the rain to freeze considering the day before we were in 80 degree weather. Once at Old Faithful we had to wait about 10 minutes for it to erupt. It sputtered for awhile before it finally shot up into the air. It is pretty amazing. We then stopped at a few other spots on the way out to walk around and look at different geysers and pools. We didn't see any bears but did see bison (one that literally crossed the parking lot right in front of our car) and a herd of elk. We made it out of the park around 6 but didn't want to stay at one of the motels right there since we knew they would be expensive and probably already full. We didn't realize it would be hours before we found somewhere to stay the night and that there would be no where to stop to eat along the way. I think we fed the kids a gas station sandwich for dinner. We were pretty tired by the time we stopped, and the kids were disappointed that we didn't get to go swimming.
Our last stop on the way was Moscow, ID to see Mike and Lanae and baby Hannah. It was a short day of driving (if 6 hours is short). We got there early in the afternoon and just sort of chilled in their apartment for awhile while Aaron did some work. Around 5 we all headed out to see Mike at school. He just started law school at the University of Idaho. We then all headed back, and Lanae cooked us dinner. We just hung out talking all night. Sarah fell asleep in my lap while watching Wild Kratts, and the boys passed out on the floor even with all the grown ups sitting in there talking. They were in the way of the pull out bed when it was time for us to go to sleep, and we were able to literally just grab the blanket they were sleeping on and slide them across the floor. That's what changing time zones will do to you; they were just so tired. The other problem with changing time zones is early wake up times. We told Mike they would be up early, but I don't think he expected them to be up at 6 in the morning. When we were all going to sleep Mike went back to school to finish some school work. I think he got back home around 1 or 2 in the morning. We took him back to school on our way out of town; I'm sure he was tired all day from being up so late and getting up so early.
Friday was out last day on the road. It was about another 6 hours from Moscow to Olympia. We pulled in the driveway around 2 in the afternoon only to be startled by 2 small dear in the driveway that jumped out in front of us. We were so tired of driving by the time we got to the house and so glad to be done. It was definitely a big move, but so far it has been totally worth it. We are all loving being with family again.
1 comment:
What fun adventures!! I look forward to hear how you're all adjusting to your new normal in Washington!! Keep up the great work friend!
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