5/24/2013

Road tripping across the United States || winner of the Roly Poly Pinafore

*I packed my bags for the summer and moved from North Carolina to California.  This means my blog packed its bags too.  owen's olivia will return to its normal schedule of sewing and home decorating sometime in late August.

He's my little Elton John.


Well, we made it!  If you follow along on Facebook, which you totally should, you may know that we have settled into our new place.  Road tripping across the United States is serious business.  Get two adults and one child into a small car, and well, I'll let you guess the rest.
 
Can I tell you the lower part of the United States is beautiful?  We drove through NC, TN, AK, TX, NM, UT, AZ, NV, and CA.  If people tell you the US is overpopulated, they are lying.  It's just that a lot of people want to live in the same places, and there's a lot of open land in the Southwest.   It may be owned by farmers or whatnot, but technically speaking, there is plenty of land for everyone.  
 
My least favorite drive was from Copperas Cove, Texas to Cedar City, UT, which we broke up by staying in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  There's just nothing out there.  And most of it was flat with lots of dirt and rocks. 
 
We will travel the middle part of the US on our way back to NC.

The only sewing I did while I was in the car were these few hexagons.  I spent the rest of the time playing Candy Crush.  Shame.on.me.




Here are a few pictures from the road.

Arkansas 




Wind mill farms in Texas.




New Mexico



New Mexico


Shiprock, New Mexico

 

Four Corners.  Four state lines touch each other: New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.  It's so freaking hot at Four Corners, and I am wearing jeans and wool slippers.


Arizona
 


Nevada



Alien Fresh Jerky - Nevada. 




Bryce Canyons, Utah








Cafe Rio -  A MUST try if you are ever near one.  I had the sweet pork barbacoa salad sans lettuce (go ahead and laugh) and Matt had the enchilada burrito.  To die for.  You must try their mint lemonade too. Oh, and kids eat free! 



While we stayed in Cedar City, UT, Matt's good friend hooked me up with antlers!  Amazing, right?!  Not sure what I am going to do with them yet, so if I start pinning antlers like crazy, you will now know why. (You can find me on Pinterest here.)


 We were fortunate to find a furnished one bedroom apartment on Craigslist.  We didn't get scammed.  Hooray!  This apartment is the least kid-friendly, family-friendly apartment ever, but we are so happy to have a place in a nice district and didn't need to rent any furniture.  Do you want a tour of the apartment?  We are within walking distance to many shops and restaurants and we have access to a nice pool and workout gym, tons of trails, bike paths, and sidewalks, and the beach is 4 miles down the road.  Oh, did I mention the LDS San Diego Temple is right behind our building?


You do not have to be Mormon to appreciate the beauty in LDS temples.  They are simply downright gorgeous structures with the most well manicured lawns and landscaping you will ever see.

It's a bit of culture shock for me living in an apartment with a family, and most people live in apartments here.  I cannot send my son into the backyard anymore, and if we forget something at the apartment, that means carrying everything back up three flights to go get it.

Did you know San Diego is hilly?  Random yes, but I was thinking since we were on the coast that it would mostly be flat.  Pacific coast is very different from the Atlantic coast, and I am sure a fault line or two has something to do with that.  Oh, and the weather!  The weather is just spoiling me to death out here!  Low humidity, cool temperatures in the mornings and evenings, and warm sun during the day.  I am already dreading going back to North Carolina!

So in summary, I am really liking the place so far.  As I spend more time here, I can talk more about San Diego, but just let it be known that it's very easy for someone to become a total bum while living here.  It's just that great.  :)

If you want to stay updated, follow me on Facebook or through bloglovin' or RSSGFC is going away this summer.  I hope you'll tag along!


Random.org chose Katie from Simple Simon and Company as the winner of the Roly Poly Pinafore by imagine gnats.  An email has been sent.  Congrats!


peaceout

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/24/2013

    How cool that you got to see all of those different states! The pictures are amazing!
    The thought of living in San Diego for the summer sounds like heaven, lucky you. Have fun exploring!

    Steph :)

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    1. Thanks! It was really cool! It really puts things into perspective.

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  2. Good to hear from your blog! You had an awesome trip! Actually the weather hear has been cool and sunny! Im (northern girl that I am) loving it!!!

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  3. Gorgeous photos! Sounds like an amazing trip, glad you found somewhere nice to live.

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  4. Adventure of a lifetime crossing a country. I haven't done it yet. Australia would take as long as the US to cross, with more desert through the centre. Our population all sticks to the sea boards too. Here in coastal South Australia we have the same climate as Southern California, we're very fortunate. I don't have much knowledge of Mormon religion, but your temples are beautiful. LDS is not a common denomination in Australia, so the stereotypes are what we hear most and are misled by, sorry.

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  5. Wow - great pics!

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  6. Gorgeous pics! Jealous;) Love the hexies, at least you got a little sewing in there.
    Following on bloglovin'

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  7. How fun! I am participating in the get acquainted bloghop as well and thought I'd check out all of the blogs this evening. I am LDS as well and I also live in Southern California, my husband has been trying to get a job in San Diego for the past year but we haven't had any luck. I live in West Los Angeles and almost everyone lives in apartments here too. Though I live right outside of Beverly Hills so we actually pay almost $3000 a month for our 2 bedroom. One of the reasons we want to move to San Diego is because it's more affordable :)

    I love your blog and I'm adding to to my feed!

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