Alaska to California Part 4: Washington

Our ferry docked in Bellingham, Washington, and this was the end of the ride for us. We drove our car off the ferry into the mayhem that is Seattle area traffic. Gary the Elephant was pretty excited to be back behind the wheel. Our cars are older, which means they don't have the fancy technology that newer cars have. We love listening to audio books so we had to get creative. Husband's genius solution involved attaching an MP3 player to a bluetooth speaker. It worked perfectly. We listened to Education: A Memoir by Tara Westover (side note: Very interesting, but crazy book. We kept looking at each other saying "This is crazy.") The book held our attention and we often couldn't wait to get back on the road so we could listen it. 

Our first stop was to visit some old friends. We spent the afternoon and evening catching up and making plans for a future summer trip to their family lake house (H and I if you are reading this, we haven't forgotten the offer. Don't be surprised if we show up with our bathing suits one day). We had so much to catch up on that I forgot to take pictures.

From there, we headed to Mount St. Helens. This stop is out of the way, a bit of a drive off of the main highway, but it is definitely worth it. It's not every day you get to visit the site of a volcanic eruption. There is a great Visitor's Center that tells of the events leading up the eruption and also discusses the aftermath. There is a viewing platform that gives you great views of Mount St. Helens. The drive up to the Visitor's Centre was beautiful and you can get some great views of the mountain along the way.  As we drove up, we came across this valley that was covered in fog. I have never seen fog as thick as this fog. It was beautiful and slightly spooky.

Because of the fog, I was afraid we wouldn't get a good view of the mountain. The fog was isolated to that one area and as we got closer to the top of road, the sun shone brightly giving us perfect, clear weather. The landscape close to the mountain was surprisingly barren. I guess an area covered in volcanic ash makes it difficult for things to grow. Everywhere you looked you could see trees that had been destroyed by the blast. It was amazing to see the horseshoe shape that was left after the blast removed 1000 feet off the top of the mountain.

Beautiful peek at Mount Adams in the background.

Just as we were about to leave, we spotted something moving in the distance. We were surprised to see a mountain goat family hanging out on the rocks below. The babies were so cute. I wanted to take one home but Husband said we didn't have room.

If you are ever near Mount St. Helens, and by near I mean anywhere within a couple of hours of it, you should plan to visit. You will get the opportunity to experience a unique part of American history. There is a small charge to tour the visitor's center and go out on the viewing platform but trust me when I say you won't regret the time or price.

Alaska to California Part 3: Juneau and Ketchikan

Our ferry stopped in both Juneau and Ketchikan on its way down the coast. We had about 3 hours to explore each city. In Juneau we walked to a beach not far from the ferry dock. We watched porpoises swim in the water. It was so cool to see these animals move through the water. We counted at least 6 of them. They were pretty close to the shore. Husband estimates that some were as close as 25 feet from the shore. I will defer to his distance judgement, as mine is non-existent. 

As we left Juneau, we had an incredible view of Mendenhall Glacier. 

The next day we stopped in Ketchikan. I was excited for this stop because I knew there would be many totem poles in the city. I love totem poles. I think they are a very unique way to tell history. We spent our time reading about the totems poles and visiting the stores in the area.  

One of the pros for taking the ferry was being able to stop in Juneau and Ketchikan, especially since we didn't make it to either city while we were living in Fairbanks. Travel in Alaska can be difficult because a number of cities and areas are only accessible by plane or boat. There are still a couple of cities on our list that we didn't get to visit (I'm looking at you Nome and Sitka) but we were happy to be able to cross two more off of our list. Who knows, maybe we will make a trip back to visit and finish off our list.

I may be crazy...

We are moving in a month, the weekend after Easter to be exact. We are busy purging, organising and packing. And yet, I couldn't resist putting out some Easter decorations. Husband thinks I'm crazy. After all, we are moving! He joked that the decorations will be the only things left unpacked. We had some friends over yesterday and they commented that, of course, even though we are moving, I've decorated for Easter! I can't help it! I love decorating for holidays. And I can easily justify it: The decorations already have their own box. All I have to do it swoop them up and drop them in the box. It will take two minutes! Besides I think they make the place look more homey and distract from the boxes and general mess that comes with preparing to move.

Settling in

Over the last week I have discovered that the only thing worse than packing up an apartment is unpacking one! With a very empty apartment, it was difficult to decide where things should go. I moved my dishes 3 times before finally deciding on their permanent home! I also discovered that I have unpacking ADD! There was half unpacked box sitting on our kitchen floor for about 5 days. If I needed to get into the fridge, I would push the box with my foot toward the cupboard and out of my way. If I needed to get into that cupboard, the box would be nudged back towards the fridge. I finally unpacked it. But to be honest, I kind of miss the box...

Our drive to Texas was an adventure, to say the least! We loaded the truck while it was snowing. Then we left as the snow really started to come down. By the time we hit the highway it was snowing pretty heavily.

The wonderful piles of snow we left behind!

We drove all day. Thankfully the snow lightened up and then stopped altogether. We made a quick stop in Northern Ohio to visit Husband's former pastor and his wife.

Bill and Gail


After a few hours of sleep, we were on the road again. We stopped in Southern Ohio to visit Husband's family. Once again, it was snowing (we were beginning to wonder if the snow would follow us all the way to Texas!) His nephews didn't have school so we were able to visit with them.

Husband and his nephew. He's shooting spiderwebs because he's spiderman.

After the family visit, it was onto Texas through Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. I am sure you have heard about the ice storm that hit those states. Well, we were lucky to be part it! Thankfully, we were driving through it at the beginning so it wasn't too bad.

Ice build up on our wipers. The whole car was covered in a sheet of ice.

The trees were so heavy with ice that there were broken branches all over the place.

All the highway signs had icicles on them.

The ice stopping falling once we crossed into Texas. The trees were still covered in ice and with the sunlight shining on them, they seemed like they were glowing. It was a beautiful sight. I tried to take a picture but I couldn't quite capture the shimmering. Here's a couple of the ones that turned out alright.

Now, here we are in Texas, wearing shorts and t-shirts and having the windows open in February. Crazy! The boxes are slowly being unpacked. I figure that at the rate we are going, we will have them all unpacked by Christmas!

Packing, schmaking!

We are moving on Monday, and I am pretty sure I will packing right up to the very second we close the door on the moving truck. I think that I have packing ADD. I have at least a dozen half-packed boxes scattered around my apartment. What is the deal with that? I have no idea. I start to pack a box, and then after a few minutes, I quit. Sometimes I get bored. But most of the time, I give up because I can't figure out how to pack the box effectively. My kitchen has the most half-packed boxes. You try to fit a number of odd shaped small kitchen appliances and gadgets in a box! It is pretty much impossible to pack some of this stuff up without leaving large pockets of open space in the box. I have decided that open space is okay as long as everything makes it into a box. And if my husband asks why the blender is the only thing in a rather large box, I will most likely give him the glare of death and tell him that if he thinks he can do better, then he can do it himself because I'm bored with it!

We're moving!

Husband and I moving to Texas in less than 2 weeks! Husband is leaving the army and will be training to become a police officer. The class was going to start in March, but has been pushed to at least June. By the time we received that information, we were already making plans to move. So we decided to move out there early. That will give us time to get settled. It will give me time to find a job. I haven't worked for almost a year now, and the thought of a job kind of makes me sad! How will I keep up with all my talk shows? (Just kidding...sort of!)

I have never moved an entire apartment across the country before. In fact, I've never moved an entire apartment across town! It has been, and will continue to be, a learning experience. The other night, Husband was trying to reserve a moving truck online, and he asked me what size of truck I thought we would need. Ummm? How about one that is big enough to fit all of our stuff? For some reason, he did not find that answer helpful! To be honest, I don't want to have anything to do with picking the truck size. That way, if it is too small, it is not my fault! Selfish? Maybe. Smart? Definitely!

We have packed up quite a bit of stuff already, but it seems like there is so much more to pack up. I feel like I have no idea what I am doing, and I don't! I don't know how to pack up an apartment! Calm down. Breathe! In through the mouth, out through the nose (I can hear my friend Olivia saying this to me. It's one of her more famous sayings!). I can do this! If nothing else, I'll shove everything into garbage bags and make Husband figure out how to put it in the truck that is too small!