So...sorry it's been awhile. We got so busy with unpacking and cleaning the joint up that we forgot to put up the last pictures and a few of what the apartment looked like with all our stuff. :)
We got to our apartment nice and early on Wednesday. We actually went to the wrong house first. It looked exactly like ours (by that I mean it looked exactly like ours looked like on google earth....haha). So anyway, luckily we didn't knock on the door or anything. So after we got to the RIGHT place, we met our landlord, got the keys, and started to unload the truck. When we first opened the back, there was shattered glass. My first thought was "NOT MY WINDSHIELD!" And my thoughts were correct, it was not my windshield (thankfully), but it was part of the entertainment stand we brought. It had 3 tiers of glass. Luckily my Dad and Benn were able to go to Lowes and get some wood to take the place of the glass. Unloading the truck only took like...2ish hours with the 4 of us so we were pretty happy with that.
To be completely honest, when I first walked into our new place I thought, "hey, not too bad!". Then I took a wiff and thought, "Oh...that smell has got to go". It had a kind of musty smell so thankfully with our AC units and fabreeze, we are doing much better on the smell front. The best part of moving in was walking into the kitchen...the tile floor was scratched and dirty, the fridge and stove were NOT clean, and the only part of the floor that did look nice had clearly been replaced. (I say this because it was white tile, while the others were a tanish color....I mean would it really have been that hard to get something close to the right color?) I almost forgot to mention the contact paper serving as wall paper. The bathroom wasn't much in much better condition. So, the cleaning supplies were the first to be unpacked and my mom and I got to work. 3 rolls of paper towels, half a bottle of 409, draino, a tub of Clorox wipes, 2 stainless steel balls, and about 12 pairs of blue latex gloves later, things are clean. :) There are still some things that Benn and I would like to fix up and redo to make it look better, but the majority of it is done and it is amazing how much better things look when they are clean. I had to keep telling myself through the whole thing that it could have been SO much worse - considering the first time we saw the place in person was when we walked in the door that Wednesday morning.
All in all, Benn and I are very happy with our new apartment and are excited to get our lives started here in Boston. We have just about finished all the unpacking and will start hanging stuff up to make things look more like home. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the final look in a few days.
Thursday and Friday were spent unpacking, shopping at IKEA for some furniture items, and having fun! We got to meet up with one of my mom's friends from High School. We went into Boston and had dinner at a great seafood place. Benn and I were able to take my parents to Mike's Pastry and get a variety of canoli's. We were also able to visit a girl that grew up in Parma who now lives in the country area of Boston with her husband and 5 children. It is amazing how having someone you know near helps make a new adventure not so scary.
Saturday morning my parents left. I was very eager for them to stay, but understood that the time had come for them to start their journey back across the United States. This was probably the wettest part of our trip, including Niagara Falls. :) I couldn't help but cry when I said goodbye to my parents. They have been such a support to not only me, but Benn as well. We literally would not have been able to make our move to Boston without them. We are so grateful for the sacrifice they made to spend about 10 days with us and we made our journey. This is probably sad, but being in Boston is the farthest I have ever been away from my parents. I have always been close enough that I could drive home. Even while we were in Las Vegas, Benn and I always drove to Parma, with the exception of going for my Grandma Jemmett's funeral. Things are different now and trips back home will be few and far between - for both us. But, as I have said many times, we are so excited for this new adventure. We both know that with each other we can bare all things. :) So Benn dried my tears (after giving me a fair amount of time to cry), and we dedicated our time to making our apartment our home. Like I said, when we get it finished, we will most definitely post pictures! Thanks to all for reading and sharing this adventure with us! We love you, we miss you, and can't wait until we meet again!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Day 6
We woke up this morning with the goal of getting to Boston by the end of today and later than sooner, that dream came true! Without further adoo, We are here, we are safe, and we are excited! Driving into Boston is much more different than it is driving into Las Vegas. As you drive into Las Vegas, no matter the freeway or highway, you see bright sparkling lights that illuminate the sky with a glow visible from the heavens. The Luxor beam visible from more than 30 miles away, bursts from the tip of the iconic pyramid. Sadly enough, we will not be experiencing that sight for quite a while, but we are okay with that!
As we approached Boston, it was the same entry into any city that we have seen ever since we entered Tennessee: Trees, trees, and more trees. The dense forests cover all the nearby buildings, and all the neighborhoods are hidden in the thick of what i would call the North American Amazon.
Today was a very sight-seeing filled day, and here is what we did. We departed Erie, PA early to get to Buffalo, NY and experience Niagara Falls. We found parking on Goat Island, which parcle of land is the division between the Canadian side of the falls, and the American side. We took amateur pictures of such a glorious spectacle that no ordinary camera could capture. We stood on a ledge that overlooked the falls almost directly, and we witnessed how extremely close the "Maid of the Mist" ships got to the falls. From our vantage point, the ships almost disappeared within the thickness of the mist that was billowing out of the falls. Over 10 million gallons fall over the edge every minute, which equals to about 1,000,000 bathtubs of water a minute. Wow.
Our next stop was Palmyra, NY. Palmyra was a small bustling town, fun to visit, and full of history. There is a cross-streets on Main St, where there are 4 churches, one on each corner; talk about your religious revival, especially back in the day. We visited the Hill Cumorah, and had lunch at the top of the hill. We visited the original publication site of the Book of Mormon, and got to witness first hand the excruciating 2 year process that was endured to create the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. We then visited the Log Home of the Smith Family and took a tour there. We learned many things by sight and by sound, of the experiences, hardships, and times of growth that the Smith Family passed through during their time in Palmyra. After seeing the Log Home and the 2nd nicer home of the Smith's, we had a chance to live a dream that all four of us had in common: We got to walk in the sacred grove. Inside the ancient forest, is a trodden pathway through the whispering trees that you could walk as you looked around into the undergrowth. One could not help but imagine any number of spots in eye-sight as a possible location of the First Vision. With a prayer in heart, we felt inspired by the faith the Prophet Joseph Smith, and how he was able to exercise that faith almost 200 years ago. After giving a few more CD's to the missionaries on duty there we departed and made our way back to the highway with our sites set on Boston or Bust.
So here we are, we made it, and although it has been 6 very full days of driving, driving, traveling, traversing, driving, cruising, and coasting we are here and we are proud of our trek. For all of us, it was our first time. Unpacking starts tomorrow, and oh how we wish we had the capability to muster the hands of others to help us in this ill-looked-forward-to effort. Before we know it, it will be all done and then we can go get donuts from one of the 3 million Dunkin' Donuts here in Boston. Boston has more Dunkin' Donuts than there are Starbucks on the entire West Coast, if that gives you any idea! Thanks for following us on our adventures! See you soon!
pictures to come soon, its one in the morning and time to go to sleep. :)
As we approached Boston, it was the same entry into any city that we have seen ever since we entered Tennessee: Trees, trees, and more trees. The dense forests cover all the nearby buildings, and all the neighborhoods are hidden in the thick of what i would call the North American Amazon.
Today was a very sight-seeing filled day, and here is what we did. We departed Erie, PA early to get to Buffalo, NY and experience Niagara Falls. We found parking on Goat Island, which parcle of land is the division between the Canadian side of the falls, and the American side. We took amateur pictures of such a glorious spectacle that no ordinary camera could capture. We stood on a ledge that overlooked the falls almost directly, and we witnessed how extremely close the "Maid of the Mist" ships got to the falls. From our vantage point, the ships almost disappeared within the thickness of the mist that was billowing out of the falls. Over 10 million gallons fall over the edge every minute, which equals to about 1,000,000 bathtubs of water a minute. Wow.
Our next stop was Palmyra, NY. Palmyra was a small bustling town, fun to visit, and full of history. There is a cross-streets on Main St, where there are 4 churches, one on each corner; talk about your religious revival, especially back in the day. We visited the Hill Cumorah, and had lunch at the top of the hill. We visited the original publication site of the Book of Mormon, and got to witness first hand the excruciating 2 year process that was endured to create the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. We then visited the Log Home of the Smith Family and took a tour there. We learned many things by sight and by sound, of the experiences, hardships, and times of growth that the Smith Family passed through during their time in Palmyra. After seeing the Log Home and the 2nd nicer home of the Smith's, we had a chance to live a dream that all four of us had in common: We got to walk in the sacred grove. Inside the ancient forest, is a trodden pathway through the whispering trees that you could walk as you looked around into the undergrowth. One could not help but imagine any number of spots in eye-sight as a possible location of the First Vision. With a prayer in heart, we felt inspired by the faith the Prophet Joseph Smith, and how he was able to exercise that faith almost 200 years ago. After giving a few more CD's to the missionaries on duty there we departed and made our way back to the highway with our sites set on Boston or Bust.
So here we are, we made it, and although it has been 6 very full days of driving, driving, traveling, traversing, driving, cruising, and coasting we are here and we are proud of our trek. For all of us, it was our first time. Unpacking starts tomorrow, and oh how we wish we had the capability to muster the hands of others to help us in this ill-looked-forward-to effort. Before we know it, it will be all done and then we can go get donuts from one of the 3 million Dunkin' Donuts here in Boston. Boston has more Dunkin' Donuts than there are Starbucks on the entire West Coast, if that gives you any idea! Thanks for following us on our adventures! See you soon!
pictures to come soon, its one in the morning and time to go to sleep. :)
Monday, August 6, 2012
Day 5
We were again in 3 different states today, starting in Kentucky, leading into Ohio, and finishing at our current location: Erie, Pennsylvania. We have been diligent in taking pictures of all the "Welcome to _____" state signs but we crossed a river going into Cincinnati, OH and the welcoming sign was on an adjacent freeway just out of view from the freeway we were on, so no Ohio sign... *sigh*
We spent most of our day in Ohio today, which reminds me of a joke that Elmer Fudd once told to Bugs Bunny, "You know what's in Ohio? It's HI in the middle and round on both ends!" And Elmer goes to shove his finger in Bugs' mouth slapping him round as only the Looney Tunes could.
The only scenic stop we made today was in historic Kirtland, Ohio. In the early 1830's, 4 missionaries were sent to Kirtland to preach the gospel and in less than 3 weeks, over a hundred people were baptized, and of those was Newel K. Whitney. Him and his wife were praying one night, which prayer brought the Prophet himself to Kirtland. The first temple of this dispensation was built only a few years later, being finished in 1836. Kirtland was a very special place, as we got to visit N.K. Whitney's store and house, as well as Joseph Smith's home near the temple, as well as the temple itself. We were too late to see the inside of the temple due to a 2 hour detour on the highway, but we still got to see the surrounding area, which was plenty good enough for us.
We had a very spiritual experience at the Kirtland visitor's center. We had some of Benn's CD's to hand out to the missionaries that were working there, as well as the support staff. A pair of Senior missionaries were working till close, who also were showing us around. As we gave them a copy of Benn's CD, they were so anxious to hear Benn play so they asked him if he could on a piano there in the Visitor's Center. So Benn played a couple of his arrangements for them and they thanked us so kindly for having Benn share his talent. Benn was very happy to have gotten to play the piano, as he was thinking that he wouldn't see those black and whites until after we got to Boston. What a blessing! Day 5 done. Only one day left of driving. Tomorrow night, we will be in Boston. East Coast here we come!
We spent most of our day in Ohio today, which reminds me of a joke that Elmer Fudd once told to Bugs Bunny, "You know what's in Ohio? It's HI in the middle and round on both ends!" And Elmer goes to shove his finger in Bugs' mouth slapping him round as only the Looney Tunes could.
The only scenic stop we made today was in historic Kirtland, Ohio. In the early 1830's, 4 missionaries were sent to Kirtland to preach the gospel and in less than 3 weeks, over a hundred people were baptized, and of those was Newel K. Whitney. Him and his wife were praying one night, which prayer brought the Prophet himself to Kirtland. The first temple of this dispensation was built only a few years later, being finished in 1836. Kirtland was a very special place, as we got to visit N.K. Whitney's store and house, as well as Joseph Smith's home near the temple, as well as the temple itself. We were too late to see the inside of the temple due to a 2 hour detour on the highway, but we still got to see the surrounding area, which was plenty good enough for us.
We had a very spiritual experience at the Kirtland visitor's center. We had some of Benn's CD's to hand out to the missionaries that were working there, as well as the support staff. A pair of Senior missionaries were working till close, who also were showing us around. As we gave them a copy of Benn's CD, they were so anxious to hear Benn play so they asked him if he could on a piano there in the Visitor's Center. So Benn played a couple of his arrangements for them and they thanked us so kindly for having Benn share his talent. Benn was very happy to have gotten to play the piano, as he was thinking that he wouldn't see those black and whites until after we got to Boston. What a blessing! Day 5 done. Only one day left of driving. Tomorrow night, we will be in Boston. East Coast here we come!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Day 4
"Onward, ever onward," was something that the saints chanted as they trekked across the plains, and let me tell you a little known fact: they didn't even have cars... or music... Today was just a travel day as we were wanting to get to Grandpa Joe's as early as possible on Sunday. We listened to a few conference talks for our spiritual quiet time in the morning, and drove, and drove, as it seems we always do, into the afternoon. The truck is hauling heavy but like a pristine machine averaging 8 MPG, so fuel stops are common and frequent. We were in 3 states today, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Now let me tell you something about the landscape here.
As we were driving across ole' flat Texas, (Glen would mention that you could throw a golf ball and it would meander bouncing to and fro for about 200 miles before it stopped it was so flat) our hopes weren't to high as to the potential beauty of the scenery. As we came in Arkansas it didn't get much better, but as we neared, and then crossed the State-line into Tennessee, the lushness and shimmering emeralds of the engulfing forests became nothing short of never-ending. All the way up into Kentucky the natural splendor nature's eye candy didn't dim a bit. We all agree now that things won't change much on this side of the "Mighty Mississippi." But with the presence of enveloping shrubbery comes with one of the West Coast's unfavorable traits: intense humidity. The temperature may have dropped 20 degrees from where it was in the New Mexico-Texas area, the the humidity rose exponentially. Glen and Benn almost dropped the diesel nozzle a few times cause of the oily slipperiness that happens to cover everything.
Although today's trek wasn't was strenuously long as was yesterday's, but it was still about 9 1/2 hours that brought us to the rainy surprises of Grandpa Joe's doorstep, in Shepherdsville, KY. We had the privilege to eat pizza from a local joint called Bearno's Pizza. In Megan's own words, "It was Divine." Many thanks go to Grandpa Joe and Barbara's gracious hospitality and generosity for letting us stay here for the night. Tune in tomorrow for another episode of The Cole Chronicles: "Our Trip to Boston."
As we were driving across ole' flat Texas, (Glen would mention that you could throw a golf ball and it would meander bouncing to and fro for about 200 miles before it stopped it was so flat) our hopes weren't to high as to the potential beauty of the scenery. As we came in Arkansas it didn't get much better, but as we neared, and then crossed the State-line into Tennessee, the lushness and shimmering emeralds of the engulfing forests became nothing short of never-ending. All the way up into Kentucky the natural splendor nature's eye candy didn't dim a bit. We all agree now that things won't change much on this side of the "Mighty Mississippi." But with the presence of enveloping shrubbery comes with one of the West Coast's unfavorable traits: intense humidity. The temperature may have dropped 20 degrees from where it was in the New Mexico-Texas area, the the humidity rose exponentially. Glen and Benn almost dropped the diesel nozzle a few times cause of the oily slipperiness that happens to cover everything.
Although today's trek wasn't was strenuously long as was yesterday's, but it was still about 9 1/2 hours that brought us to the rainy surprises of Grandpa Joe's doorstep, in Shepherdsville, KY. We had the privilege to eat pizza from a local joint called Bearno's Pizza. In Megan's own words, "It was Divine." Many thanks go to Grandpa Joe and Barbara's gracious hospitality and generosity for letting us stay here for the night. Tune in tomorrow for another episode of The Cole Chronicles: "Our Trip to Boston."
Day 3
And here we are! 3 days into our continental trek, and we find ourselves in the capital itself of Arkansas, Little Rock.. We haven't found any little rocks yet but we will keep looking. We traversed the entire state of Texas today only stopping for fuel, as usual, and a nice dinner stop. Glen had the great idea to eat at a Texas style barbeque so we found one and it was delicious! They offered unique appetizers that you could only find in Texas, such as mushrooms, armad
illo eggs, tomatoes, bacon, and jalapenos. Don't forget that all of these treats were deep fried as only Texas could. Megan and Nadine shared a pulled brisket, Glen had a meat trio including a brisket, sausage, and ribs, and Benn had a bacon wrapped filet minion.
We pulled into Best Western, in little rock, about 15 minutes ahead of our revised schedule at 2:00 am. A lofty 5 hours of sleep later(which so happens to be quite plentiful during lengthy road trips) and we will be on our way here shortly. Yesterday was quite eventfully one of the best days on the trip by far. We finally got to Carlsbad Caverns, we were the first ones in line in the morning, and after a short wait, we took the elevator entrance 750 down below the visitors center. Words cannot simply describe the majesty and respect that is beckoned from the underground world of the Caverns. Although many of the cave fixtures, or steleothems, were somewhat the same, each formation was just unique enough to demand attention and awe is you see the Master's Hand at work. We surely paid the price for that visit with the 15 hour drive here to Little Rock AR, and sometime this afternoon we will find ourselves in Louisville KY, at the home of Megan's Grandpa Joe. Day 3 = Done.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Day 2
Today we departed early in the morning after just over 4 hours of sleep from Holbrook, AZ. We were on the road by 7am on our way to destination No. 1, Carlsbad Caverns! We stopped to take a better picture of the New Mexico state line, and the only other stops we made were fuel stops and one rest stop to make sandwiches. Traffic was subtle all the way up to Glen's (Megan's Dad) most looked-forward-to stop: Roswell NM. In fact, he was saying that traffic should be slim to none up to Roswell as long as the slow cars in front of us would get abducted at the right times. (Bless his heart). We stopped at a Conoco and Glen picked up a couple alien souvenirs from the extra-terrestrial hotspot. We topped off the tank, and were on our way to Carlsbad. We wanted to get to the Caverns visitors center by 5pm, being the time when they permit the last entrance into the caverns, and we burst through the front doors only to realize that it was 5:05, five minutes too late. BUMMER! SO we decided that we would stay the night in Carlsbad, to hit the Caverns in the morning. Day 2 is down and in the books; tomorrow, we plan to hit Little Rock, AK, which is going to be our longest day journey yet at around 700 miles. Woohoo!
Day 1
Well...our first day was a little different than we thought! The pick up had a transfer case issue and we had to be towed 160 miles (this was even before we got to Vegas). So we spent a lovely extra 8 hours in St. George with Sandra (Glen's sister) and Rand (Glen's nephew), his wife Jenie and kids Tracen, Hailey, Alexa and Cameron. We were glad we had family there we could spend time with and they could take us out to lunch and cart us around (Thanks Rand!). The pickup was ready at 4 pm, we got to Vegas at 6, loaded up and left by 8. We again were fortunate to have some extra help in loading, thanks to Benn's family (Deborah, Jamie and Tom) and Glen's nephew Rand and family) See attached picture. When we left Vegas the temperature was a balmy 108 degrees! We drove and began to decide how far we wanted to go. So we were standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine site to see (tribute to the Eagles) and decided to stop at Holbrook Arizona. We got here at 1am and slept like rocks for 5 hours, got up at 6am. Just getting ready to eat breakfast, then we just can't wait to get on the road again (tribute to Willie Nelson). We are headed to Carlsbad, New Mexico to see the caverns.
Day 1, complete
Day 1, complete
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