Road Trip: Day 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Well hopefully no one was sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for me to post because I haven't had any internet access for a while...as in since we left Oregon. All of the hotels we stayed at said they had "free Wi-fi" but it was down at every one of them. I don't know how that happens but I'm glad to say that the Wi-fi issue was really the worst one we have had on our trip which is pretty darn good.

Lets start with Day 2 of our road trip. We stayed the night in Stockton, CA and right when we pulled up there were some super shady looking people staring at us and our car full of stuff. That didn't make me feel very good since I was already super paranoid that everyone was just waiting to break into my car and steal all of my stuff. We took out a lot of the big bags which made me feel a little better but I was still a nervous. When we came out the next morning- the car was still there, in one piece, just as we had left it. We started the day bright and early and ending in Avondale, AZ where my family lives. It was a pretty uneventful day. I have driven from Oregon to Arizona many times so it wasn't all that exciting. We arrived in Avondale in the evening and my grandma had made us dinner so we sat and ate and listened to all of her amazing stories. The next morning we got to sleep in (thank goodness!) and decided to go for a run at Estrella park. It was nice to get outside and move around since we had been driving for a couple days. We got to the parking lot and there were lots of trails to choose from. We decided to take the one that said "beautiful views of our turf field." Only in AZ would you advertise views of fake grass. Later in the day all of my family came over. All my aunts and uncle, all of my cousins. It was pretty awesome. Everyone used to live pretty close to my grandma but in the last few years some of my cousins and their families have moved away so it was really nice to have everyone together.

The next day we left super early to get to Amarillo, TX. After much debate, we decided to go up through Flagstaff, AZ instead of the way I had originally planned to go because it was quicker and the weather wasn't bad at all. It can get pretty bad in Flagstaff so I didn't want to take any chances but when we saw that everything was going to be clear, we decided to go for it. The drive through AZ, NM, and TX was pretty easy. All of the scenery started to look the same but it was still beautiful in a way that is so much different from Oregon. We got to Amarillo and had a nice dinner at an italian restaurant where we split a southern sweet tea (see below for picture of me enjoying sweet tea). When I went to pay the bill- as per our agreement on the trip- the waiter looked SO confused. It kept trying to hand the check to Ry so I let him then put my card in it. When he came back to have me sign the receipt he, again, looked so baffled that I was paying the bill. It was pretty funny. I guess its a southern thing. :) After driving around for a while trying to find out hotel, we finally found it and there was hardly anyone there. It kind of creeped me out. It almost felt deserted. Ry didn't seem too concerned (of course) so I tried not to let my mind wander. We checked the weather for the next day and it said there was a possibility that ice would form over night. We decided to still get up super early and try to leave at 6a as we had planned. The next morning, after I had gotten ready, I went outside to see if it was icy. It didn't look bad so Ry and I packed our things and went down to pack the car. I decided to move it closer and as I was yelling to Ry that the road felt fine and that there was no ice, I almost slipped and fell on my but because the road was covered in a sheet of ice! I got to the car and it was covered in ice and icicles. We enjoyed breaking all of the icicles off of the car before packing it with all of our stuff. We could see the highway from our hotel and the cars looked like they were going pretty fast so we decided that it would be okay to leave.

The drive to Memphis that day was pretty easy even though we spent the first part of the day worrying about the ice that wasn't there. It was pretty foggy and cold through Oklahoma and Arkansas. We didn't stop much except for gas and lunch. We arrived in Memphis on New Years Eve where we rang in the new year by sleeping and gearing up for our 14 hour day on New Years Day.

Our drive from Memphis to Washington DC was the longest day yet but it seemed to go by rather quickly. We had gotten in a routine where we would stop every 3 hours and get gas, use the restroom, and eat. Tennessee was the longest state ever! It took us most of the day just to drive across. We did, however, get to stop at the most elaborate gas station somewhere in TN, I can't remember exactly but it was SO nice. They had an awesome coffee bar with like 10 different coffees and a separate creamer bar with 20 different flavors of creamer. It was amazing. Everyone was super nice and had cute southern accents to top it off. We arrived in DC around 8:30p after the GPS kept telling me to turn the wrong way on all the crazy one way roads in DC (don't worry, I didn't listen to it). We are staying with Ry's sister, Amanda, in her beautiful townhouse in downtown DC.

This morning we walked to a very yummy breakfast place that reminded us all of Portland then we went to the National Zoo. It was SO AWESOME. I did not expect to go to the zoo but I love animals so I was pretty excited. I took some pretty cool pictures too (see below). We then went to Georgetown to walk around and do a bit of shopping. I love Georgetown. They have every store you could ever want. After walking around for hours and hours and stopping at some more yummy places to eat, we finally meandered home where we are now very exhausted.

Tomorrow we will be off to MA to visit Ry's family. Sorry for such a long post. Hope you enjoyed it.:)

Love you all,
Steph