Road Trip!

 

 

So...we drove from Western Washington to Michigan.  It was long.  But really, it wasn't too bad.  I think it rained for an hour or so while we were driving, we never had bad traffic or construction, and Jon drove the whole way :) So really, not bad at all haha.  To be fair, I dealt with Gromit on my lap the whole time, was the trip DJ, in charge of snacks and directions, and read (Wild) almost the whole time.  We made a good team.  We left fairly early Tuesday, after getting a short run in for Gromit, and headed to Emmett Idaho, one of our longer days.  We stopped at Miner's for lunch in Yakima of course :) We got to Jon's Grandma and Grandpa's place in time for dinner, and then had a nice walk around the lake by their house. 

Idaho Family

Bye Deception Pass!

More Idaho Family

Salt Lake Friends!

Cheyenne

 The next morning, we left at a fairly leisurely hour (after a run along the lake with Gromit), since we were just headed to Boise for brunch with his Granny and gang.  We then continued the fairly short distance on to Salt Lake, where we stayed with some family friends from back in our Idaho days.  We had a nice walk around the Olypmic Ice Rink by their house, had some delicious food and good conversation before heading to bed.  The next morning, Gromit and I ran around the ice rink before heading back in the car for another reasonable day, just to Cheyenne Wyoming.  The landscape was quite nice in that area.  We stopped just outside Cheyenne for some hiking at Curt Gowdy State Park, where we got hailed and rained on, but it eventually cleared up and we saw some deer!  We also saw lots of antelope while driving in that area, getting the song Home on the Range forever stuck in our heads.  Cheyenne was our one hotel for the trip, and after a brief run there, we continued on to Lincoln Nebraska.  We made it there to see and stay with our buddies Jared and Damie, and their kiddos Clifton and Walden.  We got to explore the Union campus (my first time there) and the next morning I had a nice run around a lake there, getting lost in a golf course, and we had a nice breakfast with them before beginning our last and longest day to our new house in Berrien Springs! 

Deer!

Happy Birthday Wally!

Mississippi River

New Home!

Hello Stuff!

Thanks for the pantry Costco!

Now it's home :)

 We made it to our new home in the evening, met our new landlord, got keys and settled in, went out to explore our new backyard, came in and discovered a tick on Jon's leg and 3 on Gromit.  Welcome to Michigan :/ (luckily we've only found a few since)  The movers showed up bright and early the next morning, so while Jon helped them navigate where everything would go, I took Gromit for a long walk to explore a nearby neighborhood and get him out of the way.  We were a little worried everything wouldn't fit, and while a few areas are a bit more cramped than we'd like, it all worked out pretty well and we are now quite settled in. 

Firsts for us during the road trip:
Kathleen: Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi River

Firsts for Jon: Jon: Utah, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi River

Firsts for Gromit: Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi River :)