On May 7th we celebrated our marriage surrounded by the love and support of our family and friends! We had our mini-moon at Alderbrook in Washington and then Mike was off to survival school in Spokane for three weeks.
Leaving Tacoma at the end of those three weeks I was excited about finally getting to be with my husband and anxious about living in a state I had never even visited. Reaching Spokane in a mere four hours, I made my way to Fairchild AFB to reunite with Mike. The next day we headed out for Great Falls. Ten miles into the trip, in Couer D'Alene, Idaho we stopped to get gas. About to check the tire pressure, we noticed one was completely flat. We pulled out the three inch nail, filled it with air, and barely made it to the tire shop, half a block away. After that shock and a brand new tire, we made it out to Great Falls and spent the next day organizing all our belongings for shipping.
On to Salt Lake City and into Nevada – the two legs of the trip that smashed the most bugs on our windshield. Chris and Stephanie joined us in Vegas for a night! We stayed at the Luxor, ate at the Belagio, and saw most of the flambouyant casinos on the strip! The next day Mike and I headed out for the Grand Canyon. It was definently worth the mega-heated detour to see that giant hole in the ground (see the awesome pictures)! We ventured on to Holbrook, Arizona that night (an hour east of Flagstaff). The next morning we were up early to have time to go through the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert. We had lunch in downtown Albuquerque, where we got a delicous black cherry milkshake! That night we stayed in Tucumcari, New Mexico and took off for Oklahoma City the next day. Our hotel in Okahoma City took us downtown to Bricktown on a free shuttle and we got to try a few breweries and had a relaxing dinner. The next day brought us all the way to Little Rock, Arkansas!
Once in the Natural State (where everything is green!!!) on Friday, we checked into our awesome temporary housing: hard wood floors, full kitchen, nice big bedroom, and bathroom. Saturday morning we checked out the Farmer's Market downtown. It reminded us of Portland's Saturday Market, but on a mini-scale. We found an awesome place to eat lunch and then looked at some houses with our Realtor! Every morning we wake up to find a new bug friend on the kitchen floor, but so far they've been pretty easy to handle (meaning they're all small and Mike takes care of them). We've exlored bits and pieces of the city, and so far we love it! We're excited our new life is starting here, and we can't wait to share our exeriences with everyone!
To sum up:
With excitement we left the Northwest
To drive 3,000 miles, no less
Though there's bugs galore
Little Rock we adore
Seems the Natural State fits us best!
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| Petrified Forest/Painted Desert |
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| Lizard! |
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| New Base and Mike's plane! |
