Road Trip Week One

WOO-HOOOOO! ROAD TRIP!!!

So Brian and I are planning to move back to California over the next month or so if all goes according to plan, and phase one of the move is a cross-country road trip! We left DC last Monday and have been driving through America's heartland on our way back to the valley!

Here are some of the highlights from week one...

First stop = Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia (Tuesday)

We stopped off in Roanoke VA (Tuesday night) and Nashville TN (Wednesday night) to sleep and then went on to...

Memphis, Tennessee (Thursday/Friday)
...by far my favorite city east of the Mississippi! (other than DC)

First stop = Graceland!!

Then we ate dinner at Texas de Brazil, which is THE coolest restaurant I have EVER been to. It's an authentic Brazilian steakhouse, with full-on gauchos in gaucho pants serving you as much meat as you can possibly eat, but they bring it to you on these huge SWORDS and slice you off pieces of filet mignon, chicken, lamb, steak, ribs, pretty much anything you can imagine until you can't possibly eat any more. It was amazing!

After dinner we walked around Memphis... Beale Street was awesome (birthplace of the Blues), they close down the street and all the bars and restaurants open up their doors to the street and have great music playing.

Along the banks of the Mississippi River...

Next morning in Memphis... anyone seen "The Firm?" (Tom Cruise rode this monorail to the Mud Island museum when he was on the run)

Driving through the heartland--four states in a day! (Friday)
(Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas)

Random Hallburton guy in McD's...

After spending the night in Wichita, Kansas (Friday), we drove to Denver, Colorado for the weekend and stayed with Brian's brother and sister-in-law!

We had a BLAST! We went to a LaCrosse game (which is my new favorite sport!) at the Pepsi Center, ate great steak, enjoyed the amazing view from their house on the top of a mountain overlooking Denver, and then headed out through the SNOW on Monday morning to head down to Colorado Springs!!

So that brings us to yesterday, and I'll post again as soon as I get a chance to upload the pictures, but Colorado is definitely my new favorite state (after California). I'm totally inspired to take up mountain climbing and/or spelunking!

Tonight we're in Albuquerque, and tomorrow we're headed to a Spa resort in Sedona, Arizona... I'm SO ready for a massage. Then it's on to the Grand Canyon, Vegas and then... FRESNO!! Wow, that is SO anti-climactic. Oh well, be there on Friday!

Joie de Vivre

All in all, it's been a great couple weeks... our last days in Washington for a long time. Our goal was to do as many things as possible that we hadn't done yet before we leave, and it has been a blast!

Last week was cherry blossom picnics and the zoo! The weather here was gorgeous, and all I wanted to do was be outside all day every day!

My brother Robbie came into town on Wednesday night, and Heather and Matt flew in Thursday morning to visit. It was so fun to have everyone here and get to be tourists together!

Thursday we got to go to the White House to watch a presidential departure on Marine One, and Bush 41 and the first lady were there too. It was definitely one of the coolest things I've gotten to do in this city. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and all the tulips were blooming. Then we got to hang out in the press briefing room for a while and take the obligatory souvenir picture behind the podium. Afterward we went to Old Town Alexandria and took a walk on the pier, ate dinner at our favorite little Italian restaurant, then came back to our house and played a great game of hold'em and went to bed.

On Friday we did the tourist thing all day... Holocaust museum, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean War memorials, Washington Monument, lunch at Potbelly's, FDR memorial, and lots of walking! Great pics and good memories...

Friday night was my last concert with my choir. We performed Mozart's Requiem at the Strathmore Music Center, and it was very emotional for me. Singing with the choir has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life so far, and it's definitely one of the things I will miss the most about living here.

Today we all hung out and went to the mall and ate lunch, then drove Matt and Heather to the airport to see them off. Tomorrow we'll be packing the car and getting ready to head to California via the whole country! ROAD TRIP!!! I'm SO excited! I'm going to try to keep a blog of our trip, so check back for updates along the way. Once we make it all the way to Fresno, I'll be starting my new job, which I am also very excited about.

So all in all, life is good. We're still waiting on our house to sell, which has been a significant source of stress, but also a tremendous experience in trusting God. We have both come to a place where we are absolutely able to accept anything and anywhere the Lord directs us to do or go. It is a wonderful and frightening place to be, but I am confident that we will look back on this time as a turning point in our relationship with Him and with each other. I can't wait to see what God does!

See you on the other side...

I Wish I Spoke French

I think I'm going to learn.

*sigh*

Life never ceases to amaze me. People are even more spectacular. Friendship is such a fascinating thing. How is it that, even after years of neglect, a friendship can come back to life with a single, soul-illuminating conversation? And how is it that another takes even more years to ressurect it than it took for it to die?

I can't even begin to name all the emotions that have been flooding through me the past two weeks. I feel like there is so much more I want to do in Washington, and I am getting sadder about leaving every day. I wish there was a way for us to stay until the end of the year, or even just the summer. I feel like my time there is not complete yet, and I don't know what that means, but as we were lying in the grass staring up at the blue sky and beautiful pink and white blossoms, watching the sun reflect off of the monuments, I could hardly keep from crying. There is such a deep unsettledness in the pit of my stomach that won't go away; even though I felt so much peace about all of this before, now I just feel like I'm mourning the loss of an old friend that I wish I had more time with.

The hard part is, I am thrilled about my new job. I met with them on Friday, and the people and the work are so amazing, I cannot imagine a more perfect position to be in. It's exactly what I want to do. I just wish I could do it in DC.

So now I must simply wait for all the pieces to fall into the right places, and trust that the direction we're supposed to take is made clear. I hate this feeling. I hate not knowing. I'm ready for a vacation from the stress of life.

Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.... "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them".... They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.... When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Breathe. Just breathe...