Travel Day #3 and #4

So I have been a little lazy...just needing to keep up my blogging. It is a little difficult to sit down and type all of the fun things that I've been doing. I want to! I'm doing this so that all of you can see the amazing sights that I'm getting to see. I promise that I'll get better. :)

On travel day #3 we drove from Price, UT to Pendleton, OR, it was an 11 hour drive. Can I just say that by this point of the trip our bums were pretty much numb!

We left our murder mystery hotel and headed to Salt Lake City to grab some breakfast then get "good" on the road. Before we left my mom gave us a Cracker Barrel gift card, and there was one just on the northwest side of SLC so we decided to go there. I really forgot how much I love shopping at this place...and the breakfast was sooo yummy. I'm a hash brown casserole kinda girl!

So now for some driving photos...I know I'm a bad girl to take pictures while driving, but how can I resist?!

This is the final picture from our miles in Utah. It is truly a beautiful state! Despite the stay in our hotel, we really enjoyed driving through Utah. We shall return someday...soon!

Now for Idaho. Welcome to the brown grass state!! A land where you will be truly bored if driving through. Maybe is was that we were no the wrong highway...or side of the state to see beauty. Regardless, I had to take a 5-Hour Energy.

We did stop in Caldwell, ID for a late lunch at this fun little Mexican restaurant. There was no one there when we arrived and we sat outside on the patio with Lola. She loved the cooler weather! We saw this car drive up and two guys with Seattle Supersonics jerseys on...Mark grabbed my phone and we confirmed that they were in fact on the team. It was a pretty cool to see them 2 states away from where they play and at this tiny little Mexican restaurant. We left a little-tiny bit famous.

Travel Day #4, The short trip to our new home:

Mark and I really wanted to be able to arrive in Seattle early in the day, so we stayed closer to Washington

Welcome to Washington! Driving into Washington the way that we did on 82. The Washington wine country was on this highway, and we saw so many vineyards and information about wine tours, tastings, and grape stomping. I can't wait for us to be able to go to some of these things out here. :)

Wonderful sign to see after driving 4 days...with my ever so nervous Lola in the back seat (heavily panting the ENTIRE way).

We arrived and got a great start in Seattle! Our new home. This is going to be such an amazing journey...cant wait to share it with you!

Travel Day: 2

Our trip on Day #2 began with sadly leaving Santa Fe in the rear view mirror....such a beautiful place! The trip for the day was driving/standing in: New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. I'm hoping that Mark's family and mine will entertain the idea of meeting in Santa Fe for Christmas or Thanksgiving. It would be so much fun!! We can do so many fun things in the snow! 

With heavy recommendation from Lesley we went to have breakfast at Blake's. This is a popular place in New Mexico...and the breakfast tacos prove why! So delicious!

We did manage a side trip to the Four Corners! It was actually really neat...! I'm not a big geography buff, but after living in Texas all my life and knowing that it takes forever to get from one side of the state to the other...standing in 4 states at once is pretty awesome. We took a few pictures...one of our feet, one of the flags, and one of a cute little family of four, parents and a 4 yr old and 6 mo old who were all placed in a separate state. It just was really cute to see and the little 4 yr old girl thought she was SO cool! I waved to her and proved to her that she was...I can't wait to experience just the same with my family one day.

A big thing to the Native Americans is their "Navajo Frybread". There was a little shop set up (a trailer with a shed built around it) at the Four Corners that was serving up this delicious treat, so we had to partake. We had ours with powdered sugar and honey..yum! Did I mention that we were amidst a wind storm and I'm pretty sure that we were eating sand, dirt, and frybread. :)

Not a big deal...but this is a big deal! Look how cool this rock is! This is pretty much what we drove through and over all throughout New Mexico.

On our drive through Utah, Mark...the leader of the driving trip, saw this! The name of the rock is, "Church Rock". We pulled over to take a few pictures of it and got right back on the road. Just after this rock was one that looked like an alligator. It is just so interesting to see these landmarks, I love being able to see the age of the rock and mountains!

Our last stop before the "Hotel from Hell" was the Arches National Park. This picture was taken while I was driving, most of them were, but I loved how it seems that the rock was just placed on top of the other...and I snagged a picture of the moon. I'm just that good!

So, no pictures for this part...only a description of our hotel! A little background: Mark and I made the decision while planning our trip that we wouldn't make hotel reservations until the day of. What if we wanted to take longer at one place or just drive for an extra hour. It makes sense, right? Well on night #2 we drove to Price, UT...not really a destination spot. :( We pulled up to the hotel and went inside to get a room, and all seemed fine! Oh and by the way, there are not a lot of hotels that accept pets...this place was HAPPY to accept them. OK, so back on track...we got a great rate for the room and was told to come in for breakfast in the morning and were sent (unknowingly scared to death) to our room. We drove around the building and started to notice that there were a lot of people just standing outside their room. Some smoking, some people were dancing, and some just hanging on their open car door. We pulled around to find that we were placed on the smelly, pet only end of the hotel, with no parking nearby. (We did have a lot of valuables in the car and that was something that we wanted) I wearily looked at Mark, and we opened the door to our dingy, Veterinarian office smelling, thin walled, maybe a hidden camera room. I was totally defeated to say the least...we tried to find a new hotel with no hope. Only having the option to sleep in the cars or on TOP of the bedding with a towel as a sheet...we chose the room. This was after we met our hotel room neighbor the pit bull toting soap salesman, who was doing business out of the hotel! Awesome! Maybe, I should have bought some from him...do I smell a discount?!

Have a good night!

XO from Seattle,

Laura

Off to watch the pre-season Seahawks game! Go Hawks! 

Travel Day: 1

As I'm writing this we have already arrived in Seattle and are working on getting settled in our new apartment! We decided to rent an apartment first before we looked for houses, so that we can learn about the area and decide where to buy a house in the near future.

Let me start by telling you a little about our driving situation. We drove both cars which means that Lola and I were in one car and Mark was in his. Alone for 4 days of driving...how am I going to survive only talking to myself and a puppy dog. On our 4 day trip to Seattle, we figured that traveling the almost 2500 mile trip would be long, but that if we spread it out it would be best. So on day 1 thru 3 we drove about 10 hours per day and then on the last day only drive 4-5 hours and get into Seattle/Renton just before lunchtime! That was the perfect idea, and it worked REALLY well! We were tired, but we wanted to see and visit family and take little side trips too.

{Can't make it out of Texas with out seeing a sign like this one!}

I swear, Texas is such a boring state to drive through compared to the other states that we drove. Texas is home to me, but most of the land that we drove was boring. Good thing I had a boring book on tape to keep me company! I listened to that first so that I would still have fresh and vibrant songs for the rest of the drive from my iPod. Mark and I both bought like adapters for our cars for the we would have music and not just a static radio. We also purchased walkie-talkies for the trip....woo-hoo are those fun! We gave each other "trucker" names, and even talked about aliens on the way into Santa Fe...a little worried that someone would swoop down and confiscate the little toys! It was nice to have those since we didn't have each other to talk to.

{Door to our Casita}

We drove to Santa Fe on the first day, and arranged to meet up with Mark's mom. She got the CUTEST little Casita in Downtown Santa Fe.  She lives in Taos, and met us at the Casita. It just really showed off the charm that Santa Fe has. We walked into the downtown area and they were having a little concert on the town square and tons of people were there. I was happy to see that the summer is good for them...as well as the winter months.



{OK, so the plate may not look beautiful...but this is amazing!}

We ate at a restaurant called "The Shed". Wow...they are know for the super spicy hatch chilies that are so popular in New Mexico. I ordered the green sauce on the side...and when my plate arrived it was (capital S) Smothered in the sauce. I hate to send food back, unless it is inedible, so I told the waitress, "Nah...I got this!" She still insisted on bring me some sour cream. Overall, I did really well! Despite the spiciness the food was incredible and they had stellar guacamole! (which happens to be my new favorite thing!)

{St. Francis Cathedral Basilica in Downtown Santa Fe}

This again was a breathtaking view to see. We also learned that, just like Washington, D.C., no other building in Santa Fe can be taller than the Capital. This cathedral despite being stout, was not lacking in anything! Beautiful stained glass and wonderful statues...like the one below of Kateri.

More posts to come soon. Just been a little busy!

XO from Seattle,

Laura