The Trip Across the Country

We've made it to Florida!  We've been here for over a week now actually, and I was just telling Tyler that I felt like the time has gone by really fast.  I loved driving across the country.  I got to see so many new states and I was surprised by how beautiful every place was.  I tried to document as much of the trip as possible.  At one point Tyler laughed at me because I had our cam-corder, camera, and iphone out all taking pictures/filming the same part of Nebraska!  I filmed a part of every state, and I am hoping to edit it soon.

Instead of renting a moving truck, we rented a u-pack pod, where we put everything inside and the company moved the pod for us.  It was really a nice way to move.  Here are a few pictures of the pod being delivered.

We finished all the cleaning for our apartment on friday, checked out, and turned the key in.  It was kind of sad because we've had so many good memories here, but it was also exciting to move onto something else new and exciting.

Our road trip began early Saturday morning. We drove through Wyoming and into Nebraska.  My mom, dad, and Stevie came with us since we had 2 cars to drive out.  It was nice because we always had another driver to switch with and we never got too tired. 

This is what Tyler called a "classic Nebraska cornfield!"  Pretty!  Many of these pictures were taken from my iphone and I texted them to Megan along the way.  

That night we stayed at a hotel in Omaha. And in the morning we got to go and visit Tyler's old high school! It was so much fun! The main reason we drove through Omaha was so that I could see where Tyler used to live (I want to visit everywhere he has lived someday).  There are so many trees in Omaha and I thought it was pretty.  I had the idea that it would be completely flat, but I was surprised by how many hills there were in the city.

Day 2 of our journey started out with eating breakfast at the Ihop next to Tyler's old school and then crossing the Missouri river into Iowa.  We were shocked at all of the flooding!  Can you believe it?  The picture above is a race track half way covered in water.  

The flooding set us back a bit, since a major highway was blocked. We had to take a detour through some back roads, but it was ok because it led us through some adorable little towns.

I loved the windmills in Iowa.  It reminded me of Spain and Don Quijote and I almost wanted to jump up and try and fight one.

We drove through Missouri and through what was possibly my favorite part of the drive - the Ozarks in Arkansas.  This national park is gorgeous.  This photo below doesn't do it justice, but it seemed almost magical as the sun was setting and we drove though the winding roads in between all of the trees.  Here you can see  my parents following behind us in the Jetta.

We then drove into Memphis, Tennessee, where we stayed the night.  As we approached Memphis, we saw a beautiful skyline underneath a large orange moon.  It was cool. 

On day 3 we drove through Mississippi and Alabama.  I was very taken with the tall trees that lined the highways on both sides. For lunch we stopped at a Waffle House in Jackson, MS, which at first I thought was kind of a novelty, and now I'm realizing that they are practically on every corner here in the South.  In fact, when in Destin, I counted more of these than even McDonalds!

We arrived in Florida at the end of day 3.  Instead of driving straight to Gainesville, we spent a day in Destin at the beach.  We went to one of Tyler's favorite seafood restaurants (that he went to back in 2005 when he did military training there).  

The beaches are gorgeous here. In fact the panhandle is supposed to have some of the whitest sand in the world.  We had a wonderful day here at the beach.  It was so relaxing and fun!

My family had planned on staying here until Sunday, but my Grandpa Smith is very sick and we all felt like my dad needed to get back home to see him.  If I ever drive though Mississippi again, I'm sure that I'll think of my grandpa, because as I was driving with Tyler asleep in the passenger seat, and with my dad in the back seat taking on the phone with his dad, I couldn't help but cry thinking of him.  And the tears just poured down my face as I tried to keep my eyes on the road, thankful that my sunglasses were covering my teary eyes.  And I knew my dad needed to get home to him.  

So as soon as we made it safely to Gainesville and checked into our apartment, my parents changed their flight reservations and we drove them down to the Orlando Airport.  We drove them there thursday night and they left early friday morning.  Thursday morning, before we left for the airport, we all sat at our apartment pool and drew the palm trees.  That was my dad's assignment for his drawing class he is currently taking.  It was a lovely morning.

Tyler's mom and dad, Josh, Shannon, and Jack came to Gainesville on friday and helped us move in.  The pod arrived that afternoon and within an hour we had everything out of the pod and into our apartment on the third floor.  I couldn't believe how fast we set everything up with everyone helping out.  It was awesome!  

We then all went for a walk around campus and saw what it was that we have come all this way for.

Hooray for the University of Florida Levin College of Law!  

And hooray for the 2,586 miles my car drove without breaking down!  (It was exactly 60,009 before we left)