There's No Place Like Home

Eli and I got back to Nebraska last Tuesday and it's been quite busy ever since. We headed to Lincoln Wednesday for haircuts (yay!!!!), errands down town, lunch with one of my besties, and a BBQ. A good friend of mine from work hosted the BBQ at her house and I got to see all my friends from St. Es and their kids! It was so so fun. Since then we've been busy doing businessy/weddingy stuff. Today I'm so psyched because we are trying wedding cake--probs the best part of planning a wedding. We're also heading to a CWS game this afternoon and I'm excited because neither of us have been to the new stadium. Then we have my little sister's birthday dinner (wahooooo!!!). Eli and I are definitely keeping busy, but looking forward to going to our next location!

Fun.

Eli and I have had a busy/long/awesome past few days! Let me break it down-- Saturday we drove the rest of the way down California to San Francisco! Oh my gosh visiting Courtney, Melissa, and their fabulous husbands was such a blast! It was good for my soul. We started off at a delish Italian restaurant and enjoyed a few bottles of wine, great food, and amazing company. After dinner we headed to a wine bar and the fun continued! Eli and I got up the next morning (definitely slept in a little bit) and drove the looooonnng drive to Salt Lake City. It was about 11 hours, but we lost an hour going to mountain time. The Sierra Nevadas were really pretty, but after Reno there really wasn't anything. After we switched drivers I counted three or four little dust devils. This morning we got up early and drove south to Denver. Southern Utah = so awesome! We're planning on going back to hit up the Arches and Canyon National Parks. The rock formations were really impressive. We rolled into Colorado and were so thankful we did not try to drive through the mountains in February! Poor Pearl (my car) was tired after today! Tomorrow is our last leg and we'll be rolling back into The Good Life :)
( Mirror in Nevada; Sunset in Utah; Southern Utah; Colorado State Sign)

Among the Giants

Eli and I had a great day today! We got up early this morning and headed to the Redwoods Information Center. The lady who helped us was amazing, she basically suggested all of our activities for the day. So, from the top. We started on an easy discovery trail. The trail was easily marked and there was informative signage about the ancient forest. Pictures do not do these amazing trees justice. My mom texted me and asked if we were among the giants--and YES we absolutely were. Eli and I both felt so small and it's really cool to touch something so old. Then we drove to a couple more groves--the experience in each one was unique, but the pictures kind of started to blend together. As we headed down the coast via a scenic byway (suggested to us that morning) we pulled over a couple times on the beach! The water was so cold!! Very different from the waters of Sanibel Island that we went to last year. There was an overlook where apparently whale watching is good, so naturally we stopped there. Didn't see any. We rounded out the day with one last trip through another forest and then drove into Arcata California. I feel somewhat connected to this area, I think it's because I'm returning to the area where I was born. So far it has been a great start to our road trip home! (Beach; Eli and the Trees; Us in Redwood Forest)

3 States 1 Day--Washington to California

Eli and I got up early this morning and started our journey back home! I'm so excited for this trip. It's much different doing a road trip in June vs. February. Eli and I are both enjoying it a lot more. After we got past Portland we were in new territory. It was funny because the closer to we got to California, the hotter it got, but then we got here and it was actually a little chilly outside! I was so proud of myself because I drove around the winding narrow interstate right after we crossed the Oregon/California border. What we've seen of the northern part of the state is so beautiful (we saw some of the redwood trees on the way into Crescent City) and we are both really looking forward to tomorrow. (California State Sign, Northern California Scenery)

See Ya Later Puyallup

Eli and I have been pretty busy finishing up my assignment here in Washington and figuring out where we're going next. Not sure yet where that's going to be, but I'm staying positive and just enjoying the adventure we're on. So---packing up the apartment! OMG so much easier when most of the stuff isn't yours! Eli said today that we're like snails--we carry our home with us. Pearl (my car) is a trooper. We got her loaded up this afternoon and celebrated our last night here with thai food! I'm beyond excited for the trip home. We're stopping by Redwood National Park (which should be amazing) as well as seeing two of my dearest friends and their husbands in San Francisco! We're mixing it up and going through Colorado instead of Wyoming (yay mountain driving!) . Then it's time for family and friends! I'm so proud of us that we took this leap to go on our traveling adventure. I look back on the past four months and can't believe that I did it! Can't wait to see where our next assignment takes us!