Saturday, August 21, 2010

Trip to Idaho Part 3

Today the majority of our trip was spent on I-80W going through the rest of Wyoming. It was a long and quite monotonous trip, but it was far from boring. There isn't much there, but the sights were beautiful. Every state has had its own highs and lows and each one has its own special beauty. I have never been this far west, so I am speechless at some of the sights. We entered Utah today. I am in love so far. If Idaho is half as beautiful as this state, then I may be content for life. We are staying in Ogden, Utah tonight. We even have mountain views from our hotel. We had dinner at a family owned Mexican restaurant that was very good and thus far, we have not met a rude person yet. Everyone has been friendly and fascinated by the sound of my voice alone. The boys are entranced by the amount of trains they have seen today. The west still uses trains for the transport of many things. Dalton said it was the best day ever! Both boys are very happy about the move and want us to get a house that is up on a mountain. Don't think that will be happening, but it is nice that they want that. It shows me that they can see the beauty around them too. As we walked back to the hotel after dinner, Dalton looked up at the mountain range behind the hotel and he actually thought it was a painting. He was shocked to find out that they were real. That is the beauty surrounding us here. It is so breathtaking that to the young eye, it has to be a painting because he can't imagine it actually existing. I have posted some pictures on my Facebook and now I must turn in for the night. Tomorrow is the big day that we arrive at our new home in Idaho. I am sure I will have much to say about that tomorrow night.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Trip to Idaho Part 2

Today was long.....there is really no other way to describe it. We got on I-80W about 1 mile from our hotel in Lincoln and we stayed on that until about 1 mile from our hotel here in Cheyenne. Anyone who has traveled that road can tell you how completely monotonous that can be. On a high note, the speed limit is 75. I won't say that the drive was completely boring because it wasn't. The countryside is absolutely beautiful and very clean. The sky was bright blue and at points I could see the horizon like in the Delta, but the colors were much more brilliant and not so drab. Chris compared the fields to the ocean and how they almost rippled out as far as the eye could see. I can only imagine how many stars we could see out there in the middle of the night. At first all we saw was corn fields for miles. I don't think I had seen that much of one crop grown in my life. Not even in the Delta farmlands. Eventually we started seeing other crops, but still fields and more fields. Occasionally a town would just pop up when you would cross a hill and there it was in the valley there. It reminded me alot of the villages you could see in Germany just pop up while you are driving the Autobahn. Dalton actually said that it was so beautiful out here that he wanted to live here forever. One, we aren't actually in Idaho yet, so we won't be "living" anywhere; and two, let's see what his opinion is after we go through our first winter. We had a little history lesson on the way today. We stopped for a break at one of the original Pony Express stops and learned about the early Nebraska settlers, Sod Houses and the western movement. The boys really enjoyed it. I think they are adjusting well and Dalton only has momentary spurts of nervousness over starting school on Monday and not knowing anyone. I am sure he will make friends very quickly. He is a complete extrovert. Not much more for tonight. Tomorrow we are crossing Wyoming on our way to Utah and then on Sunday we will finally be in Idaho. I am so excited and anxious. Sounds crazy for this Southern girl, but I think I may like this so far!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Trip to Idaho Part 1

I promised myself that I would blog about our move to Idaho, but that was when I thought we would be having a fun, family trip through fascinating places. However, circumstances have caused us to have a quicker trip on a more direct route. We spent a night with my family, had a nice dinner and got to tell them goodbye. Then we went to Memphis where we stayed for a week. It was a nice visit, but we were ready to move on after a few days, but knew that no one else would see that as a good idea. On Wednesday morning we left Memphis after a large breakfast with my MIL and FIL and headed to Springfield, MO. We chose Springfield for no other reason than it was the right amount of miles away and located on our trip route. It was a nice enough area and when leaving we were able to drive a little on Route 66. Unfortunately, the boys were more concerned about their video games and not so much about the historical reference. On Thursday we headed to Lincoln, NE. Once again, the stop was chosen for location. On the way to Nebraska, we drove through pretty much the entire state of Missouri. It is a BIG state! We made a stop in Iowa. It was a beautiful area. Reminded me of the Delta farmland, but with mountains in the background. The farms are more manicured and less dirty looking. From there we moved on to Lincoln, which was a little interesting finding our hotel and I am sure that we could have found a more direct route, but the GPS (bitch in the box) lead us through the city and I am sure she was avoiding traffic issues on some roads. Now I sit here in a hotel in Lincoln, NE. The boys are sound asleep and by the sound of his snoring, Chris is sleeping well too. Maggie seems to have adjusted to the travel and now realizes that we aren't leaving her anywhere. I know that I have to rise a little early in the morning, but I can't seem to find that level of exhaustion I require. I think my adrenaline keeps flowing and I have too many things running through my mind. I am just ready to get to Idaho and be settled. Only a couple of more days and we will arrive at our new home. We are heading to Cheyenne, Wyoming in the morning. Wish us luck and I will talk to you later.