Well, I found an internship today here in Boston. It's actually in Concord, the location of my favorite Walden Pond (yes, Thoreau is a favorite of mine). I will be working for an Internist for the next six weeks. Sadly I cannot get paid (some school rule or something), but I am excited for everything I will be learning.Anyway, back to how we got out here to good ol' Northboro (or to the Westerners, Boston, since no one that's not from here would have ever heard of Northboro).
After we got home from El Salvador, we had about three days of living at our empty home. Thanks to wonderful and loving neighbors, we didn't have to fast the entire time we were there. Anyway, we basically packed everything up, said our goodbyes (*tears), and headed South. Yes South. We were moving to Boston, but for the first several hundred miles, we only drove South. And West.
Our first stop was to say goodbye to Oma and Opa. We only got to spend a couple of hours with them, but are grateful for the times we got to spend with them over the past couple of years. We miss them already! After Oma and Opa's, we went down to Kent's Grandmother and Grandad's for lunch and some oh-so-intense games. We then spent the rest of the day and the night with Raelene and Mark and their six amazing kids! We miss them too! The next morning we said our goodbyes to BYU and a few of our friends down there at our old stompin' grounds...ah the good ol' days.
From P-Town, we drove down through Kent's mission. We got to see/ hike Bryce Canyon and Zion's Nat'l Park...fun, amazing, and BEAUTIFUL!!! We got to visit the Wilcox family, one of Kent's close friends from his mission. They were amazing and had us for dinner and stocked us up with some awesome treats (Ephra and Jaysha, we SOOO need that recipe by the way!). 
After a couple days in southern Utah, we went on over to Las Vegas, because, hey, why not right? I need to mention that Raelene is Incredible (in sooooo many ways) She and Mark hooked us up big time and let us use their timeshares for discounted rates all the way across the country. We got to stay in these amazing, gorgeous hotels for dirt cheap! Thanks Raelene!!! We stayed in Vegas for a couple nights, and did the whole strip thing...good times. I showed Kent mine, Joey's, and Carley's infamous Pirate ship (good times Skrosk!) We went to the Stratosphere Tower, and, somehow survived!!! We went on these three rides, Big Shot, Insanity, and ExScream. Big Shot shoots you straight up the needle on top of the tower, then you free fall back down. Insanity is this crazy arm thing that picks you up, puts you out over the edge of the Stratosphere, and then spins you around and around until you are facing the ground, 1100 feet in the air! And ExScream....they called it a Teeter Totter. If it's a Teeter Totter, it's the Teeter Totter of Death! It's this 30 foor long roller coaster track, and Kent and I got to sit in the FRONT car. Once you're all strapped in with this wimpy lap bar, and you're wondering what could possibly be so scary about this short track of roller coaster, the whole track drops down, and you don't only coast, but you are FORCED forward, toward the edge of the track! They don't have any kind of restraining rails or anything at the edge of the track! In fact, once we reached the edge of the track, the front car actually hangs off of the track! So we were there, freaking out of course, facing the floor of Vegas 1100 feet below us, and then the track started to raise up and we coasted back to the beginning. Then, just when we were getting our breath back, Boom, We were zipped back down at incredible rates, towards our impending doom. After the second one, we knew what to expect, when all of a sudden the whole track dropped about ten feet! We thought it broke and we were going to fall to our deaths! What a crazy night that was! To top it off, we met Marie Osmond up there with her kids! We had fun chatting for a few minutes.
From Vegas, we drove the next morning over to the Hoover Dam. Talk about breathtaking. We did a tour of the dam and saw the huge bridge they are building across the thing. It was amazing! After that we headed to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. Yes, there IS a West Rim. It was only about 50 miles out of our way, so we THOUGHT, 'hey, no biggie.' Little did we know that 20 of those 50 miles were gravel, dirt, and altogether horrible conditions!!! We thought our poor weighed down car was going to die! Once we made it over those treachorous roads, we found out that the West Rim is NOT considered a National Park; it is owned by an Indian Reservation. Well we came that whole way and wanted to see the Grand Canyon, so they charged us up the nose and we saw the Grand Canyon. We got to go on the Sky Bridge, but couldn't bring our cameras! It was cool, but so not worth the drive or the money for future reference! Anyway, I stole a pic or two with my phone while on the sky bridge anyway. 
We spent that night down in Mesa with my cousin Quinten and Kate and their three kids. We only wish we could have stayed longer! The next day, we made the drive to Maricopa, and took Elder Nauman and his companion to Breakfast! (it was more like lunch really) We found out there weren't really any breakfast places there, so we went to Ki's favorite burrito shop in town and had burritos for breakfast. It was so fun seeing Ki down there! He's doing great and working hard! After 'breakfast' we drove and drove and drove (there's not a lot other than Joshua tree forests between Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. We did go through Benson, the town where Opa grew up...we got ice cream there! We also stopped off the freeway in the literal middle of nowhere to see The THING!!! I cannot tell you much more than that it is there, and we saw it.
Our next stop on this adventure was Carlsbad Caverns...one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! We hiked for hours and had so much fun there!
Next, we made our way to Natalie and Josh's house for a fun-filled weekend with them and their girls. We stayed busy and had a great time with them and are excited to go back!
After Natalie's, we went to New Orleans for a night. It's a pretty scary place to get lost at night, but we had a blast there! We went to this amazing Cheesecake Bistro for an incredible dinner/ dessert!!!
After New Orleans...FLORIDA!!!! Oh my amazing! We had perfect weather and got to go to DisneyWorld! Kent told them it was my birthday, so I got to wear a pin and EVERYONE there wished me a happy birthday. We were able to go to Magic Kingdom AND Epcot in a day! Only one line was a 15 minute wait; everything else was 5 minutes or less!! It was literally a dream come true day! That night, Kent took me to La Neuba-- a Cirque du Soleil performance. Words could never do that show justice! It was one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen, and an amazing birthday present! Our resort there was breathtaking as well!
After feeding seagulls at Daytona Beach, we drove up to Myrtle Beach. What a beautiful, fun place! We got to go to a local breakfast restaurant where Kent and I had our first grits experience! Mmmm They were delicious! We also went to Alligator Adventure--an exhibit of over 1500 gators and crocs, and tons of other reptiles and awesome animals! We even saw albino alligators, and got to hold a constrictor and a baby gator!
From Myrtle Beach we went to Williamsburg, SC. Our resort was a fun colonial style place that was about the same square footage as our home in Idaho! We got our oil changed there, since we'd gone pretty far since Idaho. After that we drove through Washington, D.C. We had a great time seeing the sights there. From there we drove to Aunt Katrina and Uncle Tamar's house in PA. We had a fun visit with them and went to Church with them on Sunday. We left after Sacrament Meeting, and made the home stretch drive up to Northboro, arriving literally three minutes before kick-off for the Super Bowl! Talk about timing!
So, after 16 days on the road, we made it safe and sound at our new home.
Total mileage: 5,300 miles!!!! Not having to live out of a suitcase anymore, priceless.
Let the next chapter of our lives--BEGIN!
4 comments:
Wow, talk about the perks of being married to a guy who has a real job instead in school. That's awesome! So I what is your internship in? (I don't remember if you had to change your major b/c BYUI didn't have the classes...). Did you move into a house and foresee this as a place you'll live for a while?
SO FUN to read a re-cap of the trip and see all of these picture. And we're so glad we got to see you for just a little while. What an adventure. We're just a little jealous!
Looks like you guys had an awesome trip! Boston, wow. That's a long ways from home. I wish the best for you guys on your new beginning so far far away!
Wow! I'm way behind! :) I'm so glad we can at least stay caught up with you. We sure miss you both, but are excited for you and your many upcoming adventures.
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