We got into our temporary apartment in Bloomington last evening around 5. It took 2 days to drive the 980 miles from Massachusetts through lots and lots of hills. Right now we're making progress through all our boxed stuff that's been sitting for nearly two years, plus our wedding presents, which have only been sitting for one year. So far the highlight was finding our mugs, which include Paul's cowboy mug and my frog mug. We can't fully unpack because we're moving again in 3 months. Luckily there is storage space at the apartment complex so we don't have to drive somewhere else to store the extra stuff (it seems we're going to have quite the library judging by the number of book boxes sitting in the truck).
Well, I'd like to be able to walk through the room without tripping over and into boxes, so it's back to unpacking. Pictures from the drive to come later...it's probably going to be a while before we can share pictures of the apartment, at least on the inside!
Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Packing and moving stinks!
Move number 19 is quickly approaching. We leave Massachusetts on May 9 and arrive in Indiana on May 10, with a stopover and visit to my friend Julina and her husband Michael (who I still haven't met!) in Pittsburgh (thank you once again for putting us up!). I don't remember going to Pittsburgh, so I'm looking forward to seeing a bit of the city that was voted one of the best places to live.
I'm also looking forward to the drive itself (ok, well Paul will actually do the driving), the open road and seeing lots of different places along the way, however fleetingly. Plus, there's a law of nature that calories don't count on road trips, so it's burgers, milkshakes, hot dogs, beef jerky and other tasty all-American goodies along the way. And the idea of having our own place once again (even if it does have someone else's furniture) is exciting, as is the possibility of getting a puppy once we settle in - I peruse the petfinder.com listings daily.
But for now, we're finishing up the packing and stacking of boxes. Sure, most of it has been packed for nearly 2 years now, but it's all those small odds and ends that are left, particularly those treasured trinkets from when I was 5. Do I need that slightly dented tin ring from a 25c machine? How about that box full of ticket stubs from events like Sesame Street Live? Or my collection of shaped soaps that I'd forgotten about 10 years ago? Or those computer disks from college - yeah, the square ones. I don't even have a computer that reads those! It really feels like it never ends!
I guess we all go through this cleaning out process eventually, especially those of us who grew up in the same house throughout our childhood. I'm trying to pack only those things that are actually useful or valuable and throw out the rest. I've moved so much and thrown out so much that I do feel guilty for trashing so much perfectly useful stuff, but there's no sense in keeping things that you're not going to use.
We've probably got enough boxes to fill half to 2/3 of the truck. Our only piece of furniture is a desk chair from the Marshall Field's outlet in Chicago. So that leaves us a good deal of wiggle room and space for those things Grandma said I'd have "one day", because "one day" is here!
Well, time for more packing and less typing. Let's hope move #20 in August is easier!
I'm also looking forward to the drive itself (ok, well Paul will actually do the driving), the open road and seeing lots of different places along the way, however fleetingly. Plus, there's a law of nature that calories don't count on road trips, so it's burgers, milkshakes, hot dogs, beef jerky and other tasty all-American goodies along the way. And the idea of having our own place once again (even if it does have someone else's furniture) is exciting, as is the possibility of getting a puppy once we settle in - I peruse the petfinder.com listings daily.
But for now, we're finishing up the packing and stacking of boxes. Sure, most of it has been packed for nearly 2 years now, but it's all those small odds and ends that are left, particularly those treasured trinkets from when I was 5. Do I need that slightly dented tin ring from a 25c machine? How about that box full of ticket stubs from events like Sesame Street Live? Or my collection of shaped soaps that I'd forgotten about 10 years ago? Or those computer disks from college - yeah, the square ones. I don't even have a computer that reads those! It really feels like it never ends!
I guess we all go through this cleaning out process eventually, especially those of us who grew up in the same house throughout our childhood. I'm trying to pack only those things that are actually useful or valuable and throw out the rest. I've moved so much and thrown out so much that I do feel guilty for trashing so much perfectly useful stuff, but there's no sense in keeping things that you're not going to use.
We've probably got enough boxes to fill half to 2/3 of the truck. Our only piece of furniture is a desk chair from the Marshall Field's outlet in Chicago. So that leaves us a good deal of wiggle room and space for those things Grandma said I'd have "one day", because "one day" is here!
Well, time for more packing and less typing. Let's hope move #20 in August is easier!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Las Vegas & Hoover Dam
As many of you may know, I had never been to Las Vegas, nor much of the Southwest for that matter. So, while we were in Arizona with not much to do, we decided to take advantage of those mid-week hotel deals in Las Vegas and make a road trip out of it.
We made our way the 300 or so miles from Phoenix north to the Grand Canyon, before heading another 300 or so miles west to Las Vegas. I took a whole bunch of pictures of our drive to show how the landscape changed over those vast expanses, and I won't post them all here, but if you want to see you can check them out here.
Here's some highlights from our road trip:
Paul's about to enjoy a Navajo taco at the Cameron Trading Post at the edge of the Navajo reservation:
Here we are at an overlook at the Grand Canyon - you can kind of get an idea of the size of the drop off the edge on this one:
Funny story about this spot...as we were walking around the little platform, a couple came down the steps to share in the breathtaking view. The woman walked down first, and then her boyfriend followed, got to the platform and announced in a thick Rhode Island accent "This is retahded" and ran back up the steps. His girlfriend then said "He's afraid 'a heights." Ahh, nothing like a reminder of the East Coast. At least after that I didn't feel so bad about being nervous about looking over the edge!
Another of my favorites is this picture of Paul at a gas station just outside the Grand Canyon en route to Las Vegas. As we pulled into the station, a herd of cattle were crossing it. If that wasn't enough to make you feel like you were in real rural America, they had this fantastic elk statue with an American flag, just as the moon was coming up. So I absolutely had to get a shot of Paul holding a sarsaparilla soda in front of the statue. Ahh, America. This is about as opposite from England as you can get!
We stayed at the New York New York hotel in Las Vegas, which I thought was pretty cool. We were up on the 36th floor in a corner room with a view of the strip. Here's the view from one of the windows:
Las Vegas is a place that tries to take your money any way it possibly can. How else could they afford to build these ridiculous buildings? So, with this in mind, we booked the $60/night rooms and held on tight to our wallets. There's not as much free stuff to do as I thought there would be, and the food was very expensive at the buffets, but we saw the free stuff and ate at Subway so it wasn't too bad.
One free thing is the water fountain show at the Bellagio. It goes every 15 minutes and there's music to accompany the streams of water.
Our hotel had a roller coaster on the 4th floor, and while it wasn't free, our room package came with a 2-for-1 deal on the roller coaster. So, of course we had to try it! It'd been a few years since I'd been on a roller coaster, and I used to absolutely love them, but I was little nervous and wound up screaming so much my voice was raspy for a couple days later. But it was worth it! Here we are in front of the hotel (no, we didn't buy the souvenir photo from the ride).
A lot of the hotels are actually pretty expensive to stay at, but you can walk through their casinos for free. We had one full day in the city, and we spent it walking up and down the strip. We didn't even see all of the casinos in that amount of time! The MGM Grand has a particularly impressive casino because they have REAL LIONS in it! I really don't know how they can do it without some major SPCA pressure, but on the other hand, it is a true reflection on the ethics of Las Vegas. So here's my lion picture.
The Flamingo hotel also has its own FREE animal display, but theirs is actually kind of pleasant. Here's Paul with the flamingos
It's also free to walk through the indoor canals at the Venetian, see the pirate ship at Treasure Island, and peek into the wedding chapels. But not much else is free.
A highlight of our exploration was finding a bit of Indiana in Las Vegas (kind of). Here's Paul posing in front of Kokomo's (also the name of his home town in Indiana). The food was beyond our budget, but the picture was free!
Rather than going to a $30 buffet, we did the $15 1/2lb crab leg and steak dinner at the hotel for our big splurge, and that's probably the last time we'll go to Vegas. We can get ripped off enough at home.
After we left, we stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way back to Phoenix. It was $30 for the tour, so we decided to park, skip the tour and enjoy the free view before heading on our way.
Here you can see the new bridge they're building to bypass having to drive over the actual dam.
Our next stop on the 300+ mile journey back to Phoenix was Chloride, Arizona. It is like a miniature version of Tombstone, with an old ghost town in the middle. Strangely enough, the man who worked at the general store/tourist information place used to live in Massachusetts! Here's Paul striking a cowboy pose in the old ghost town (note the experimentation with the camera 'colorize' feature)
We decided not to stop at the local saloon before heading onward
And unexpectedly, as we drove back toward Phoenix, we wound up going through a Joshua Tree Forest. I had no idea these things grew in such dense areas; normally they're more like scrubby bushes, but these were nearly 10 feet tall or more.
And that about sums up our trip. It will probably be a while before we go on another trip, so I'm glad we made the most of it!
We made our way the 300 or so miles from Phoenix north to the Grand Canyon, before heading another 300 or so miles west to Las Vegas. I took a whole bunch of pictures of our drive to show how the landscape changed over those vast expanses, and I won't post them all here, but if you want to see you can check them out here.
Here's some highlights from our road trip:
Paul's about to enjoy a Navajo taco at the Cameron Trading Post at the edge of the Navajo reservation:
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
Here we are at an overlook at the Grand Canyon - you can kind of get an idea of the size of the drop off the edge on this one:
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
Funny story about this spot...as we were walking around the little platform, a couple came down the steps to share in the breathtaking view. The woman walked down first, and then her boyfriend followed, got to the platform and announced in a thick Rhode Island accent "This is retahded" and ran back up the steps. His girlfriend then said "He's afraid 'a heights." Ahh, nothing like a reminder of the East Coast. At least after that I didn't feel so bad about being nervous about looking over the edge!
Another of my favorites is this picture of Paul at a gas station just outside the Grand Canyon en route to Las Vegas. As we pulled into the station, a herd of cattle were crossing it. If that wasn't enough to make you feel like you were in real rural America, they had this fantastic elk statue with an American flag, just as the moon was coming up. So I absolutely had to get a shot of Paul holding a sarsaparilla soda in front of the statue. Ahh, America. This is about as opposite from England as you can get!
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
We stayed at the New York New York hotel in Las Vegas, which I thought was pretty cool. We were up on the 36th floor in a corner room with a view of the strip. Here's the view from one of the windows:
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
Las Vegas is a place that tries to take your money any way it possibly can. How else could they afford to build these ridiculous buildings? So, with this in mind, we booked the $60/night rooms and held on tight to our wallets. There's not as much free stuff to do as I thought there would be, and the food was very expensive at the buffets, but we saw the free stuff and ate at Subway so it wasn't too bad.
One free thing is the water fountain show at the Bellagio. It goes every 15 minutes and there's music to accompany the streams of water.
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
Our hotel had a roller coaster on the 4th floor, and while it wasn't free, our room package came with a 2-for-1 deal on the roller coaster. So, of course we had to try it! It'd been a few years since I'd been on a roller coaster, and I used to absolutely love them, but I was little nervous and wound up screaming so much my voice was raspy for a couple days later. But it was worth it! Here we are in front of the hotel (no, we didn't buy the souvenir photo from the ride).
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
A lot of the hotels are actually pretty expensive to stay at, but you can walk through their casinos for free. We had one full day in the city, and we spent it walking up and down the strip. We didn't even see all of the casinos in that amount of time! The MGM Grand has a particularly impressive casino because they have REAL LIONS in it! I really don't know how they can do it without some major SPCA pressure, but on the other hand, it is a true reflection on the ethics of Las Vegas. So here's my lion picture.
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
The Flamingo hotel also has its own FREE animal display, but theirs is actually kind of pleasant. Here's Paul with the flamingos
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
It's also free to walk through the indoor canals at the Venetian, see the pirate ship at Treasure Island, and peek into the wedding chapels. But not much else is free.
A highlight of our exploration was finding a bit of Indiana in Las Vegas (kind of). Here's Paul posing in front of Kokomo's (also the name of his home town in Indiana). The food was beyond our budget, but the picture was free!
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
Rather than going to a $30 buffet, we did the $15 1/2lb crab leg and steak dinner at the hotel for our big splurge, and that's probably the last time we'll go to Vegas. We can get ripped off enough at home.
After we left, we stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way back to Phoenix. It was $30 for the tour, so we decided to park, skip the tour and enjoy the free view before heading on our way.
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
Here you can see the new bridge they're building to bypass having to drive over the actual dam.
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
Our next stop on the 300+ mile journey back to Phoenix was Chloride, Arizona. It is like a miniature version of Tombstone, with an old ghost town in the middle. Strangely enough, the man who worked at the general store/tourist information place used to live in Massachusetts! Here's Paul striking a cowboy pose in the old ghost town (note the experimentation with the camera 'colorize' feature)
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
We decided not to stop at the local saloon before heading onward
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
And unexpectedly, as we drove back toward Phoenix, we wound up going through a Joshua Tree Forest. I had no idea these things grew in such dense areas; normally they're more like scrubby bushes, but these were nearly 10 feet tall or more.
 |
| From Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon |
And that about sums up our trip. It will probably be a while before we go on another trip, so I'm glad we made the most of it!