California Living

It's been so long since I've updated so I apologize if this entry is a bit long. We have a lot to update you all on. It will be best if I make a list of everything, because I like to make lists.

1. We have a home! Or a place that we will live for just about 2 years before heading back to NoVa. It sort of feels like that sometimes. It's a really nice attached condo in a gated community .5 miles from the beach. Yup, it's at most a 10 minute walk to the beach from our front door. Alas, we haven't really spent too much time there yet but we definitely will when it stays in the 70s and 80s for longer periods of time.

2. Our place is really nice. It's a 2 bedroom/2.5 bath place with an office/loft and a master suite. We have a little patio that overlooks a stream that runs throughout the complex. It's big, because of the vaulted ceiling, but still cozy. We never have to run our air and it rarely gets over 70 because of the breeze that comes off the Pacific. And that second bedroom is ready for guests so please come visit!

3. I'm back to work. Not sure how exciting it is since I continue to sit in my office 40 hours a week plugging away. The job is a bit more tedious when it's sunny out and you actually want to be active. Ah well.

4. Everyone here is super nice. I know more of my neighbors here than I ever did living in Virginia or Maryland. Seriously, the East Coast is full of people who would like to do nothing better than ignore the person right next to them. However, this has been a bit of an issue for me who is a East Coaster and has issues talking to strangers. Chris is way more friendly than I am, but I'm attempting to work through it and be a nicer stranger. A lot of our neighbors are older, but there are a few young couples. And everyone has a dog.

5. Hank is 90 lbs and growing. We've found him a vet, a dog park, and started training last week. He's taking to it quite well and is slowly taking to the kennel as we attempt to crate train him. In a few months, I may be able to get a job outside of the house and we could possibly go to a happy hour/date. *fingers crossed* However, he's had his moments of destruction: he flipped over an entire glass of wine when he fell head first off the couch; he ate up my Oakley's; he tore off part of Cotswold's horns; destroyed a contact case (but no the contacts) and proceeded to have the runs for a few days; and sort of damaged my Garmin GPS watch. He really tries your patience.

6. Huntington Beach is sort of dog friendly. They have a dog beach, but you can't attach your dog to any of the railings near restaurants downtown. There is one dog friendly restaurant near the dog park, but it's only open for breakfast and lunch. Thus, we haven't really eaten out at many restaurants and I can't give you much of an update on the food culture. Chris, however, eats Mexican food for lunch several times a week and assures me that it is fantastic. I can tell you that we found the greatest sandwich shop ever and if you come visit, we'll definitely take you there.

7. Things are a touch more expensive here than they are in DC. Beers are $7 at bars and since I don't know any of the bartenders, it's not as if I'll get a free one here or there. I haven't really purchased gas, but it's in the high $3's and often over $4/gal.

8. People don't wear shoes? We've noticed this a lot, but it could be because we live in Surf City, USA. It seems shoes are an option here, or at least in downtown HB. Speaking of people, everything you've heard is true. Everyone seems to surf; people totally roller blade; and most guys qualify as bros.

Well, I think that's the gist of it. We've spent the last month or so getting everything unpacked, buying more furniture, and setting up the house. We've met the Chelsea group here, but the bar is a good 20 minute drive away and the games can be at awful hours (4:45 a.m.) so it can be a bit difficult to make it out there.

I'll update again when we do something exciting!

- Kate

Our Introduction to California!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Chris and I have been busy exploring the area, looking for houses, and getting used to our new home. Here is a recap of the end of our trip and our adventures in Huntington Beach.

Gaslight District

We arrived in San Diego on midday Thursday and were extremely grateful for the 60 degree weather. The hotel we stayed at, Hotel Indigo, is extremely dog friendly. They allow dogs in all rooms and in all areas of the hotel. With Petco Park being a block away from the hotel, the area around the hotel in general is also pet friendly.

After arriving, we took Hank on a long walk and then got some lunch at a restaurant near Petco Park. It got cloudy and overcast so we went back to the hotel to relax and escape the rain. For us, this rain was a bit upsetting but California is in the midst of the worst drought they've had in 100 years so everyone there welcomed the rain. We decided to stay in to watch the Olympics and then took Hank down to the hotel bar later on the evening for some drinks.

A view of San Diego from our hotel

The following morning found us on our way to Huntington Beach, our new home. We drove the Pacific Coast Highway on part of the trip and arrived at our hotel around 11. Chris needed to check into work so we headed there soon after arriving in the area. After lunch and a tour of the armory, we needed to head back to the hotel to pick up Chris's car.

We spent the rest of the evening driving around the area and getting used to the streets. We took Hank to the dog beach, which tired him out very quickly. He likes the sand, but still isn't too keen on the water.

On Saturday we decided to do more exploring, as it was light out and things were open. We headed down to the main area of Huntington Beach and took Hank for a long walk along the beach. We got kicked off the pier, because dogs aren't allowed on there, but did find a restaurant that allows dogs on their patio. Chris and I enjoyed an adult lunch, while Hank attempted to sleep on the patio.

Yes, this 80 lbs dog is mean and will destroy
 your apartment...with kisses!

As we are in the process of finding a place to live, we went out to look at places on Sunday. One was alright, but not move in ready. Then the next places cancelled on us. A lot of the places don't takes dogs or if they do, not Hank-sized dogs. It seems that at 80 lbs, Hank has more of a chance of barking and damaging an apartment than a dog under 45 lbs. We found the most perfect place this evening, but they don't take large dogs, or any dogs that is above your knee. This to not most dogs I know. (In other news, Hank also chewed threw two leashes in 24 hours. But that's neither here nor there.)

Anyway, today was a very frustrating day and it's possible that may not be able to live as close to the ocean as we'd like. We have more appointments tomorrow and I've sent out a bunch of emails so hopefully something turns up soon. Til then!

- Kate

Day 5: Arizona to California!

The fifth day of our trip began a little bit late due to Hank. His stomach issues still hadn't gone away and after waking us up at 330 in the morning, we decided that a trip to the vet in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is a really cute college town that sits in the shadow of several mountains. The vet was very nice and accommodating to Hank, giving him medicine to get his tummy back in order. We then got the best coffee/breakfast of the trip at Wildflower Bread Company, a Panera-like restaurant that is local to Arizona. I would definitely recommend stopping there to anyone who happens upon one while in Arizona.

We then headed to the Grand Canyon, which is about 80 miles from Flagstaff. The Grand Canyon is almost too difficult to put into words. One second you're driving through densely packed woods and the next there is a breathtaking view of the canyon. I'll just leave some photos here for your perusal instead of explaining it in words.

After visiting the Grand Canyon, we got back to our trek to California. Due to our late start, getting to San Diego was going to be too much of a trek so we decided to make Barstow, CA our stop for the night. The weather finally warmed up as we left Arizona and entered into our new home state. The day started at 30 degrees and it reached a high of 66 on the road! We are elated to finally be in warmer weather and it looks as if we're clear of any inclement weather.

We arrived at our hotel in Barstow around 6 p.m., gaining an hour when we entered into Pacific Time. Tomorrow we'll head to San Diego, which is just over 2 hours from our current location, for a relaxing final day before Chris needs to check in with work. Til tomorrow!

- Kate

Day 4: Texas to New Mexico to Arizona!

Snowy Amarillo

Day four began with a bit of wet weather. We went to bed in Amarillo with no precipitation on the ground and woke to about 1-2 inches of snow coating the sidewalks and roads. Due to the weather issues, we took our time in the morning and did not check out of our hotel until 830. It was slow going for the first hour or so as we trudged through the snow laden roads.

By the time we got outside the Amarillo city limits, the roads improved greatly and we were back up to traveling speed. Texas continued to be extremely flat and it was only about an hour and a half of driving before we entered into New Mexico.

Woo New Mexico!!

At the moment, New Mexico is at the top of the list for most beautiful states. While it is extremely flat, the mesas and rock formations that dot the horizon make this a very beautiful state. The weather cleared up throughout the morning and the sun came out as we headed towards Albuquerque. Every once in awhile, the weather would turn dark and a snow squall would run across our path, causing hail-like snow to fall on the road.

New Mexico was relatively uneventful, minus Hank's upset tummy. We stopped several times in the state and I must apologize to certain random gas stations for not depositing of Hank's excrement. I'm sure it will dry out soon, though.

Beautiful New Mexico

We made it into Arizona by 330/4 p.m. and enjoyed the setting sun as we continued to drive West. Arizona is much flatter than New Mexico, in that it is without those red rocks and beautiful mesas. Nevertheless, it is equally as beautiful. After his tummy issues, Hank slept through Arizona and did not wake until we arrived in Flagstaff. We checked into our hotel and as we tried to bring Hank into the hotel, he slipped out of his harness and ran away, proceeding to ALMOST get hit by a car. Chris and I flipped, but we able to corral him in. Talk about taking several years off our lives. I decided then that a bottle of wine was necessary to calm my nerves.

80000 miles!

That was the extent of Tuesday's adventures. Tomorrow we are heading to the Grand Canyon and although we'd like to go to Las Vegas, it seems we missed the boat on booking a hotel and the prices are becoming too much. Seems we may be headed to San Diego for a few days.

Til tomorrow!

- Kate

Day 3: Arkansas to Oklahoma to Texas

I’m sorry that this blog post is coming a day later than expected, but I was too tired after last night’s drive to write a worthwhile post. I’m currently writing this as we drive through New Mexico, but more on that on the day four blog.

The picture we took of the welcome to Oklahoma sign was blurry
but we got a photo of this

Day three was the polar opposite of day two. It was cold, but clear when we left our hotel in Arkansas and we soon entered into Oklahoma. It would be really awesome if the transitions between different states were more drastic, but you wouldn’t know without those large signs welcoming you to a new state. However, Oklahoma obviously got a lot more snow than rain and had not yet cleared their major roads. Thus, the first part of Oklahoma was a slow trip as we slowly followed in the paths cleared by the tractor trailers.

By the time we reached Oklahoma City, it cleared up and we were back up to speed on the roads. Oklahoma, as expected, is very flat and pretty boring. It hovered between 26 and 33 for most of the day, becoming overcast in the afternoon and not really clearing off until the evening hours.

We got the Texas welcome sign!

We entered Texas around 4 p.m. and the landscape became flatter and full of cows. Sometimes the cows looked so still that I swore they were fake. Chris has repeatedly made fun of me for this since I vocalized it. The panhandle of Texas is flat and dry, with acres of farmland and grazing fields of either side of the highway. The speed limit went from 70 to 75 as we entered Texas and we were able to pick up our speed on the last leg of today’s trip. We booked ourselves into a hotel in Amarillo for the night, thus ending day three of our trip.

Hank has been handling the trip alright. He’s majorly confused, but his body has reacted negatively to the constant travel, which is a blessing for us. He’s just being a bit stranger than he already is. We remembered quickly that he hates elevators, so staying on the first (or ground) floors of our hotels has been nice. Outside of that, he just sleeps in the car and periodically drops his toys down between the door and seat, so we’re forced to climb into the backseat to rescue his precious playthings.

Hank sleeping

In writing this blog, I’ve come to realize that my writing skills have severely diminished over the past 6-9 months. Graduating from grad school and not having a job in which I write frequently are the major culprits, but in reality, I just did not make time to write in the past year. Nevertheless, like any ability, writing takes practice and hope that in the future I will be at ease with writing once more.

Our travel distance and time for Day 3 is as follows:

Time: About 10 hours

Distance: 588.3 miles

Weather willing, we’ll try to be in Flagstaff by the end of the day on Tuesday. Til then!

- Kate

Day 2: Tennessee to Arkansas

Today was brought to you by a whole lot of rain. So much rain that it made the drive almost unbearable and the scenery unappreciated. I'm a bit drained so bear with me as I pen this blog entry.

We started the day about a half hour outside of Knoxville. We got on the road about 45 minutes after we wanted to but quickly made up that time when we entered Central Time! That was about the most exciting part of the trip as the rain began around 830 this morning and I think it's still coming down as I write this.

Rain battered us as we drove through Knoxville to Nashville and then Memphis (finally). Stopping in any of these cities would have been nice, but the weather really made it impossible and not really worth it. The weather continued to worsen and we put off our lunch stop until Memphis. Alas, that stop was a bit of a mess as it took three different gas stations to find a pump that actually worked and we ended up wasting a good half hour or so getting gas and waiting for our fast food to be ready.

Hank was a bit of a pain today. He's starting to realize that we're really far from Virginia and it's taking really long for us to take him back to his apartment. He's also not getting as much exercise as he usually does and spends much of the day Eeyoring out the window or huffing at us from the backseat. He made some foolish attempt to play/pull out of his collar when we stopped for lunch and that did not end well for him. However, he is still on track to achieve his goal of pooping in every state on the trip.

We made it to our hotel outside of Little Rock by 530, just in time to watch the Broncos lose this game in an embarrassing manner. Dinner was left over KFC, honey mustard pretzels, and vending machine soda. Maybe one day soon I'll have a fruit/vegetable/something green.

We're going to try to make it to Amarillo, TX tomorrow. It would be another 9 hours of driving, but the weather actually looks good tomorrow so we shouldn't be hampered by that. With our current pace, we would actually make it to California by Wednesday at the earliest or Thursday if we didn't go to Vegas. We're trying to find someplace to stop so we can slow down our pace and get to California on Friday.

No pictures taken today because of the weather and I've misplaced the adapter once more so I'll try to find that tomorrow when it's much dryer.

And I only have our driving distance for Day 1 at the moment:
Miles: 477.0
Time: 8:49

Day 2:
Miles: 588.3
Time: About 10 hours


Til tomorrow!

- Kate

Day 1: Virginia to Tennessee

Day one of our trip saw us drive through Virginia and a short bit of Tennessee before we needed to stop for the evening. We started our day at 7 am, but were not able to really get on the road until 10 due to putting the roof cargo box and 4 bikes on the back of the car, and picking up Hank at our friend's place.

A view of the Shenandoah Valley from Skyline Drive

Nevertheless, it was a clear day and we were soon outside of the DC metro area limits. Due to the nice weather, we thought be might try to drive Skyline Drive. It parallels 81 and take you through the Shenandoah Mountains. However, we did not realize how slow it would be and how difficult it would be to drive an already heavy car up and down the mountain pass. It was very beautiful, but it definitely lost of us some driving time in the morning. (And it cost $10 to drive through, so that was a bit of an unexpected expense).

We only drove about 30 miles on Skyline Drive before leaving to head towards 81. The rest of the day was spent traveling on 81, which is over 300 miles, most of which is in Virginia. It really feels like one of the longest states to drive through. I thought we would never reach Tennessee, as we needed to stop several times to let Hank pee, poop, and eat.

Hello Tennessee!

We got into Tennessee around 630 and quickly decided that we were about at the end of our driving ability for the day. I found a Best Western Plus (a classier version of your usual Best Westerns, I assure you) about an hour outside of Knoxville and booked us a room.

Tennessee is already more interesting than Virginia. We tried to stop for gas off of 81, but this specific gas station did not accept credit cards. (Shocking, I know). It was also very dark and a bit sketchy so we just turned around instead of stopping to get gas. Everyone is very nice already, and I'll probably have to start being nicer to people and smile a bit more. It's time to lose a bit of my east coast armor.

Also, we've really hit the bible belt, as our hotel's guest services book offers Bible verses and local church services to its patrons. Alas, I don't think we'll be able to make any tomorrow, as we're trying to get on the road early to make up for lost time today. We're hoping to make it to Little Rock, AR, in time to check into a hotel and watch the Super Bowl. Go Peyton, er Broncos!

Hank looking out of the car

That's all for now. I will be putting down our driving time and distance each day, but I forgot to write down the numbers before checking into the hotel this evening. I'll put today's and tomorrow's into my day 2 blog. Til tomorrow!

- Kate

One Day More

Sunday night, before the packers arrived

I write this while sitting in our hotel room, which is located about .25 miles away from our current/old apartment. It's been an extremely busy week and this is the first time I've really had the energy and time to write. Here is a short recap:

On Monday morning, the packers arrived at our apartment and began to pack all of our belongings. This took all day Monday and spilled over into Tuesday midday. Hank spent most of the day attempting to eat the packing paper and bothering the three workers. Chris and I sat on the couch and read while they worked. By midday Tuesday, everything was packed in the apartment and in our storage unit, minus the televisions and one bed, which made sleeping that night much more enjoyable.

Monday night, after packing

Monday night, after packing

On Wednesday morning, the movers arrived to put all of the furniture and boxes onto the truck. That was an all-day affair. They arrived at 9 and did not finish removing all the items from the apartment until 7 p.m. The movers were very friendly with Hank but he got very confused throughout the day and had several accidents in the house. Once they left, all we had left in the apartment was our aero bed and our belongings for the trip.

Post movers = empty house

On Thursday morning, we got up early to pack the car since the cleaning people were arriving at 9. Alas, we discovered that the packers had forgotten to pack some things that were in our cabinets. They had packed the lids to the pots but not the pots themselves, and had packed the glass oven dishes but not the lids. They also missed a bunch of ziploc bags and some coffee travel mugs. In haste, we put together two leftover boxes and packed them. Luckily we'll have space in the car for them, but it is definitely not an ideal situation. When the cleaners came, I left to drop Hank off at a friend's place for a couple of nights so we could run errands and relax. He was no longer upset after that and I'm not sure he noticed when I left.

Thursday was filled with errands that we had to run, including dropping the cable box off at Verizon, mailing last minute packages, exchanging our coins for cash, and shipping Chris's car. Once completed, we finally went to see the second Hobbit movie, since we've had no time to go since it came out.

Today has been a very relaxing day. I've come down with a bit of a cold so I slept in and Chris went back to the apartment to handle the exterminator appointment. Then we got breakfast and Chris got his haircut while I finished a book. Now we just have to wait around until 3 when we have our final out appointment with the rental company.

Hank, before he ran away because the photo flash was capturing his soul

Chris and I are amazed and excited that our trip is finally here. We've been talking about it and planning for it forever, so it's surprising that it has actually arrived. It probably won't feel real until we're on the road tomorrow. I've posted a link here the route that we will most likely take. Everything will depend upon the weather, so if it's nice tomorrow, we may take Skyline Drive and if we have enough time, we may head up to Vegas after the Grand Canyon.

That's all for now. I will do my best to post every night about that day's distance covered and eventful occurrences!

- Kate

California Dreaming

First things first, I've returned to the blogosphere. It's been a very busy 1.5 years but I've found a good reason to blog again and I hope you'll all enjoy it.

There are few things I enjoy more in life than travelling. I was lucky enough to be born into a family that loved travelling and was blessed that they wished to bring me along on these trips, even though I was remarkably good at disappearing. 

Despite traveling far from home and living abroad (but only for a month each time), I've never actually moved more than 4 hours away from home. State College and Washington, D.C. are all within a half a day driving distance from the Jersey Shore and it's been easy to visit family (and for them to visit us) and come home for holidays.

Alas, life is full of curve balls. Enter Chris, who I met two years ago and recently decided his was a worthy life partner and his career in the Army. It is this career that is moving us across the country to Southern California for two years! (There are worse places). Come February 1st, (one week from tomorrow!) we (including our 80 lbs. dog, Hank) will begin our 7 day trek across the United States to Huntington Beach, CA.

This space will host my daily blogs about the trip cross country and our future adventures in California. I'll hopefully post a few times next week (wifi willing) regarding the packing process and the week leading up to the big move.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days!

- Kate