In celebration of this anniversary, I've decided to report on "The Rip-roaring Trip Out," which is something I always meant to do, but never did.
Stop #1: Montauk
Montauk is a vacation town on the very further tip of Long Island. Some friends of ours had rented a house out there for the entire month of August so I decided to make that my first destination. Marcus came along. In fact, he came in the morning, serviced my car himself, loaded all my worldly possessions in my car himself, and then attached the bike rack and bikes himself. I miss that kid.
(and can I even SAY how happy I was to finally be one of those "cool kid" cars driving down the highway with a bike rack? You might also remember me mentioning something about it here.)
I prepared by putting on my dress that I always wore to the Hamptons and spent a few minutes being thankful that I had a life stage where I needed a dress that I "always wore to the Hamptons" and did my hair and make-up extra pretty. (Note: Montauk is not part of the Hamptons, but we did drive through the Hamptons and we thought we might stop to take some photos, so I wanted to be ready. We ended up stopping there, but only for some fruity drinks at Starbucks.)
I then, just like that, I drove off, leaving my wonderful, magical Manhattan. I tear up a little bit even now thinking about it. And actually I didn't drive, Marcus did because I hate driving in the city and he knows the bridges out of town way better than I did. Plus, that was I could look at everything. It was sad saying good-bye, but as soon as I couldn't see Manhattan anymore, I started getting excited about my new adventure again.
Montauk was beautiful! The house (which was also beautiful) was within walking distance to a private beach. This was my bedroom:
I love how the windows make it so you're practically sleeping in the backyard. Only with air-conditioning and a comfy mattress.
This was the backyard:
You can tell I was fresh out of the city because I was amazed by all the tree right there without a particular purpose or landscraping plan. It's not photo-worthy to me now a year later.
While we were there, we enjoyed trips to the beach, leisurely bike rides and sitting in the hot tub. I remember particularly a bit of culture shock when I went to the grocery store and all the workers spoke English (however, none of them knew what hummus was).
After two days, it was time to take off. Instead of paying $50 for a ferry to Conneticut, I decided to drive myself, which required driving the full length of Long Island again (3 hours. Seriously, it's long) and then across Manhattan and over the George Washington bridge to New Jersey. I love the George Washington bridge because I could see it from my bed for two years and looked at it during my thinking time. To me, it represents a lot of what I felt and learned and realized and experienced my last two years in New York. So, I was happy to "really leave" New York over it. Driving myself out this time broke my heart, especially since I left the island through my own 'hood. I think I could even see my building from the highway. I tried to touch the skyline through my window and just kept driving, tearing up a bit.
Stop #2 Kirtland, Ohio
My parents didn't want me driving all night and arriving home in Michigan at 3am, so they strongly recommended that I stay at a hotel (I would use the word "absolutely insisted" except I'm an independent adult and no one can insist I do anything). I stayed in Pennyslvania, which ended up being good because 1) I had forgotten what bad night vision I have while driving, 2) I didn't miss any of the totally gorgeous PA scenary, and 3) it enabled me to take an unscheduled stop in Kirtland, Ohio which is a historical sight for the LDS church (which as you know is the church I'm lucky enough to be a part of). It was a brief, but enjoyable visit, even though I didn't take any pictures.
Stop #3 Michigan
I already blogged about that.
Stop #4 St. Louis
This was a highlight. I grew up near St. Louis (3hrs away) and we went there sometimes and I always thought it was super lame. Turns out, St. Louis is TOTALLY AWESOME! My best friend from high school, Jamie, had been living there a few years and had been asking me to come visit, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity. I never thought that I would leave LOVING St. Louis. I ended up staying four or five days and I would have stayed longer, but I was afraid Jamie and her boyfriend (now fiance!) would keep buying me things.
There is so so so so so much to love about St. Louis!
The zoo!! Hello! You can pet sting rays (for a dollar, but that's okay because admission is free) and I learned that hippos are my very favorite animal. So graceful under water! No wonder Walt Disney made them ballerinas in that movie. Plus, from Jamie's super awesome apartment, I could ride my bike there! Best zoo ever. 
The Art Museum (also free) where they had a surprisingly good collection and I discovered my new favorite painting of all time. I could just look at it for hours. 
The Food-- best ice cream sundae I've ever had (seriously) and it turns out St. Louis has their own style of pizza and I LOVE it! (thin crust with a tangy cheese and sauce! yum! I need to go back and get some right now!)
The Botanical Garden is hands-down the best one I've ever been too, including all the ones in New York too. (I mean those are also very very nice, but different and I liked that one better.)
Check out this lily pad-- it looks fake, but it's not. 
Their koi pond (although it was more river-like) was also awesome. They sold a handful of food for a quarter and it was the best $2 I've ever spent. Look at the photo-- you can't even tell which are the fish and which are the ducks. The ducks would literally walk on the backs of the fish. Awesome. 
The museum was only okay, but did provide me with one of my very favorite quotes: 
It's profound really. And since discovering the quote, I've realized that it's true again and again and again.
The St. Louis temple is great. It's the first temple I went to and this was my first time back. And I'd forgotten about how non-Manhattan temples have such beautiful landscaping. As soon as you drive in the gates it's like a fairy land. 
Oh man, I love St. Louis. This was a very unexpected turn of events. Also, my sheer dumb luck (good thing I extended my time in Michigan!) Jamie had some med school friends staying with her who live in Salt Lake now. The wife is from Indiana and now we watch the Colts games together. Small world.
Stop #5 Oklahoma City
My two brothers and my little sister all live together in Oklahoma City, so of course I would not miss this chance to visit them. Also, at this point in my vacation I got a little head cold and it was a good place to convalesce.
Turns out Oklahoma City is pretty neat too. But the vast majority of my time was spent at the house, resting, watching downloaded TV shows, eating mass amounts of yummy food, and, oddly enough, playing zombie-based board games.
Also, I got to go to Cici's pizza which was my very favorite place to eat on my mission, but I'd not gotten to eat there since then. Those of you who have experienced it know what I'm talking about.
The best part was getting to see my siblings in their "natural setting" and spend time with them.
Stop #6 Akron, Colorado
This bustling metropolis of well over 1,500 residence was a not-to-be-missed stop on my adventure because it's the home of my favorite auntie Kathleen.
We had a lovely dinner together, went on a walk, watched a movie, and I had a nice tour of the town. We went to a park I remember visiting as a little girl where they had this mini-merry-go-round that I have always remembered as the greatest thing in the world. It was still there, but could have used a good oiling. We did a little shopping and auntie bought me a book which was very nice. I was sad I couldn't stay longer, but by this point I was getting anxious to get somewhere settled in. Plus, I'd already delayed my Utah reservations about 3 times. So after a day and a half, I was off.
Stop #7 Provo and Tooele Utah
I stayed with my sister in Provo and we went to visit my sister in Tooele. It was the first time I'd seen my neice Ashley. My brother John (who was at three of my 7 cross-country stops) was in town for a job interview. I stayed with them a few days, but by that point I was ready to SETTLE DOWN SOMEWHERE ALREADY!!
So on September 1, I drove up to Sugarhouse (a neighborhood in Salt Lake City) and moved into my new place to start my new life. But that's a different story.
2 comments:
I really, really love this. I had been wanting an inside look at your trip. So thank you!
But mostly, I really wanted to say...
"nice rack."
Oh, the world of Macaroni and cheese pizza!
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