The Move is OVER!

Saturday, April 25th was the big day. We had already loaded up the truck, so all we had to do was jam our suitcases in, and we were off!

The truck was pretty cumbersome, but I luckily have a JJ to do stuff like... driving, dishes, and folding laundry. We took a final picture in our "old" apartment, and then we were officially homeless.

Our first stop for food came in Wyoming. We knew where we were when we ate there, but can't think of what the city's name is now... haha. Oops. BUT! If you ever see this restaurant, and like Thai food, you should eat there, it's way better than expected:

We then paid homage to the land where my ancestors (C.Y.) come from:

I ended up being lame and doing a lot of eating and a lot of this on the drive:

We saw a lot of this:

For those of you who have never made a cross country drive, and are curious, this was our route: I-80 through Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, Virginia. I was excited to get my first view of the Mississippi, which was cool, I guess, and the Mid-West, which was... not cool. It was all very flat and boring, except the weather was somewhat entertaining, but has now caused some drama... more on that later.

We stayed the first night in Grand Island, Nebraska. It's not fun. Don't be jealous. We "slept in" as JJ likes to say (woke up at 9 AM, that's NOT late), and got on the road by 10 (after biscuits and gravy... gotta remember the important parts). We had scheduled a night at a Holiday Inn Express in a west-side Chicago suburb, but realized that we were going to make it there way earlier than expected, so cancelled that, and decided to eat at Lou Malnati's Famous Deep Dish Pizza for dinner, which took us about half an hour out of our way. It was the BEST pizza casserole I've ever eaten, and yes... I think it's delicious, but you can't compare it to NYC's thin crust--it's just not the same.

After dinner, we got back in the car and just started driving. We didn't know how far we were going to get, and just said we'd drive until we got tired. Now, I'm not going to say I have a good tolerance for caffeine, but we stopped for an energy drink anyway. I was awake and driving until about 4:00 AM, and we were so close to JJ's parent's by the time I was tired, that JJ(who somehow slept through me being a Rockstar--it was all the drink--to Sheryl Crow-esque music the whole time) thought we could make it the rest of the way.

We got to Ephrata at 9:30 AM (Can you billeee 'dat?!), and slept until about 3:00 PM. Then we woke up to have dinner with JJ's parents, Aunt Debbie, and Grandma. The next morning (This is Tuesday) we got up and drove to Arlington to get settled.

Our apartment is potentially cute, we just need to finish unpacking/organizing. I'll get it done someday, and that day will be the day I take pics for y'all.

OH! The drama that the weather caused is the following: We went through the hardest rain storm ever, and a leak caused our mattress to get wet. Wet mattress=mildew=something nasty I've never dealt with. We put in a claim with Penske, and we'll see how that goes.

On Friday, JJ had planned a "I hope you like that we moved to DC even though you don't know anything about it" date. We went to eat Dim Sum at a place in China Town called Tony Cheng's, and found out that they don't serve Dim Sum at dinner, but ate some good Chinese food anyway. Then we went to the National Symphony Orchestra (at the Kennedy Center). They performed Haydn's The Creation, which would have been cooler if it was in English, and wasn't an Opera, and had more Orchestra solos, but it was still a good introduction to the arts of the area. Here's a pic:

On Saturday, our friends Joe & Brit, who we have missed so much since they moved here... a year? ago, met us at the Embassies to look around. I saw my first real DC-style demonstration:

It's about not killing North Koreans. I probably should care more, but I didn't really get it. They shouted some hilarious things, and then you could hear other people saying "I don't think anyone's listening" in the background. LOVED IT.

We were supposed to be flying to Cabo for a week in the sun/relaxing/getting tan, but I guess that the pigs of the area really didn't want me to crispify myself, and infected everyone with the flu. We got a refund on our tickets, but are still sad. Even though we bought a 40" LCD HDTV with 1080p and all the things JJ was looking for for just more than the plane tickets cost (which makes it free, if you think about it.... almost).

So now we're getting settled. I really like having a metro station right across the street, living on the 6th floor, and having time and space with JJ, but I really miss my family. Especially today (Sunday Dinner), even though they're not having it. I know I'll be home soon enough to finish school and everything, but it's my first time away! Gimme a break. I'm a wuss.