I think it’s becoming abundantly clear that I will not be catching up on all the blog posts I meant to write at the beginning of the year. Honestly, things were insane with the big move, crazy while I was still in upheaval, and a few degrees past normal now that I am temporarily settled. So this is an overview of what happened from the time Andy and I left California in February through last month, right before the wedding. Anyone who knows me knows I have a list of things I was supposed to blog about through that time, so I’m just going to go right down the list. This will likely take me a few posts to complete. Once I’m through catching up, I’ll post something about where things are for me right now.

After packing the house, shipping my car, and getting Andy’s car packed, fluids changed/topped off and decked out with new tires, we set off on our road trip across the country. The first leg of our journey took us from San Diego to Brainerd, Minnesota. The first day of driving took us through much of southern California (including a stopover in Barstow to visit an old friend and revisit memories of the time we were dating) and Arizona, where we stopped in Flagstaff for the night. Somewhere towards the end of the night we realized that it wasn’t sand dunes we were seeing in the darkness but rather snow banks. Imagine our surprise considering it was quite warm we we left Miramar earlier that morning. It was this unexpected freeze that led to a slight snag in our little adventure. Growing up in states that get very very cold, Andy and I had never experienced frozen fluids before as everything sold there is made to withstand freezing temperatures. So imagine our surprise the next morning when we discovered our windshield washer fluid was completely frozen. It never occurred to us that in San Diego freezing temperatures isn’t an issue and that would be reflected in the washer fluid used. Unfortunately, frozen fluid would plague us for much of the rest of the trip. After that rocky start, day two took us further east though the rest of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas (the small part), and ending in Oklahoma for the night. Day three saw us driving north through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and finally into Minnesota. Unfortunately we hit a horrible show storm that took us completely through Iowa and into Minnesota. Our goal for the day was Minneapolis, which would leave us with only three hours to drive on the last day. We did arrive in Minneapolis, just a few hours later than we’d hoped.

After three full days of travel, Andy and I were in desperate need of a good night’s sleep and we definitely got that after arriving in Minneapolis. With no deadline and only three hours of driving to go, we opted to relax rather than rush to Brainerd. Even so, we arrived by mid-afternoon, giving us the chance to be completely tackled by all the daycare kids. The rest of the week is a bit of a blur. Andy was able to spend a day ice fishing with Mike, which was great because it meant we all got to enjoy some fresh fish the next night for dinner. Sue, Mike, Lacey, Andy and I all ended up at the bowling alley one night, where I showed off my completely lack of skills. Otherwise the week was just spent hanging out and enjoying spending time together. And freezing our butts off as it was February in Minnesota. One day I’ll get to visit in summer. I hope.

After a week in Minnesota it was time to start on the next leg of our journey, which would end in West Point, New York, at my little brother’s house. The first day we drove through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. Day two was a little different. We still drove and drove and drove, this time through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, but instead of driving straight through we decided to take a little break in Ohio. It just so happened that we would be driving near Cleveland, where my friend (and Charles’ niece) Vicki lives. So Vicki, her mom and her brother decided they would meet us for a nice relaxing lunch. Not only was it really nice to break up such a long day with a nice lunch, but it was also just wonderful to spend some time with Vicki and relax. Unfortunately, lunch ended too soon as we had to get back on the road. There was still quite a ways to go. Sometime around 9 p.m. we finally made it to Jason and Amanda’s house, again exhausted and in desperate need of a good night’s sleep.

Since Jason and Amanda both had to work for most of our time there, Andy and I used it as a chance to just relax and spend some time together. I also took Andy on his first trip to New York City, taking the train in to spend a couple hours just bumming around. This was just a preview, though, as on Saturday all four of us ended up going in together. Since we had all day Saturday to do stuff in the city, we started off by meeting up with Robb to hit up S’Mac for lunch. S’Mac is now on my list of places I must visit anytime I’m in the city as it was amazing. We also hit up Toy Tokyo, another “must visit” and bummed around Forbidden Planet and Union Square before heading towards Times Square for dinner. After dinner, as it had been quite the long day, we head back to Grand Central station to take the train home, stopping at the Junior’s at the station for some of the best dessert in New York.

After a couple more days of relaxing at West Point it was time to head on Maryland, where our road trip together would be concluding at Kevin and Maria’s house. A couple days later Andy boarded a plane to start his long journey to Japan and shortly after that I head off on the last leg of my road trip: Charleston.

Flickr sets from this post: Cross country road trip 2010, Minnesota February 2010, and NYC Spring 2010.