From DC to Utah in Five Days

Well, now that I'm a little more settled in DC I will update my blog. Well, after our finals, we packed up our stuff and put it in storage (minus the essentials needed for the summer).

Day 1:On Monday, May 19th we started our adventure west! It was so sad to leave our dear friends in Maryland and I am already dreading when we leave for good instead of this short sabbatical. Our dear friends Casey and Vance provided us with a HUGE case of travel goods that saved my pregnant life more than once! Thanks!

Aaron and I LOVE road trips together! They offer time to be together. Now I will admit that being placed in a compact space for a long period of time offers plenty of opportunity to get on each others last nerve. At certain times this is the case. However, Aaron and I have solved that problem by listening to books on tape! They are fabulous and instead of arguing over politics or parenting differences (nothing major mind you) we discuss the books and try to guess what will happen next. Wow, does this make time fly and keeps our moods pleasant.

Day 2 and 3: We meant for our trip to be slow and leisurely but I don't think Aaron understands what that means. I had to persuade him that Nauvoo was not a place that can be seen in two hours to keep us from traveling most of Wednesday instead of the last four hours after 6pm. We did stop at Nauvoo and it was the first time Aaron had been there and my first time since the completion of the temple. It was absolutely amazing! It was so awesome to walk down the trail of hope, look back, and see the temple just like the saints did at the time they left. I can only imagine the faith they must have had to leave their homes and that temple and follow Brigham Young west! Our only regret is that we weren't going to stay long enough to see all the performances that were done in the evening. If we hadn't already booked our next hotel, we might have prolonged our visit. We also went down to Carthage to see the jail there. There is always a special spirit testifying of the truthfulness of the gospel in that place. It's amazing especially considering the events that took place there, but it was a final testimony by Joseph Smith. Miracles and prophecies were fulfilled there and these events bring that spirit to that place.


Day 4: After Nauvoo, we headed through Nebraska and hit our next highest peak. It was a blustery day with a lot of rain. Of course listening to our books on tape, we didn't hear anything on the radio about all the tornadoes that were hitting in Colorado and Wyoming, not 20 miles from where we were. If we had, wonder if we would have hazarded the peak. Well, the peak wasn't really a peak in the sense that you had to hike there. It was in the middle of a bison park an we were able to drive right up to the marker (very nice considering the weather). On the drive there we ran into a herd of cattle and I didn't see one bison! Okay, so when the fog lifted for about 30 seconds I saw a herd of bison that was far away. Well, we got our picture and unfortunately mine had to be taken right as the rain started pelting down. So, click, click and we were on our way. Thursday night we stayed in Cheyenne and ate at a restaurant right in the same parking lot as our hotel. We had just finished our meal and were about to leave when the tornado sirens went off. So we had to go into the kitchen and wait to leave. It wasn't too long, only about 30 min. but it made for an interesting night.

Day 5: Friday we got to Utah and my family got to see my pregnant belly in person. I think it really made it more real for my mom that I am having a baby. Stay tuned for the next part of our journey west. My brothers wedding and our first weekend in California.