Our Across Country Move- Arriving in Maryland

Due to the storm we changed our original route from Tennessee down through Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. It added an extra day onto our drive and we didn't really stop and see much since we had previously planned all of our previous detours. I'd say the planning of our detours seemed to be the most time consuming part of planning this trip. So our across country road trip took a total of 7 days but we managed to stay in between the two storms that were occurring. So far we absolutely LOVE our new state! We are renting an apartment in a community that used to be a farm. The dairy farm is still there and is also a community garden! The transportation system is wonderful, just like Korea. We are able to take the bus and subway anywhere. We haven't explored DC yet but I'm sure we will this coming weekend. The buildings are very cute, colonial style mostly. When choosing this place I discovered a wonderful site that tells you what's within walking distance of your house! Almost everything is within walking distance and what isn't is very accessible by the bus. You can try it by visiting www.walkscore.com. I have a jogging stroller that we can attach Lillian's car seat to until she is big enough to sit up by herself. Below are some pictures of our community.

Our Across Country Move- Day 5

We left Oklahoma City (that is where we were able to see a ton of birds migrating; video is on the previous post) on our way to Branson, Missouri. We stopped along the way at the tall grass prairie preserve. It is the only preserve with tall grass remaining in the states and there are Bison too! Unfortunately when we got there we realized the reason they probably made it a preserve was to protect their oil pumps that were on part of the land. We did get to see some Bison though so although it was a bit disappointing to find oil pumps on the land the Bison were amazing!

You can read more about the preserve by clicking here: Tall Grass Prairie Preserve

Our Across Country Move- Day 4

Day 4 was mainly a driving day from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City... nothing really to see but the Cadillac Ranch as we drove through Amarillo, Texas. We didn't stop but we could see it from the freeway. It is a public art installation of almost a dozen Cadillac's ranging from 1949 to 1963. They are half-buried nose-first in the ground. Unfortunately over the years, people have graffitied all over them and when we passed through it looks like someone even stole the doors and remainder of the hood off of one.

Here is what it looked like when it was originally installed:

And here is what it looks like today:


I really couldn't stop and see what people have done to beautiful cars to begin with.

We did get a wonderful surprise though when we departed Oklahoma City... we were able to witness a bird migration! The video below only shows a small portion of the birds that were migrating, they were perched on the telephone wires for at least a quarter to a half a mile!

Our Across Country Move- Day 3

We departed our Wig-Wam while it was still dark out in order to make it to Gila, New Mexico by 1pm. Here we saw some fascinating cliff dwellings! (They had a tour starting at 1)

The cliff itself was created by volcanic activity and it contains the ruins of interlinked cave dwellings build in five alcoves. The people Mogollon culture lived in the dwellings between 1275 and 1300 AD. Archeologists have identified 46 rooms in the five caves and believed they were occupied by 10-15 families! The dwellings were made up of stone and clay and even had roofs; although, much of the dwellings were destroyed by previous explorers who found the dwellings first. Below is a collection of pictures and videos of the dwellings. It is amazing to think how much time and effort went into keeping this community alive while living inside a cliff!

Our Across Country Move- Day 2

Merry Christmas from the Grand Canyon! We left Vegas early and set off to the Grand Canyon... it truly is a magnificent creation! I would say everyone should see it at some point in their life. The South Rim is open all year round but the North Rim is only open during the spring and summer since it gets snow. One day Greg and I will go back and hike down into the canyon like he did when he was a little boy in boyscout and also visit the North Rim. I hear the hike is well worth it! Of course the teacher in me has to share how it was created.... :) You can click here to be directed to a site that tells you about its formation.

Below is a collage of pictures and some video of Lillian's first trip to the Grand Canyon (and her mommy's too! ... Daddy had been there before)



After we visited the Grand Canyon we continued our drive to Holbrook, Arizona. On a roadtrip planner site I came across Wig-Wam motels! They are concrete tee-pees along the original Route 66. Of course I HAD to stay in one! The managers of the hotel tired to keep it's historic flare by keeping classic cars parked along the motels. Wikipedia says the Pixar movie Cars parodied the wig-wam villages with the traffic cone motel named, "Cozy Cone Motel".

Our Across Country Move- Day 1

We set out from Paradise in December 24th; this by far was our longest day of driving. We left at 4am and arrived in Las Vegas around 7pm I believe. Of course we had to stop every few hrs to feed the baby. She did well on her first day of being in a car seat all day long; however, we did have a few hysterical crying fits. Unfortunately we were both so tired that we only grabbed dinner, walked a little ways up the strip (we stayed at New York, New York) then went to bed to get up early for our next day of driving. Our sunset coming into Vegas: