The Quest for Tallahassee

 I figure since we've been in Tallahassee almost 1 week, that it is about time I share with you the particulars of our journey here! It was filled with many interesting things, and a few realizations about the midwest and other areas of our country. So buckle up!

We started our grand journey, or "quest" for Tallahassee early in the morning, two Sundays ago. We were up before the sun even decided to come up! First thing, the car had to be given a little jump from Michael's dad because it was pretty darn cold outside. We've never had a problem with the battery before, but I think the fact that there was frost on the windows had something to do with it. I think Blanche is going to be happy not to freeze in snowy conditions this winter!

 

We spent a lot of time sitting on our butts. And staring into the sun. Hence the picture above. I think the craziness was beginning, and only into the first day! We drove 16 hours from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Michael's awesome cousin and her family put us up for the night. I don't think it ever felt so good just to lie down and sleep on something flat. Thank you Keller family! 

I think this tunnel was actually somewhere in Wyoming. Michael wanted to see if he could hold his breath all the way through, and...he was successful! Story about Wyoming: It really is insanely windy there. We stopped at a grocery store and walking through the huge gusts of wind in the parking lot made us realize that we definitely never want to live there. :)

 Our second day was the long journey through the last little bit of Nebraska, through A LOT of Missouri, a smidgen of Arkansas, and ending with Memphis, Tennessee. Missouri, had a whole lot of nothing, we decided. But, we loved see the Kansas City Temple (still in construction and on the right) and the St. Louis Temple (left) along our drive down the freeway!

 Living in Utah, I definitely missed seeing bridges like this. You can tell that we're further South now. 

Lovely traffic somewhere in Missouri.

 We stayed the night at the Courtyard Marriott in Memphis. The King Size Bed was amazing. And Michael found us a great deal for only $65/night on Priceline. That hotel room was over twice the price originally. Score!

 Michael setting our course on the GPS as we head out on our last day toward Tallahassee. Thank goodness for that little piece of technology. Saved us on more than one occasion.

Obligatory morning picture in the car. Notice the USU Aggie flag in the back. It was a great sun-blocker and representation of our Aggie Pride!

We planned the trip out to decrease by about 2 hours each day, so our last day from Memphis to Tallahassee was only about 10 hours. We were glad when we finally entered Florida. Alabama was very green, but maybe driving diagonally across the state, we missed some of its better parts. We weren't too impressed until we got to Dothan, just on the border. Now that was a pretty town.

 It's kinda hard to tell, but those lights say, "Peace on Earth". Apparently, someone on in Florida was already decorating for Christmas. Made me happy to see that.

We arrived to our new apartment around 9 p.m. on Tuesday night and our landlord met us there with candles, seeing as we didn't have any utilities set up yet. Tallahassee makes you go in person to turn in the request if you've never had power in the city before. Silly, I tell you. We were without electricity for almost 24 hours, but thankfully the water came on early Wednesday afternoon, so I could clean up to go to a meeting at Big Bend later in the day. 

We're enjoying getting our place all put together, with the few things we were able to bring with us in that U-haul. But we're comfortable and happy as long as we are together. Our landlord is the nicest lady and we have some nice neighbors. It's definitely an adventure being back in the South. Things are coming back to my mind after being gone for 5 years. I forgot how outgoing people are, and how someone will tell you their whole life story in 5 minutes waiting in line at the store. It's fun.

P.S. People should come visit us ASAP. We have a nice air mattress waiting for you!