Thursday, June 17, 2010

8 Days and counting...

Today packing began! Yeah! Actually, it isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We are also visiting with a lot of friends saying our "see ya later's!" No good-byes in these conversations. We know we will see everyone again! But, we sure will miss them all.

I hope to keep up with this blog and add photos as we visit some amazing places across the country, but I'm not the most dedicated person when it comes to writing...maybe I can talk James into updating for us! He is the writer in the family.

Just to give a brief overview of our travels, we will begin on Saturday, June 26 and stop in the Miami area spending most of the dinner hours with our dear friends, Mike and Deidre Neal, celebrating the Baby Shower for their daughter, Jess, who is due in October! Sunday we will be in the Ft. Lauderdale area saying our "so long for now's" to our family members. Then Monday, June 28 we officially HIT THE ROAD!

Stopping twice in Florida, our first big stop after that will be in New Orleans, a city I have never seen. It will be bittersweet...we will be spending 4th of July there, so I am very excited about that, but fear seeing the devastation of the oil spill. Where my photos tend to focus on God's beautiful creation, the photos taken there will, unfortunately, focus on man's greed and desire for bigger and better.

Next, we make two quick, overnight stops in Texas on our way to Santa Fe, NM. We will be staying at a wonderful little RV park on the old Route 66. Should be amazing!

Our next stop will be outside Dolores, CO...a beautiful small town between Durango and Telluride. It is truly an amazingly beautiful place! We drove through there one day when we were out west two years ago and we both agreed that we needed to come back for an extended stay. The quaint RV Park we will be staying in has us on a river lot...so, it will be beautiful. We will be there for 8 nights! Also, we are hooking up with RV friends from Islamorada, so it will be a mini reunion and TONS of fun!

From there, we hit Lake Tahoe/Carson City for a few days; head south to Death Valley and Sequoia National Park and then spend about 9-10 days in Southern California visiting friends. We are both excited to head to Napa Valley after that, with a quick stop in Big Sur, to spend 4 days in the wonderful California Wine Country. Might not leave after that stop.

We will take the Pacific Coast Highway up through California, on to Oregon to see Crater Lake and then further north to Washington...specifically Olympic National Park, where we plan to camp out for a week or so. We hope to grab some coffee in Seattle, as well as a Sunday Church service at Mark Driscoll's church, before heading east to Missoula, Montana to play in the Rocky Mountains for a bit!.

We will be at Glacier National Park the first part of September, which we have been told is the best time of year to be there! We will be there for over a week...ahhhh....we have BOTH been dreaming of this trip!

The only thing we have planned and scheduled after that is Maine in October, so for the 15-16 days after we leave Glacier until we are due in Maine, we have NO IDEA where we are going to be! We aren't sure if we will head north through Canada or stay in the US. I guess we will figure it out when we get there.

After Maine we will drive down the east coast and catch some more glorious sites, stopping in Washington, DC for a visit to our Nation's Capital and then catch the Blue Ridge Parkway into North Carolina.

So, that is it in a nutshell. Stay posted for more updates and photos! We thank everyone for their prayers, support, encouragement and love!!!

7 comments:

  1. Cannot wait to see you as well as keep up with you through the blog - you MUST stay committed to keeping it for us all! :)

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  2. Thank you for starting this blog! We will live vicariously through you for the next four months!! We know that God's Angels will be carrying you each mile of the way. Godspeed!

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  3. I am so excited for you guys.My love and prayers are with you . Enjoy this beautiful country and I can't wait to follow you on your adventure. Enjoy and be safe. Love you

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  4. I'm so excited for you and James to have the opportunity do what so many of us only dream of doing. I feel like I'm waiting on a new book to be released - to get to enjoy or adventure thru your eyes. So, please try to keep us all updated. Thoughts and prayers with you both and pray for safe traveling mercies!! Take care love you both tons.

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  5. I wish I could go with you!We will try to meet up with you in Maine in October but it's too early to say right now. Love you both and will miss the heck outta you!!! Safe travels ~ Godspeed!

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  6. Is it possible to be happy and sad at the same time? I am happy that you are going on this great adventure and that you have invited us all along to read of your experiences, but sad because I will know that you are more than a couple of hours away from me. God bless you both and I will pray that you will have a safe and wonderful journey. I Love you both very much.

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  7. Ah, Mom...thank you so much!! We always have Skype! I love you and HURRAY that you figured out the Blog!

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