cross-country road trip!

Moving across country was such a whirlwind & completely unforgettable! Starting a new life in Portland is quite the experience, but the road trip itself is an adventure on its own. I had never been in a car for more than 14 hours straight & I've never moved farther than a few hours away. But we were excited & only a teeny bit nervous :] 

After weighing our options, Burton & I decided to rent a 5x8' Uhaul trailer to get pretty much just the essentials to Oregon. Downsizing from a 1700 square foot townhouse to a 5x8' trailer is no small feat! It was a very gradual process & with the help of eBay, craigslist, Goodwill, multiple garage sales, & regifting, we made it happen. We squeezed everything into our trailer & Subaru & hit the road! After a tearful goodbye to my mama, of course. (I miss you, mom!)

Most days on our 6-day trip consisted of driving for at least 10 hours. So to save time (& money!) we packed a cooler & snacks so we could make our meals on the road. We usually only stopped for gas, bathrooms, or to sleep at night. We camped out at KOAs for three nights of our trip: in Nashville, TN, Topeka, KS, & Pendleton, OR. We lucked out by staying with an uncle in Denver & spoiled ourselves with a swanky hotel in Salt Lake City :]

Guys. The United States is BIG. Really, really BIG. I've flown across it on airplanes, but I don't think you can fully appreciate the size of this country until you drive across it. We drove for over 3,200 miles & sometimes, driving across one state would take an entire day. And Burton & I didn't have any crazy meltdowns at all! The entire trip was a lot of fun & actually felt more like a vacation than a stressful task :]

We cooked dinner over fires, drank beer, played games, talked about everything. It was a blast :]

One of my favorite parts of the trip was gawking at the changing landscapes. Coming from flat Florida really helped me appreciate the diverse topography we saw along the way. Especially you, Colorado! You're gorgeous!

We even got to see a couple friends along the way :]

After driving through Utah, my fear of overpopulation was alleviated.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was making a pit stop to see the Up house! It was such a fun gem in the middle of a cookie cutter Salt Lake City suburb. I wouldn't mind being their neighbor one bit :]

Remember that swanky hotel I mentioned? We stayed at Kimpton SLC as our splurge for the one hotel stay of the trip. They welcome pups as well, so Myla got to enjoy her first hotel stay!

For our last night of the trip, we stayed in Pendleton, OR which is only three hours outside of Portland. We had officially entered our new home state & it already felt like we belonged :]

Welcome to Oregon! On June 13th, we dropped all of our material possessions off at storage unit (one month free, thanks Uhaul!), checked into our awesome airbnb rental, & grabbed a delicious lunch at South Paw Deli. Needless to say, summer 2014 has been completely unforgettable so far :] But more on that later!