I am aware of the fact that I don't have a "travel blog" for yesterday and today. I haven't forgotten them nor Day 5: Disneyland, but out of fear that I will forever be behind, I will go ahead and blog some general thoughts I've been having, now that we've crossed the halfway point of our trip (time and mileage wise) and get back to the travel details later.
[By the way, I hope to make a book a la MyPublisher or Blurb of our cross country journey, pictures, edited entries and all. I'm really excited to do it (when I'll have the time, who knows) and I just wanted to say it publicly so that maybe someone will keep me accountable to it!]
Just east of Amarillo, we started noticing something we don't usually see in California this time of year: GREEN. The grass turned green. And then the trees that we saw weren't just dark green bushes that survive in deserts, they were real trees with real leaves, not pine needles. It looked lush, alive, and the vibe is totally different. Granted, the scenery along the interstate is more motonously green vs. the interesting rock formations or flat desert of the southwest. But entering the green zone really made me feel like I've left the west. In addition, at some point on the way to Tulsa today, we came down a hill and I could see a lot of green ahead and a couple tall buildings popping out in the distance. It totally reminded me of driving Route 2 from Lexington to Boston and you come down a slope and you can see the Boston skyline ahead over green trees. It just drilled in the point even more that we were maybe closer to Boston than California now.
I can't believe that Disneyland was only just over a week before and our house in Sunnyvale feels like at least a month ago. It's weird that the week leading up to our leaving, I couldn't imagine actually making it to our move date and I couldn't comprehend what we were getting ourselves into. And now that we're on our trip, I have a hard time thinking back to before our move and of course I can't comprehend what lies ahead for us. It's a little surreal. Today I talked to Denise, Tom's sister-in-law in NH. She said it hasn't hit her that we are moving into the area. And I said, "You're not the only one!"
Being on the road for 2 weeks really makes me miss our friends and family. We've called our parents once every couple of days to check in and make sure they know we are safe. And I'm blogging to let you all know (as well as keep a journal of) how our little trek is going. But for the most part, we are isolated. And so this is when I realize what we have left behind: numerous friends that we've gathered over 15 years, some that we see every day at school, multiple times a week, some we see weekly, some that we only see less than once a month but who have known us since our single days. We knew that no matter when we left California, it would never be easy to leave friends but I am starting to realize what leaving the friends feels like. We really do miss you guys -- it might be easier to be the leaver than the leavee, but it still wasn't easy for us to leave you all.
In between leaving past friends and making new ones, it's been fun being a little family pod (literally in our minivan, it feels like a travel pod for 4!) and we've had some great family times. I will be sad to see this vacation end. If you've been following our blog, being together with the boys 24/7 has had its ups and downs. But I will take it all, because I do feel like we are on a really special trip. How often do we get to be on vacation for this long without worrying about work or school schedules? And to see and learn different things from the grandest of all Grand Canyons to the craziest little sno-cone stop on Route 66? At this point in our trip, we just need to make up some time and even with 3 weeks allotted, I feel like we could totally spend more time exploring (or finding things in this giant scavenger hunt like Tom writes). Alas, reality awaits but even so, re-rooting down in Boston will also be exciting, just a different kind of exciting.
Tomorrow we visit St. Louis. We will only be there a day and given the time, the only thing we will see is The Arch. We'll probably have to do something nostalgic, like the four of us cross the Arch at the same time, symbolic of us moving east. It's cheesy but that's what I feel right now: a bit nostalgic. I think it will be strange when I go back to CA for a friend's wedding at the end of June. I wonder if I will feel like I never left or if I will already feel like a foreigner in a strange land.
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