cross country

After Graduation we loaded up the car and our U-Haul, and took off from Sandy. Another tear-filled event. My mom says that I am her missionary, besides the fact that we can talk on the phone every day and we have been Skype-ing. Not to mention they are going to come see us:). Anyway, we started on our way and went down to AZ first to visit Scott's parents. It was such a fun, relaxing vacation, and we had so much. fun. Sadly, we took like one picture, so I am putting some on from when we went down there for Christmas so that you can see the beauty and quirkiness that is Kingman, AZ. While we were down there, they took us to La Reve, a Cirque De Soliel-esque show... It was amazing! Click on this to see just a portion of the show (you really have to be there to see it). I was holding my breath the whole time because I was so afraid someone was going to fall. They literally lift those people a hundred feet out of the water even when they are all slippery and wet... it's incredible.

These pictures are in Oatman, AZ, which is an abandoned old mining town. They used these mules to mine, but then left them there so there are a ton of them just wandering around. You can buy carrots to feed the big ones, but the little ones have a sticker on their heads saying you can't feed them. Aren't they adorable, though?

One of our favorite things to do is to walk all of the trails by their house with Charley and Daisy... It is so nice and sunny and wonderful. We saw a few jack rabbits this time, but really we were hoping to see a tarantula or scorpion... way cooler.

Mr. D'z! An old diner on Route 66 that has some good old rot-gut food. Not to mention Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley bathrooms.

La Reve! The top picture is of the stage... Most of the show is on the water, but they have a stage that comes out. Go see this show if you can! It's amazing.

DAY 1

After our visit there, we started our long journey. The first day we drove through Arizona, New Mexico, and into Amarillo, Texas. I always thought it would be cool to go to New Mexico, It just seemed like a beautiful, red-rock state in my mind. Not so much in the part we drove through. Here is the sign for it:

Land of Enchantment? This is what we saw most of the way:

This picture cracks me up. Barren wasteland.

Scott getting shot with a ginormous arrow. We couldn't find his cell phone one hour out from this stop and we were freaking out b/c he thought it had fallen out of his pocket when he posed for this picture. Alas, it was in the car. Phew!

DAY 2
Next day was the rest of Texas, Kansas (very beautiful), and into Arkansas (also very beautiful). Texas was so foggy... it was bizarre. We tried to stop in at Walmart and get some hand sanitizer, but they were completely out. Apparently the people in Amarillo were a little wigged out about the swine flu... sorry the H1N1 virus. We saw a lot of these little guys:

Usually I hate dead animals on the side of the road, but these were funny. They die in the funniest positions. I had never seen an armadillo before this trip, but I think I've had my fill. The armadillo cake in Fried Green Tomatoes is now really funny to me. I feel like I'm in on an inside joke now.

Foggy Texas Morning.

The largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. Scott went to the largest cross in the Eastern Hemisphere (probably the world) on his mission in the Philippines.

We stayed in Jonesboro, Arkansas that night, which is where Scotty lived when he was younger. It was a really beautiful town and it was so fun to see the neighborhood he grew up in. We wanted to take a picture by his old house, but there were kids out front and we thought it might freak the parents out if we tried to snap a picture with their kids there. We stayed with some of Scott's family friends named the Bulls. They were so wonderful and nice to us. That was amazing southern hospitality at its best to let us into their home, feed us, and provide a warm place to sleep. They were so great. Not to mention, Mrs. Bull gave us yummy cookies and bottled water to take on our trip. Thank you!!!

The cute sign they had when we walked in.

DAY 3

Our last leg of the trip was the longest. Thanks to Harry Potter on cd and beef jerky, we survived. We really don't have any pictures from this day because we never got out of the car. We just wanted to get there as quickly as possible. We drove through Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina... 6 states in one day!!
We really cannot complain about our long trip. We drove safely and had no car troubles. The last two days were overcast, which was so great because it stayed nice and cool. It was fun to see new things together, and we loved spending the time with each other. However, we were so, so excited to pull into Charleston, safe and sound.