The travel story

So...I changed my mind from a few hours ago when I said I didn't want to type out the travel story. I'm sitting in Starbucks while Julie does some work across from me because I wanted to be able to get this out while it's still fresh. I'll actually start from a few weeks back and tell the whole story of being in Washington too. Brace yourselves for a long story. So..here it goes. The Monday after I last posted (about going to the Angels game) I was "kidnapped" by my Amber. Yes I said MY Amber. :) She got to my house at like 8:30am with starbucks in hand and told me to get ready because she was about to take me all over the OC. The original plan was to go to DLand for a few hours. I quickly found out that was just a cover story. We got in the car and hopped on the 22 freeway. She took me towards Huntington Beach. I was clueless as to were we were going. We pulled in to a parking lot and stopped in front of a dollar tree. She wanted a picture to commemorate what we always did together when we were roomies. Next up was the beach. She parked the car down at 17th street and we walked all the way to the pier barefoot on the sand. She wanted me to be at MY ocean one last time before moving. We goofed around, took pictures, walked the pier, then walked back (on the sidewalk this time since our legs were pretty tired). She said the next stop didn't open until 11am which is why we had time to play around on the sand. Next up came.... Boomers where we went mini golfing! We have a silly rule about mini golf where if you can get down on your stomach and blow the ball in with one breath then it doesn't count as a stroke. Example:

After Mini golf we were pretty hungry so we went to Red Robin then stopped by my house and finally made it to DCA (California Adventure). We lucked out and kept running into people we know so were able to ride a lot of rides in a short period of time. Last but not least we went to Tutti Frutti and got frozen yogurt since that was another thing we always did together. Amber makes the best boy friend ever! I miss her so much! That night I went to dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house then ran home to get in bed. Tuesday morning I got up and packed then left for the airport to get on my way to Tacoma Washington. This was a much anticipated trip because I was going to meet my newsest nephew, Kai! My brother was at the airport to pick me up. We went to lunch then met Karen and Leroy (friends whose house I was staying at) to get a tour of the historical mansion they work at. It was really neat! THEEEEN I got to meet my nephew, his mommy, grandma, aunt, uncle and two cousins. The whole week was spent hanging out with Jefri (the mama), Kai and the fam. It was a blast! I fit right in with their family and enjoyed every minute! Saturday my brother came to get me. We went to breakfast then to see The fam one last time before he dropped me at the airport. Saying goodbye was sad but I was soooo anxious to get home! My plane landed at 5:50. My mom was waiting at the curb so we could jet away and make it to storage before it closes at 7. We got there and had a little less then an hour to grab everything I was going to take with me on my cross country move! It was INSANE!!!! Having less then 48 hours to pack your life and say goodbye to your friends/family is no joke! We got out the gate of the unit right after 7pm and went home. Sunday morning we had to be at church early for a special read through service of the book of Mark. I was one of the readers. In Sunday school they prayed for me then we had my going away party after church was over. Next came many tears, hugs and sorrowful goodbyes and the party was over. I had a few more people stop by as I was packing but pretty much just packed packed packed and packed some more. I did a kick butt job of getting everything I grabbed from storage to fit into my car (forgot to take a picture though..bummer!)!! Monday morning my mom and I got up, prayed with my daddy while I sobbed my eyes out and drove off into the sunrise. our goal was to make it to the grand canyon by late afternoon. We took it easy. By the first pit stop an indicator light on my dash had come on. My mom looked it up and found out that it was the tire pressure indicator. We couldn't figure out why but we knew we needed to stop and check it somewhere where there was a pressure gauge and air. We found a little gas station (the gas was OVER 5 dollars!!!!!) and my mom noticed that my tires were REALLY bad. This news was odd to me because my mom had looked at them after the mechanic told me to have them changed a few months ago and she said they were fine! So...needless to say I was a little upset. I looked on my phone and found out the nearest tire shop was in Needles California, about an hour away. After driving really slow to get there and actually making it without incident we were told that the tires would cost over 100 dollars A PIECE!!!! SOOOO, We decided to risk it and keep driving to the next big town about 50 miles away to get to Wal Mart. God obviously had the whole thing in his hands because I had been given a gift card for wally world at my party. It helped pay for the tires. We wondered wal mart for 45 minutes then got the car back and hit the road again. We finally made it to the Grand Canyon National Park where my friend April lives, at 5:15pm. We parked the car then walked to the hotel on the ridge where we had dinner. Dinner was over right at sunset so we talked out to ridge and watched it! It was amazing!

We walked back to April's place in the almost dark night sky. I was having serious allergy problems so I was sitting inside while my mom and April asked the IT guy from April's work to come help get the car top carry secured so it wouldn't slide from side to side. It wasn't going to fall off or anything but it wasn't locked into one place. Bed time came quickly. We got up, ate, said farewell to April then hit the road again. Tuesday was pretty uneventful but we made it out of Arizona into new mexico and then into Texas before we decided we were too tired to go on. Somewhere along the way we had to make the really sad decision not to go see my sister. It was too far out of the way and after the expense of the tires we had little gas money left to work with. We got a hotel room in Amarillo Texas for the night. Wednesday was a lazy morning but we got on the road and made it into Oklahoma by early afternoon. FINALLY, we got to Broken Arrow Oklahoma where The Walker family lives!!!! Whew. It was a whirlwind of a trip. We spent the next few days showing my mom around Tulsa and Locust Grove then took her to the airport on Friday. It was REAALLLLY hard to say goodbye to my mommy. It doesn't matter how old or independent I am, I will always want my mommy to be where I am! So there you have it. That is the crazy long story! Tomorrow is my first day at work and I am so ready!! I am gonna love my job! I'll leave you with one last picture. Goodnight from Oklahoma.