The Journey So Far

So, here we are, in the middle of our trip, spending the night in the beautiful city of Flagstaff, Arizona. This truly is a beautiful country that we live in, and I am so grateful to have gotten the chance to see so much more of it. The American Southwest is incredible. There has been snow on the ground since we hit Oklahoma. Texas was beautiful and we enjoyed quite the amazing dinner at The Big Texan. The views all the way across New Mexico were amazing. We stopped for lunch at an authentic diner on Route 66 and my oh my, was that yummy! Arizona landscape was a little boring until we drew closer to Flagstaff, but once we did, the mountain range was the perfect backdrop for a glorious desert sunset. We rode into downtown Flagstaff and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at an old general store turned hotel turned hotel/restaurant called The Weatherford Hotel/Charley's Restaurant and Pub. It was established in 1887 and had such a cool atmosphere. After, we drove up to the top of one of the mountains to look at the night sky and it was absolutely stunning. There's a lot less light pollution and the sky was so clear. I've never seen so many stars in my life!

This is my first time west of St. Louis and I must say, I am impressed by God's creation. It has been such a joy to experience and observe a completely different kind of landscape. I've never encountered such flat land before and it is so interesting to be able to see so far ahead of you! Just miles and miles of prairie and desert. Tomorrow, we're going to take a trip out to see the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and drive through Las Vegas. I am so excited! Although these are all a bit out of the way, how could we not go see them?! These will be our first major landmarks of the trip so don't worry, there will be plenty of pictures ;)

I'm just enjoying the heck out of myself and this time with my parents. But it still just kind of feels like I'm taking a trip, a vacation, not like I'm moving out here to live. I did finally break down and cry like a baby on Sunday after saying goodbye to my Jacksonville friends and then sobbed after saying goodbye to my sister, brother, and sister-in-law. That was hard, but it felt good to finally get the tears out. People keep telling me how brave I am for doing this, but for some reason, I have failed to look at it in that respect. In my mind, I just made a decision to take a job, move to a new city, and go back to school. But, now that it's been pointed out to me, I suppose this is quite brave and takes a good but of strength and courage. Two years ago, it would not have even occurred to me to so much as look into something like this. As Dad pointed out, it took me not succeeding in my first go at school and coming home to regroup, grow up, and finally figure out who I am and what I want.

Now that I'm seeing this in the light that everyone else has, I'm realizing that I'm even braver and stronger than I ever thought that I could be. I always knew that I wasn't going to stay in Alabama, but I never dreamed I would be making a life for myself so far away from everything and everyone I know. I'm still slightly in disbelief that I'm doing this, that I'm already 1,580 miles from Birmingham with about 1,000 (including all of our side trips of sight-seeing) left to go. I can't believe that I'm on the other side of the country and I'm no longer a resident of Alabama or even the Southeast. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy....

Sunset tonight driving through Arizona: