ETS Road Trip

I don't know that I've ever had a more exhausting week than the one that just passed.  We have been going non-stop since we left Japan Sunday morning.  We left at 8pm on Saturday EST and arrived in Dayton at 830pm on Sunday EST which was followed by a stop at Skyline and an hour drive to Jason's grandma's where our car was stored.  We spent a day in Cincinnati but I failed to take a single photo with any of our family.  I did take some with my BFF but she's in her newly found wedding dress so just by some odd chance her fiance ever sees this I won't post it.

0700 the next morning we were on the road heading west.

(I have this new phone and didn't realize that the camera was set to 16:9 ration instead of 4:3 until 4 days later so the first 20 photos on my phone are all this ridiculous size)

We started our journey with a sunrise trip on the Anderson Ferry that connects Ohio and Kentucky.  Jason's grandparents' each live about 5 minutes from the ferry on either side so we take it often when we're in town visiting.  We've never seen it at this hour though!

Our first stop was just 4 hours into the trip to have lunch with some of our favorite people from Japan.

Day 1 we saw 6 states, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas.  Thankfully we had these awesome people waiting for us at the end.  (Jason's best friend from college and the best man in our wedding, and his wife)

Day 2 also started out with a stop shortly into our trip to see another one of my dearest friends from Japan, Melissa.  We missed seeing her family but it was great to catch up with her for a bit.

We drove all the way across Kansas that day which is terribly boring however, I will point out that Kansas drivers are infinitely better than Missouri drivers.  I wish everyone in the US drove on the highway like people in Kansas.

We stopped in Denver to check out one of the many micro breweries in the area.

That night we stayed with our friend Ashley and her adorable children at their temporary home just outside of Vail.  If I could afford it, I would definitely have a summer house in that area, it's simply gorgeous.  We could have stayed there for days (and the company was unbeatable also).

Day 3 was a short, 7 hour, drive across Colorado to Utah where Jason's mom recently relocated.  Colorado has some of the most beautiful scenic views I've seen anywhere!

Day 4 we didn't drive, we spent the whole day exploring the area around Jason's mom's new house.  She's just minutes from the Great Salt Lake so that was our first stop.

We had dinner at a little burger joint that was featured on DD&D.  It was mostly disappointing.  It was ok but the portions were way too large and there was a ton of wasted food when we were done.  I ordered a pineapple shake and got vanilla ice cream with a few chunks of pineapple, not what I was expecting.

The next day we loaded up a mattress Jason's mom was kind enough to give us and headed south.

That was by far the longest day of driving we had.  We had to stop multiple times to re-secure it and drive slower than we would have liked as well.  It was worth it though now that we're here and have a bed to sleep on!

We stopped somewhere just before the Utah/AZ boarder at a place called "5 Buck Pizza" where I had one of the best BBQ chicken pizzas ever, for just $5!

Luckily, we had beautiful weather the whole trip.  This day I was grateful to be inside the car with the A/C running because it was 110+ outside!

2700 long miles later we finally arrived at our new home!

Our awesome landlords even left us a housewarming gift.

That's the only sneak peak of the new house you get.  We're slowly getting settled in and our express shipment (unaccompanied baggage) gets delivered tomorrow.  Once things are a bit more settled, I'll share some much requested photos.