On the Road Again...

Well, the huge road trip is now over and done with and we are STILL exhausted from the super long drives.  The drive seemed much shorter on the way back, but it was also much more difficult, since we hadn't fully recovered from the first drive out.  I'm telling you, it takes alot more out of a person than it seems.  If we ever have to make this trip again, we are definitely stopping for the night, rather than driving straight through.

We hit a few road blocks (no pun intended) along the way, like having to change up the whole plan of getting the U-haul truck, since they'd booked us for a 17-foot truck instead of the 14-foot truck like we'd ordered and not even letting us know until we were in New Mexico on Friday afternoon.  AND we were told that it only got 8 miles to the gallon, which would have been almost $1,000 in gas alone.  So we had to do some serious rethinking before even getting to our destination.  But everything ended up working out and the only downside is that instead of instantly having my stuff here, I have to wait around 10 days.  (We ended up still using U-haul, but their U-Box service instead)

ANYWAY, on to the photos!  First, from the drive from CA to OK:

Random stop we made in Arizona for gas... I liked the look of this old building across from the Roadkill Cafe in Seligman, which reminded me of a ghost town.

Catching a view of the mountain in Flagstaff, AZ.

More of the city life captured in Flagstaff, AZ.

And the mountain again, I really wanted a photo of it!!

Scenic view in Arizona.

Another scenic view!  It was just as stunning as the last time I'd seen it.

More of the scenic views in AZ, almost coming into NM here.

New Mexico's welcome center.

We arrived in Bethany at around 2am Saturday morning, after leaving Thursday night around 8pm.  Since we couldn't get the U-Box delivered until Sunday, we had some time to kill all day Saturday, which we had originally planned on spending packing up all of my stuff.  So my dad suggested going to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History out in Norman, OK...

My dad about to get crushed by a mammoth!  As Erin looks on...

Which turned out to be very interesting!  I hadn't been there in years and I was happy for the opportunity to see all of what they had to offer.

After that, we decided to drive around downtown Oklahoma City for a bit, to show Jacques and Erin the scenery, since it was their first time.  My dad kicked into tour-guide-mode, as he had in the museum as well. =P

We also decided to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial, where the Alfred P. Murrah building once stood.  I hadn't been there in a long time, yet I still remember the exact moment on April 19, 1995 when it happened.

A small portion of the original building.

Empty chairs symbolizing those who lost their lives in the terrible tragedy.

The survivor tree, which became an emblem to the memorial.  The inscription around the deck wall surrounding the tree reads: "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us."

These ducks were resting peacefully among the field of empty chairs.

The Memorial Fence, where visitors can leave items as tributes.

It's always so sad visiting the memorial, but I'm glad we were able to do so on this trip.  I still remember the day it happened as if it were yesterday.

We started on our trip back to CA on Monday morning around 5am.  It was tiring but we made good time and arrived back home on Tuesday around 8am, after spending some time in Flagstaff, AZ catching up with an old friend of Jacques's.

Hotel Monte Vista in Flagstaff, AZ, which is rumored to be haunted with many different ghosts... the Rendevuous Cafe  seen here is where we met up with Jacques's friend.  Though I did have to use the hotel bathroom and got slightly freaked out.

I totally want this in our dining room!!  It was SO beautiful!

Traditional cappuccino from The Rendevuous Cafe, which was basically just a ton of foam and needed LOTS of sugar.

Stopping to get gas and saw this on the building across from the pump.

We also traveled that 1600 miles so that I could get my haircut.  I still haven't been able to bring myself to go to anyone else besides the guy who has been cutting my hair since I was 4 years old...