so much for blogging every night of our trip! i guess that was a little ambitious. the wireless hasn't been too reliable and getting aiyden to sleep without a crib can be a bit of a challenge. it's been a pretty good road trip. we are in jackson, tn tonight and should be in atlanta tomorrow night. aiyden and jasper have done really well, thank goodness for the car dvd player that oma sent aiyden! the grand canyon was cool, we went to the meteor crater outside of flagstaff. new mexico was not all that impressive, amarillo, tx smelled like poop, oklahoma has the nicest welcome center ever and was insanely windy, we will never go to arkansas again if at all possible (it was like stepping back in time and not in a good way), we stopped in downtown memphis and it is really nice, riv and i didn't remember memphis being so pretty...then we drove 2 miles down I-40 and saw the memphis we know (they've done a good job with downtown but might want to work on the rest of the city!) the southern accent is so amusing, i guess i haven't heard it in a while and i must say i didn't miss it!
i'm excited to go home. however, i'm glad to have the influence of the west coast that is a part of me now. i quickly forgot how different these two parts of the country are but driving across gives you such a visual transformation. from the bible thumping billboards that started in oklahoma and the dirty looks we got in the walmart in arkansas to the sweet lady at the old hickory inn saying to me "you's surely is a lowng way firm home" (my finest phonetic translation)...that being said, we truly believe there are good people everywhere; it's just a little harder to find them in some places.
living in california and making the friends we have, had such a strong impact on me and i hope to never lose that. i learned to love cooking healthy meals and going to farmer's markets, that riding a bike is so much better than driving, that it's not how much you have but that you have what you need (because let's face it, housing in the bay area is tiny and expensive!) that it's important to get to know your neighbors, because they can quickly become your family. and probably the greatest thing i experienced (i don't want to say 'learned' because i already knew this in theory but i don't think many people honestly experience this) is that at the core, we are all the same. no matter what our race or religion, gay or straight, big or small, young or old. we are all just trying to make a living, do right by our kids, and have a little fun along the way.
now, onto some pictures! i didn't mean for this to be such a long-winded post!
our friend gina took this pic of aiyden the day we left alameda and i love it!
for some reason the flash went off when we took this which is kind of appropriate because we where about to see the meteor crater and here is looks like we are about to be hit by a meteor!
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