Midwestern on the West Coast: The Move to Cali, in Pictures

Saturday, March 17, 2007

The Move to Cali, in Pictures

My lovely aunt and grandmother gave me a little going-away party so the family could meet the man who was stealing me away from them (AKA Mike) and also see me before I left.

Here is my dear grandmother and my dear brother at the party:

This tee-shirt was a going-away gift from my cousins Stewart and Michelle (on my right and my left in this picture):

Here Mike and I are, still in Madison, taking a small break from packing. Look we are still smiling:

He still loves me, even if I do own too much stuff (which I do):

Here I am taking a picture of Mike packing INSTEAD of actually packing (yet he still smiles!):

I'm tired of all this packing, sorting and trying to get rid of stuff. Mike comforts me, even if secretly he might want to smack me (a little):

We finally did hit the road. And for a little while, I didn't take pictures. I forgot to take pictures all through Iowa and Nebraska (plus it was night time during most of/both of those states)! Don't worry, you didn't miss much...

We drove through some snow on the way, I believe this is Wyoming:

some more snow:

Here's Mike driving in the snow:

Here is some beautiful Wyoming countryside:

Here is a salt flat that was somewhere west of Salt Lake City, right off I-80 West (OK, pretty much everything is off I-80 West because we didn't really do sight seeing, just wanted to get there):

salt flat

Here's the Nevada sky right at dusk, Sunday night:

This is at the California border (see, they brag about how snow-free they are, but...):

And because Laurie said the sky is bluer in California (well, I think she actually said San Francisco) here is my first glimpse at the California sky (it's pretty blue):

Here is me in my new state for the first time (since I visited):

Here's Mike (I think we both look relatively happy considering this is the beginning of our third long day of driving):

For comparison (to the blue sky pic above) purposes, here is the San Francisco sky:

San Francisco:

San Francisco

San Francisco traffic

A beach in San Fran that we stumbled upon:

Driving up to the Golden Gate Bridge:

This is us on the Golden Gate Bridge (it's US - you can see Mike's forehead in the rearview mirror!):

Golden Gate Bridge

This is the rainbow tunnel you go through after you cross the Golden Gate Bridge northbound on the 101:

rainbow tunnel

This is my new backyard:

Here is our first trip to the beach since I moved to Cali:

beach

Here's Mike driving to the beach (notice its similarities to driving in snowy Wyoming, minus the snow, and also the window's down, and Mike looks happier, I think):