A New Chapter

I have been in Arizona since last Friday. It was quite a trip out. Sam, my mom and dad, Ember, and myself climbed into the car and uhaul early on July 6th and hit the road. We drove through PA, OH, IA, IL, and half of MO. Our first over night was in Missouri where we dropped off my mom. The next day we drove the rest of the way through MO, OK (with a stop at the Tulsa Hard Rock), and TX. We stopped for the night in Amarillo at a Marriott then hit the road again in the am. We finished driving through TX, NM (with a stop at the Albuquerque Hard Rock) and finally crossed into the border of Arizona. Driving through the country was amazing. We had such a good time looking at the landscape and the different things this county has to offer. After unloading the uhaul we returned it and headed out to dinner. We came back from dinner, set up the beds and proceeded to fall asleep. We unpacked and set up the living room, dining room, kitchen, and both bedrooms.

For being in the apartment for only a day it looked pretty awesome on Saturday. There are only a few boxes left to unpack and put things in the rightful place. I still have a classroom to set up and that is just really exciting. We found that the local dog park is about half a mile away and Ember has made several trips there already. There aren't a lot of big named stores but it is always interesting to see how things are done in a different town.

Addie, Sam's sister, came down on Monday and we headed off to the Petrified Forest National Park and all 3 of us got junior ranger badges. It was a really awesome park and I'm glad we went. We spent a majority of the time in the car since the park is laid out over a large area. We took some short hikes in order to see the ruins, petroglyphs, and petrified wood. It was a really interesting park with very awesome things to see. We got caught in a small dust storm, then it started to rain. I learned a lot about petrified wood and we saw some awesome petroglyphs that no one knows what they mean.

Sam and Addie left yesterday and now it's just Ember and I for the next few months. Visitors are always welcome, we have a spare bedroom! There is a little less than a month until school starts and only a few weeks until I hike the Zion Narrows! Can't wait for all of this fun and excitement to start!