Palo Alto or Bust...

Hey Everyone,

This is Matt checking in from Morganton, North Carolina. I am on the second leg of our cross country trek to our new home in Palo Alto, Carolina (I am starting my new job at Stanford on Monday). I decided not to subject Amy to five days in a truck cab this time around, and am fortunate to have my youngest brother, James, on the trip with me (he is moving back to Seattle from New York at the same time Amy and I are heading to California).

Anyway, the first day of the trip was a rough one. I was up until 3 AM yesterday packing and cleaning the house to prepare to head out. I was extremely lucky to have my friend George Coysh helping me out all weekend or I would never have gotten out of New York in time. The Coysh's were also nice enough to offer a going away lunch yesterday, and after a quick stop by James' apartment in Queens, we finally began the first leg of our trip at 5:30 PM, WAY behind schedule (we had planned on leaving around 11 AM).

The first leg of the trip took us through New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia and finally, North Carolina. There was quite a bit of post-Thanksgiving traffic, which put us even more behind schedule, and we eventually arrived at our hotel in Morganton around 7:30 AM (yes, 7:30 in the morning!!!)

After a surprisingly refreshing 6-hours of rest, James and I are about to head out on our second leg of the trip, which will take us all the way to Arkadelphia, Arkansas (now one of my all-time favorite city names). We will be arriving at our destination in the wee hours of the morning again (hopefully around 3 AM), however we should be able to get our trip back on schedule with a 9-hour driving day tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Here are some pics from our first day of the trip:

26-foot Penske truck, we meet again...

Sunglasses were a must

Heading into the city to pick up James in Queens

One last glimpse of the big city before heading out for good.

3:30 AM stop at Waffle House in Virginia. Amy always wanted me to experience the Waffle House. It was pretty good (and ridiculously cheap)

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A Visit From the Francks

A few weeks ago, we got a visit from the Francks. They spent a few days in the city before ventruing out to Port Jefferson. It was great to see them, and we're happy they got a chance to see our home before we head back West. Thanks for the visit!

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It Never Ends

... the packing, that is. I am sitting on the floor of our living room because our sofa is covered with random things like packing tape, wrapping paper, a rolling pin, a running trophy (Amy's amazingly), glitter candles, and a 10" tall metal monkey that used to live on my parents' coffee table. This is the tough part of packing: there's always this "left over" group of things that gets thrown into a random box. The packing doesn't make sense and is always a more difficult to unpack.

The good part is that we just did a cross-country move so we know what it's going to take to pull this all together. The bad part is that - as of tomorrow - we have only 8 days to be out of this place. Our guest room is disassembled and filled with boxes, but we still have 80% of the house to go. Wish us luck!

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Happy 40th!!

I (Amy) contend that my dream job involves a muppet. I have always loved them, and actually tried to get an internship with the group in London after college. Unfortunately, they weren't accepting new talent at that time. Their loss.

Anyway... Sesame Street turned 40 this week!! Here is a little shout out to some monster wisdom.

Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street!

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Because We're Gluttons For Punishment...

We're moving across the country again! This time we're heading to sunny Palo Alto, where Matt will be the Assistant Director for Compliance Services at Stanford University. We're currently packing and will be in our new home by December 4th. Go Cardinal!

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