We moved out the last week in March, with the house still unsold, though we did at least have an offer. So we were feeling pretty good about things. But then we were all dealt a powerful blow. My grandfather, "Pop-B", died the day that we moved out of the house. We then delayed our departure westward a few days to attend the funeral and spend a few more days with family. Its amazing how a life-changing move is absolutely nothing compared to losing your grandfather.
A few days later, we got on on interstate 40 and headed west. Our driving directions to our new home: Drive west on 40 till you hit the Pacific. We started driving on Sunday and drove for around 8-9 hours a day average. The goal was not to make the best time, but to actually see something along the way. Starting from Greensboro,NC, we stopped in Nashville, TN, Oklahoma City, OK (with a brief getting-lost-time in Little Rock, AK), Albaquerque, NM, Flagstaff, AZ, and finally Bakersfield, CA. It really is amazing how large and varied our country is. You just can't "get it" flying in a plane. From the Appalachains of TN, the mighty Missisip, the Ozarks in AK, the utterly flat and boring plains of Oklahoma, the mesas and scrubland of New Mexico
, and finally the blazing red and orange deserts of Arizona.... every day brought us fantastic new sights. I highly reccomend everybody to do this at least once in their life.By far, the highlight of our trip was our drive through Arizona. It has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. The canyons of the region were utterly dizzying. The Grand Canyon of course is absolutely dizzying in its scale, but even the smaller canyons in the surrounding regions are immensly impressive in their sheer vertical drops. Flagstaff was totally unlike what we expected Arizona to be like as it was lush and green in the shadows of 10,000 foot mountains.
We ended up buying a National Parks Service Yearly pass in AZ, as we ended up hitting two national parks while driving through the state. In addition to the Grand Canyon, we also hit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. Not as awe-inspiring, but I thoughoughly enjoyed it. I think Amanda got tired of looking at colored desert and fossilized stumps after a while though. :)Mercy did absolutely fantastic on the drive. She basically just slept in the back seat of the car all day, every day, getting up every so often to get some petting. We stopped every few hours so everybody could stretch their legs. One other thing: If any of you ever drive across the country, may I highly reccomend Books on Tape (or CD). They make the time absolutely melt away. Oh, and watch out for Mexican food in New Mexico... its a-spicy!
After finishing up our great journey, we checked into our new apartment complex that the company was providing in Fremont, CA. It was a small little one bedroom that was always very dark. We never enjoyed living there. But the good news was that it was in walking distance of the city's main dog park, so Mercy got her exercise even though she was always cooped up inside.
And so our life in California started. We both settled into our new jobs and we got to spend some time doing some sightseeing around our new home. The first thing we did was make a beeline for the beach so we could stick our toes in the Pacific. But we couldnt play too long. Our house finally sold, so we started the task of finding a new home. We had previously settled on Fremont as our Bay area city of choice, so we got a realtor and started looking. It was a complete failure. We looked for a few weeks, but unfortunately right as we got started, the housing market drastically heated up. We were looking at townhomes since we couldnt afford a house. Propertys were selling immediately and were getting 10-20 offers in a space of a few days. Bidding wars were the norm. We only put in one offer (at $40K over asking price) and apparently werent even close. We decided to skip this
madness and rent a house for a while. So on our first weekend of looking we found a small rental house in Southern Fremont.It is a tiny little place (less than 1000 sq ft), but its a nice little 3 bedroom house with a garage and utility shed. The bedrooms barely have enough room to turn around and the bathrooms are absolutely rediculous (one is about 12 sq ft of space) but there is plenty of living space. The main selling point is that is has a *HUGE* yard, almost as big as our yard in NC which is the biggest that I have ever seen in the bay area. Plus we have a view of the mountains. Mercy loves it as she now has more roaming room then she has ever had before.
In late August, we finally had our first big trip as we visited San Diego. We stayed in the fabled Hotel del Coranado which is one of the most famous hotels on the West Coast. Part of the Wizard of Oz was written here. We also had an unexpected guest. It turned out that President George W. Bush also likes to live it up and he and the first family stayed 3 floors directly above us. Bellhops that
arent really bellhops (secret service agents) were a common sight that week, along with snipers on the roof. 
Quite an experience. We also made sure we hit both the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park and both were absolutely fantastic. We did the Caravan tour where they take you into the animal paddocks. Its kind of cool to have a geraffe eat out of your hands.For more San Diego Pictures, check here:
San Diego Photo Gallery
Then, in early September, I finally drug Amanda to go see the mother of all National Parks:
Yosemite. We rented a 3 walled cabin and basically did the camping experience. (The fourth wall and roof were just tarps). We rented bikes and rode over every inch of the park.One of these days, I will finally hike to the top of half-dome... but until then.....
To see the rest of the Yosemite pictures, check here:
Yosemite Photo Gallery
Ok, thats it for now, more updates to come. Thanks for reading!
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