Our Trip
What a crazy few weeks it's been!! I'm gonna write first, and then post pictures.
First, we had to start packing. That was NO FUN. It's hard to pack up a house, and even harder to decide what you're going to keep and throw away when you're downsizing!! For those of you who didn't know, we lived in a 1250 sq. ft. 2 bedroom/2 bathroom condo. We moved into a 694 sq. ft. 1 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment!! It was quite the challenge, but the apes didn't get rid of any of our stuff - Thank Ceiling Cat! We definitely need 8 different blankies... Midway through our packing, Hurricane Isaac came! He wasn't anything but a thorn in our sides - Baton Rouge did not get hit hard - just a little wind and rain. We didn't even lose power. We were very fortunate.
Isaac hit Tuesday - Thursday. On Friday, Mama was supposed to go to New Orleans to meet up with her mother-in-law. They had an early morning flight out of New Orleans on Saturday morning to head to Charlotte, North Carolina. From there, they were planning on driving to Columbia, South Carolina, for a friend's wedding. Daddy, on the other paw, was going to start loading up the moving truck with his daddy on Friday, and immediately head to DC to unload everything, and then come back to Louisiana. To make matters MORE complicated, on Thursday, we had to be 100% packed, so that we could all go stay at Daddy's brother's house. Daddy's brother's fiancee, Shelby, was going to bunnysit us while the apes were away.
Because of the storm, both Mama and Daddy had some complications to deal with. The first was that Daddy's daddy was supposed to be getting the moving trailer from Houma, which is an hour and a half south of Baton Rouge. Well parts of Houma had no electricity from the storm, and no electricity means no Internet! Apparently, this moving company (U-Haul), couldn't rent out the trailer without Internet, even though Daddy had already paid for it and had a confirmation number and everything!! In addition to that, Daddy couldn't make any changes to the reservation (i.e. picking up a trailer in Baton Rouge - where there was power and Internet - instead of Houma), and he couldn't cancel it either! Basically, there was nothing that was guaranteeing them the trailer on Friday. This all happened on Thursday, so they quickly moved to plan B, which was renting a trailer from a local place in Houma. The catch was that they'd have to drive the trailer all the way back to Houma. With U-Haul, you can just drop it off at any U-Haul location around the US. DC is an 18.5 hour drive from Baton Rouge (without stops), so they really didn't want to make that drive twice with a trailer, but had no choice.
The second complication was that there was no way for Mama to get to New Orleans! A lot of the interstate from Baton Rouge to New Orleans was under water because of the storm, and even the back ways were flooded as well. The one way that Mama could take to get there was going to put her 2 hours out of the way, so she decided that she'd go to Houma, meet her mother-in-law there, and they'd go to New Orleans together Friday afternoon to check into the hotel. After they got back from the wedding, they'd just return to Houma together to pick up Daddy, since Daddy had to drive the moving trailer back to Houma with his daddy. Unfortunately, the hotel that they were planning on staying at Friday night before their flight was out of power, so they weren't accepting reservations. That wasn't a huge deal - Mama only got the hotel so that they wouldn't have to wake up super early to catch their 6 AM flight. Houma is 1 hour from New Orleans, by the way. It was decided that Mama would just spend the night with her mother-in-law in Houma, and they'd leave super early in the morning to get to New Orleans.
Everything seemed settled until Friday came... Mama had some loose ends to tie around Baton Rouge, but the weather (remnants of Isaac), and power outages were making it difficult. Things that should have taken her 20 minutes took her over an hour! By the time Mama hit the road, it was nearly 3 that afternoon. What she didn't know was that a route had been cleared for people in Baton Rouge to get to New Orleans - mainly for people who had evactuated the storm and wanted to return home to check on their houses. What normally takes an hour and a half took Mama SIX HOURS. She sat on the interstate with her car in PARK for FOUR hours in traffic!! Meanwhile, Daddy and his daddy were loading up the moving trailer. They were on the road headed to DC at 7 that night. Mama got to Houma at 9, and with a 2:30 AM wakeup call, was NOT a happy camper!
Everything was smooth sailing from then on for both apes though. Mama had a lot of fun at her friend's wedding. It was a traditional Muslim wedding, so it was something she hadn't seen before. Daddy and his daddy had no issues getting to the apartment and unloading all the boxes. They got back to Houma on Monday night, and Mama got in from her trip Tuesday morning. After lunch, they headed up to Baton Rouge to pick up me and Bernie.
Mama had HUGE plans for me and Bernie during this trip. Bernie has never been on a long car ride. I have - but I am not a fan. With me being so old, Mama was worried about me. She was planning on sitting in the back when Daddy was driving to be with us, and also to use this car trip as a major bonding session. However, she was foiled again! My cage wouldn't fit in the trunk!! It was too long... So they had to shove it in the backseat of the car, between the front seats and back seats!! There was absolutely no way she could get in the back to be with us. I guess I should also tell you that Daddy drives a truck, but since we moved to the city, he sold it, and we just have Mama's car now.
So off we went! Each time we stopped, the apes would check on us. I was fine. I breathe really hard in the car, but as soon as we'd stop, I'd calm down. Bernie, on the other paw, was REALLY ANGRY about being in the car! She gave some major rabbitude!
The first night, we stopped in Chatanooga, Tennessee at around 2 AM. Bernie and I got smuggled into a hotel! Mama went in to get the room, and checked out the location of the lobby, elevators, and side doors. Then she came out with a luggage cart, and they put us on it and covered us up, and wheeled us really fast into the hotel and into the elevator! We spent one night there, and then we had to get snuck back out to the car. It worked, and we weren't discovered!
We finally got into DC at 8:45 Wednesday night. Daddy set to work right away putting our cages back together. Bernie went in hers first, and I went into mine after. Mine took a while to put back together, because Daddy took it completely apart. While Daddy put the cages together, Mama was unpacking the necessities like sheets and towels. I was curious, but all in all OK with our new place. Bernie gave the apes the stink eye for 2 days. She's still not a happy bunny because we haven't gotten any playtime yet. All of our stuff hasn't been unpacked yet, but they are getting there.
The apes are almost finished unpacking. I'll post pictures of the finished product when they do. DC is really different from Baton Rouge. It's loud, and we live in a high rise. It's a big city, just like New York City. Mama takes the subway, and spends most of her time getting lost.
Serves her right.
One interesting thing that everyone has to get used to now is the fact that we are located much closer to the apes's bedroom! At night they can hear us loud and clear making our bunny sounds. The first night, Mama must have checked on us eleventy billion times because she couldn't tell what we were up to! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Also, just for everyone's information, we drove through: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabamama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia before we got to Washington, DC! It was at LEAST 20 hours with all of the stops we had to make for gas and food. *AHEM* We deserve an LIA award for that!
One last thing, we are going to post a private entry into our Livejournal right after this one with our new address. We still expect Chrismoose cards. (:3
Helping To Pack
Hurricane Isaac Blows Through
Mama's Henna Tattoo From The Indian Wedding
Trailer Almost Unloaded!
Indian Wedding
Almost All Packed!
Smuggled Into The Hampton Inn
Blue Ridge Mountains In Virginia
We Got Rick Rolled On The Way!
There We Are - Staring At Each Other In The Backseat!
FINALLY HOME!
We've Been Unpacked!
Day 1 Of Unpacking - What A Mess!
Bernie Is Terrified Of The New Couch
The Capitol - We See It Everytime We Leave The Apartment
Starting To Feel At Home
Bernie Disapproves Of The City
First, we had to start packing. That was NO FUN. It's hard to pack up a house, and even harder to decide what you're going to keep and throw away when you're downsizing!! For those of you who didn't know, we lived in a 1250 sq. ft. 2 bedroom/2 bathroom condo. We moved into a 694 sq. ft. 1 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment!! It was quite the challenge, but the apes didn't get rid of any of our stuff - Thank Ceiling Cat! We definitely need 8 different blankies... Midway through our packing, Hurricane Isaac came! He wasn't anything but a thorn in our sides - Baton Rouge did not get hit hard - just a little wind and rain. We didn't even lose power. We were very fortunate.
Isaac hit Tuesday - Thursday. On Friday, Mama was supposed to go to New Orleans to meet up with her mother-in-law. They had an early morning flight out of New Orleans on Saturday morning to head to Charlotte, North Carolina. From there, they were planning on driving to Columbia, South Carolina, for a friend's wedding. Daddy, on the other paw, was going to start loading up the moving truck with his daddy on Friday, and immediately head to DC to unload everything, and then come back to Louisiana. To make matters MORE complicated, on Thursday, we had to be 100% packed, so that we could all go stay at Daddy's brother's house. Daddy's brother's fiancee, Shelby, was going to bunnysit us while the apes were away.
Because of the storm, both Mama and Daddy had some complications to deal with. The first was that Daddy's daddy was supposed to be getting the moving trailer from Houma, which is an hour and a half south of Baton Rouge. Well parts of Houma had no electricity from the storm, and no electricity means no Internet! Apparently, this moving company (U-Haul), couldn't rent out the trailer without Internet, even though Daddy had already paid for it and had a confirmation number and everything!! In addition to that, Daddy couldn't make any changes to the reservation (i.e. picking up a trailer in Baton Rouge - where there was power and Internet - instead of Houma), and he couldn't cancel it either! Basically, there was nothing that was guaranteeing them the trailer on Friday. This all happened on Thursday, so they quickly moved to plan B, which was renting a trailer from a local place in Houma. The catch was that they'd have to drive the trailer all the way back to Houma. With U-Haul, you can just drop it off at any U-Haul location around the US. DC is an 18.5 hour drive from Baton Rouge (without stops), so they really didn't want to make that drive twice with a trailer, but had no choice.
The second complication was that there was no way for Mama to get to New Orleans! A lot of the interstate from Baton Rouge to New Orleans was under water because of the storm, and even the back ways were flooded as well. The one way that Mama could take to get there was going to put her 2 hours out of the way, so she decided that she'd go to Houma, meet her mother-in-law there, and they'd go to New Orleans together Friday afternoon to check into the hotel. After they got back from the wedding, they'd just return to Houma together to pick up Daddy, since Daddy had to drive the moving trailer back to Houma with his daddy. Unfortunately, the hotel that they were planning on staying at Friday night before their flight was out of power, so they weren't accepting reservations. That wasn't a huge deal - Mama only got the hotel so that they wouldn't have to wake up super early to catch their 6 AM flight. Houma is 1 hour from New Orleans, by the way. It was decided that Mama would just spend the night with her mother-in-law in Houma, and they'd leave super early in the morning to get to New Orleans.
Everything seemed settled until Friday came... Mama had some loose ends to tie around Baton Rouge, but the weather (remnants of Isaac), and power outages were making it difficult. Things that should have taken her 20 minutes took her over an hour! By the time Mama hit the road, it was nearly 3 that afternoon. What she didn't know was that a route had been cleared for people in Baton Rouge to get to New Orleans - mainly for people who had evactuated the storm and wanted to return home to check on their houses. What normally takes an hour and a half took Mama SIX HOURS. She sat on the interstate with her car in PARK for FOUR hours in traffic!! Meanwhile, Daddy and his daddy were loading up the moving trailer. They were on the road headed to DC at 7 that night. Mama got to Houma at 9, and with a 2:30 AM wakeup call, was NOT a happy camper!
Everything was smooth sailing from then on for both apes though. Mama had a lot of fun at her friend's wedding. It was a traditional Muslim wedding, so it was something she hadn't seen before. Daddy and his daddy had no issues getting to the apartment and unloading all the boxes. They got back to Houma on Monday night, and Mama got in from her trip Tuesday morning. After lunch, they headed up to Baton Rouge to pick up me and Bernie.
Mama had HUGE plans for me and Bernie during this trip. Bernie has never been on a long car ride. I have - but I am not a fan. With me being so old, Mama was worried about me. She was planning on sitting in the back when Daddy was driving to be with us, and also to use this car trip as a major bonding session. However, she was foiled again! My cage wouldn't fit in the trunk!! It was too long... So they had to shove it in the backseat of the car, between the front seats and back seats!! There was absolutely no way she could get in the back to be with us. I guess I should also tell you that Daddy drives a truck, but since we moved to the city, he sold it, and we just have Mama's car now.
So off we went! Each time we stopped, the apes would check on us. I was fine. I breathe really hard in the car, but as soon as we'd stop, I'd calm down. Bernie, on the other paw, was REALLY ANGRY about being in the car! She gave some major rabbitude!
The first night, we stopped in Chatanooga, Tennessee at around 2 AM. Bernie and I got smuggled into a hotel! Mama went in to get the room, and checked out the location of the lobby, elevators, and side doors. Then she came out with a luggage cart, and they put us on it and covered us up, and wheeled us really fast into the hotel and into the elevator! We spent one night there, and then we had to get snuck back out to the car. It worked, and we weren't discovered!
We finally got into DC at 8:45 Wednesday night. Daddy set to work right away putting our cages back together. Bernie went in hers first, and I went into mine after. Mine took a while to put back together, because Daddy took it completely apart. While Daddy put the cages together, Mama was unpacking the necessities like sheets and towels. I was curious, but all in all OK with our new place. Bernie gave the apes the stink eye for 2 days. She's still not a happy bunny because we haven't gotten any playtime yet. All of our stuff hasn't been unpacked yet, but they are getting there.
The apes are almost finished unpacking. I'll post pictures of the finished product when they do. DC is really different from Baton Rouge. It's loud, and we live in a high rise. It's a big city, just like New York City. Mama takes the subway, and spends most of her time getting lost.
Serves her right.
One interesting thing that everyone has to get used to now is the fact that we are located much closer to the apes's bedroom! At night they can hear us loud and clear making our bunny sounds. The first night, Mama must have checked on us eleventy billion times because she couldn't tell what we were up to! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Also, just for everyone's information, we drove through: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabamama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia before we got to Washington, DC! It was at LEAST 20 hours with all of the stops we had to make for gas and food. *AHEM* We deserve an LIA award for that!
One last thing, we are going to post a private entry into our Livejournal right after this one with our new address. We still expect Chrismoose cards. (:3
Helping To Pack
Hurricane Isaac Blows Through
Mama's Henna Tattoo From The Indian Wedding
Trailer Almost Unloaded!
Indian Wedding
Almost All Packed!
Smuggled Into The Hampton Inn
Blue Ridge Mountains In Virginia
We Got Rick Rolled On The Way!
There We Are - Staring At Each Other In The Backseat!
FINALLY HOME!
We've Been Unpacked!
Day 1 Of Unpacking - What A Mess!
Bernie Is Terrified Of The New Couch
The Capitol - We See It Everytime We Leave The Apartment
Starting To Feel At Home
Bernie Disapproves Of The City