Finally some down time
The last couple or three weeks has been soooooo draining!!
So school ended, but a week before school ended, Jen was packing for her move and other somesuch, then her folks arrived. We picked her Mom and Bro up at the King St Station in seattle two sundays ago.
We found a condo in Lynden for them to stay at which was pretty clean, seeing as Jen's Mom's allergies are not to be messed with.
We dropped them off, checked out the place then got taco fixins at the safeway. Safeway is a better grocery than we have in bellingham. Almost makes me want to drive 20 minutes to get too produce. Almost.
The next day, Josh and Angie (Jen's bro and sis-in-law) arrived at seatac, so we drove down to seattle again. We took them to the Rainforest Cafe in Southcenter for dinner, which was good. Yay! That was monday I think.
I can't remember what we did on monday, but on wednesday i had to work, and had my last class which was pretty sweet. Yay I'm done!!
On thrusday we all went up to vancouver to the aquarium, which i always like - cuz the otters are cute and the dolphins are smarter than me. They're fun to watch swim too.
Friday, can't remember. Oh yeah, it was Josh's birthday. Jen picked up the moving truck and I came over at about 10 and helped her move stuff into the van until noon. We soon found out that the damn truck didn't come with a padlock, so i went around looking for one to buy, which jen took her bro and fam to the bagelry and the fish shop downtown.
We then headed down to burlington to see Fantastic pile of crap 2: slightly better pile crap. I would have liked it better if their stupid flying car wasn't a f***ing dodge.
We had dinner, after my car overheated, and found there was no coolant left. What did we have for dinner? hmm. Oh yeah, we went to little tokyo in barkley village. Yum!
Saturday was gradumacation. The ceremony was so boring and long, though this time i had a black tassel and a fun hoody thing on. We took pics together, ditched the Woodring meet and greet, then ate lunch and went to Jen's Fairhaven graduation, which was awesome.
Each student had a faculty member talk about them for a few minutes, and i was amazed at some of the things they had accomplished - its what education should be. I doubt a fraction of students on main campus would have achieved as much, it was great to hear all their stories. I went up close to sit with mark and to take pics of jen while her prof talked about her. (*v*)
After that we had a little meal at the condo with jen's and my family, which was nice and uncomfortable.
The next day everyone left, we dropped Josh and Angie off at the airport, then went to Uwajimaya, then dropped William and Connie off at the train station. When we got back into town, we finished packing the truck and slept.
The next morning, i guess this was last Monday now, we went downtown for lunch, visited the skywalk bridge thing at Boulevard park then got to driving.
We drove my little car and the Truck down to Seattle so that i could get home when i flew back. we got into Tukwila around 4pm, then trucked out to I90 and through the Mountains. Driving the truck sucked i have to say.
As we started out late, we didn't get into Spokane until about 10pm, We couldn't find a cheap place to stay, so we opted for a holiday inn, which was nice and fluffy, especially in the bed area.
The next day was long, we got up had Denny's for breakfast (classy) and got going by 11am. We got through Idaho and the mountains of Montana, almost hit a deer, which scared the crap out of me, and got into billings around 1030 - worst sleep ever. Our hotel was right next to a lumber mill and it milled or whatever you call it all night! shitty. Besides that the hotel was pretty funny. There was a hot tub in the room, just next to the TV and our room was called the 'Bobcat Room' - awesome.
The next day was long too. We got up, had our free breakfast in the lobby, then headed out. Still following I90, we got down into north eastern Wyoming, which was all deserty in some parts, then into South Dakota. After the black hills, it got super flat, which was nice, so we could go the fast. We stopped at Wall drug just because and Jen bought a pretty rock and I a cookbook.
We stayed in Chamberlain, SD that night.
The next day we were on the home stretch, it was drizzling a little and we went throught some heavy rain, though there was a massive storm behind us which was literally 180 degrees of our view out the back. Scary.
We changed to I29 in Sioux Falls and headed south into IA. It started to smell good:)
Down close to Omaha, we switched to I680, which turned into I80, the freeway Grinnell is on! Yay!
I flubbed up and missed the bypass road for Des Moines, so we ended up going straight through it, but we got into Grinnell about 430ish.
There was a Welcome sign waiting for Jen and Josh and Angie's house!
We got out the truck and went to Dari Barn for some lunch. We ordered a BLT, to which the help asked "Do you want lettuce on that?" Ha! But the storm following us finally caught up. I love storms in the midwest. It was super hot outside, then in the span of a minutes, the wind got strong, and the temp dropped about 15 degrees. Joy. despite this, the rain was warm and I was mean to the hoard of blonde employees cuz it took 15 minutes to make our sandos. Luckily, Angie found us there and gave us a ride home (cuz we walked there).
That night (Thursday i guess) we watched Constantine and unpacked a bit of the truck.
The next day we unpacked the rest, while J&A were at work and did some other stuff. I can't remember now.
Saturday me and jen drove out to Cedar Rapids to drop off the Truck.
Sunday I flew back, which was pretty quick thanks to my new ipod - Yay futurama in portable format!!!!
I got into Seatac about 1115, and my dad picked me up and I drove home to sleep. The last few days I'd been waking up shaking for some reason. Jen had it too and we thought it might be because of the truck bouncing us around for 4 days, 9 hours a day. This morning it didn't happen though. Now I'm at work. and I'm still a bit tired, but feel better now that there's not that much on the horizon.
It still hasn't really sunk in that jen is 2000 miles away cuz I've been busy since I got back. I have some downtime today, so I'm sure sadness will catch up with me.
Pics and KML (google earth file) on Facebook if you want.
So school ended, but a week before school ended, Jen was packing for her move and other somesuch, then her folks arrived. We picked her Mom and Bro up at the King St Station in seattle two sundays ago.
We found a condo in Lynden for them to stay at which was pretty clean, seeing as Jen's Mom's allergies are not to be messed with.
We dropped them off, checked out the place then got taco fixins at the safeway. Safeway is a better grocery than we have in bellingham. Almost makes me want to drive 20 minutes to get too produce. Almost.
The next day, Josh and Angie (Jen's bro and sis-in-law) arrived at seatac, so we drove down to seattle again. We took them to the Rainforest Cafe in Southcenter for dinner, which was good. Yay! That was monday I think.
I can't remember what we did on monday, but on wednesday i had to work, and had my last class which was pretty sweet. Yay I'm done!!
On thrusday we all went up to vancouver to the aquarium, which i always like - cuz the otters are cute and the dolphins are smarter than me. They're fun to watch swim too.
Friday, can't remember. Oh yeah, it was Josh's birthday. Jen picked up the moving truck and I came over at about 10 and helped her move stuff into the van until noon. We soon found out that the damn truck didn't come with a padlock, so i went around looking for one to buy, which jen took her bro and fam to the bagelry and the fish shop downtown.
We then headed down to burlington to see Fantastic pile of crap 2: slightly better pile crap. I would have liked it better if their stupid flying car wasn't a f***ing dodge.
We had dinner, after my car overheated, and found there was no coolant left. What did we have for dinner? hmm. Oh yeah, we went to little tokyo in barkley village. Yum!
Saturday was gradumacation. The ceremony was so boring and long, though this time i had a black tassel and a fun hoody thing on. We took pics together, ditched the Woodring meet and greet, then ate lunch and went to Jen's Fairhaven graduation, which was awesome.
Each student had a faculty member talk about them for a few minutes, and i was amazed at some of the things they had accomplished - its what education should be. I doubt a fraction of students on main campus would have achieved as much, it was great to hear all their stories. I went up close to sit with mark and to take pics of jen while her prof talked about her. (*v*)
After that we had a little meal at the condo with jen's and my family, which was nice and uncomfortable.
The next day everyone left, we dropped Josh and Angie off at the airport, then went to Uwajimaya, then dropped William and Connie off at the train station. When we got back into town, we finished packing the truck and slept.
The next morning, i guess this was last Monday now, we went downtown for lunch, visited the skywalk bridge thing at Boulevard park then got to driving.
We drove my little car and the Truck down to Seattle so that i could get home when i flew back. we got into Tukwila around 4pm, then trucked out to I90 and through the Mountains. Driving the truck sucked i have to say.
As we started out late, we didn't get into Spokane until about 10pm, We couldn't find a cheap place to stay, so we opted for a holiday inn, which was nice and fluffy, especially in the bed area.
The next day was long, we got up had Denny's for breakfast (classy) and got going by 11am. We got through Idaho and the mountains of Montana, almost hit a deer, which scared the crap out of me, and got into billings around 1030 - worst sleep ever. Our hotel was right next to a lumber mill and it milled or whatever you call it all night! shitty. Besides that the hotel was pretty funny. There was a hot tub in the room, just next to the TV and our room was called the 'Bobcat Room' - awesome.
The next day was long too. We got up, had our free breakfast in the lobby, then headed out. Still following I90, we got down into north eastern Wyoming, which was all deserty in some parts, then into South Dakota. After the black hills, it got super flat, which was nice, so we could go the fast. We stopped at Wall drug just because and Jen bought a pretty rock and I a cookbook.
We stayed in Chamberlain, SD that night.
The next day we were on the home stretch, it was drizzling a little and we went throught some heavy rain, though there was a massive storm behind us which was literally 180 degrees of our view out the back. Scary.
We changed to I29 in Sioux Falls and headed south into IA. It started to smell good:)
Down close to Omaha, we switched to I680, which turned into I80, the freeway Grinnell is on! Yay!
I flubbed up and missed the bypass road for Des Moines, so we ended up going straight through it, but we got into Grinnell about 430ish.
There was a Welcome sign waiting for Jen and Josh and Angie's house!
We got out the truck and went to Dari Barn for some lunch. We ordered a BLT, to which the help asked "Do you want lettuce on that?" Ha! But the storm following us finally caught up. I love storms in the midwest. It was super hot outside, then in the span of a minutes, the wind got strong, and the temp dropped about 15 degrees. Joy. despite this, the rain was warm and I was mean to the hoard of blonde employees cuz it took 15 minutes to make our sandos. Luckily, Angie found us there and gave us a ride home (cuz we walked there).
That night (Thursday i guess) we watched Constantine and unpacked a bit of the truck.
The next day we unpacked the rest, while J&A were at work and did some other stuff. I can't remember now.
Saturday me and jen drove out to Cedar Rapids to drop off the Truck.
Sunday I flew back, which was pretty quick thanks to my new ipod - Yay futurama in portable format!!!!
I got into Seatac about 1115, and my dad picked me up and I drove home to sleep. The last few days I'd been waking up shaking for some reason. Jen had it too and we thought it might be because of the truck bouncing us around for 4 days, 9 hours a day. This morning it didn't happen though. Now I'm at work. and I'm still a bit tired, but feel better now that there's not that much on the horizon.
It still hasn't really sunk in that jen is 2000 miles away cuz I've been busy since I got back. I have some downtime today, so I'm sure sadness will catch up with me.
Pics and KML (google earth file) on Facebook if you want.