AZ to PA

Last time I updated, our house in Arizona was being packed up. Since that update, we moved out of our house (lease started for our renters on August 1), stayed with my parents for 2 weeks, I went to Minnesota for work for a couple of days, George interviewed and got a new job (Recruiter at Ryder), we drove across country from AZ to PA, moved into our apartment in PA, found a new daycare/preschool for the kids,  did tons of unpacking, and started our new positions in PA. August has been a big month for us! It's been exciting and exhausting. It was so hard to say our goodbyes in Arizona. The fact that we had an "adventure" ahead of us helped a little bit.

Since it would take me hours and hours to fill you in on all of the details of the past month (and most of them are pretty boring) I have decided to highlight our cross country trip on this post. As soon as we found out that we were moving to PA, George knew he wanted to plan a road trip. I was skeptical because ya know, we have a toddler and infant...enough said :) Well, I'm very glad he talked me into it because it turned out to be one of the best weeks. We got to see so much of the country that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Our days were manageable, averaging about 6-7 hours of driving per day. We tried to get an early start every morning so the kids still had a few hours of sleep, but we were pretty relaxed about our stops along the way. We didn't stress about how many stops or how long our stops were. With the kids, we knew stops were going to be frequent. We also tried to plan a longer stop at the halfway point each day. Each evening, we did something fun. I'll tell you a little bit about each stop below.

I made little snapchat videos each day to share with you all. I also have a bunch of pictures that I will post later this week. 

Day 1: Phoenix, AZ to Santa Fe, MN

Stopped in Gallup for lunch, stayed at the Drury Plaza in downtown Santa Fe, walked around downtown Santa Fe, saw the San Miguel Mission (oldest church in the US)

Day 2: Santa Fe, NM to Oklahoma City, OK

Longest day of the trip at almost 8 hours, stopped at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, TX (home to the 72oz steak challenge), stayed at the Homewood Suites in the Bricktown district, walked along the river, got dinner, Madeline and I took a boat ride tour, went swimming at the hotel pool

Day 3: Oklahoma City, OK to Memphis, TN

Drove through Oklahoma and Arkansas, stopped in Little Rock for lunch, stayed at the Hampton Inn on Beale Street, walked around Beale Street, ate at Central BBQ, went to Graceland during Elvis week (in the pouring rain!), Madeline had the best time running around in the rain...it was so fun to watch her :)

Day 4: Memphis, TN to Nashville, TN

Shortest day of the trip at just 3.5 hours, watched the Dave Ramsey show live, met Dave Ramsey, stayed at the Double Tree in downtown Nashville, walked around and ate in downtown Nashville, kids fell asleep in the stroller, George and I listened to live music at the hotel bar

Day 5: Nashville, TN to Roanoke, VA

Stopped at the Grand Ole Opry before leaving town, learned how long of a state Tennessee is, ate lunch near the University of TN in Knoxville, stayed at Hotel Roanoke, ate delicious pizza in the cute little downtown

Day 6: Roanoke, VA to Collegeville, PA

Last day, anxious to arrive so took minimal stops, arrived in Collegeville at 1PM, met our landlord and got the keys to our apartment, went to Costco to stock up on the basics, slept on the floor!