Well, my plan of writing down what happened every day was sadly thwarted... mostly by laziness, lack of a good internet connection and laziness. The highlight to me was passing through a town in Indiana (or was it Illinois) called Kickapoo. I nearly drove off the road laughing about that. I texted my friend about it and he asked if my shoe got dirty-- hilarious. We also passed Effingham, but I had already had my laughing fit about that some five to ten years ago, so it wasn't as novel.
I thought the drive across country was really beautiful. We picked a great time of year to do it. The plains states were very green and everything was in bloom, there were tons of picturesque moments, and really cool barns and windmills. The hillier states, like Illinois and Indiana (in parts) were also really pretty. We stopped in Bloomington, IN to visit our old house on the way and then my Mom and I took a little self-led tour of Ball State, in Muncie, IN. I have been thinking about doing an architecture program there but I am actually pretty undecided about that right now. There were a couple of cool exhibits on display in the architecture building (so named) at Ball State, so it was cool to see what students were involved in.
We made pretty good time across the country. We stopped in Cincinnati to visit my brother and his wife, and also visited some nice market down town and the Loveland Castle-- which was a bit creepy. It had been raining record amounts of rain for days and water was starting to seep through the walls of the castle and as a Buildings Archaeologist, I was very uncomfortable being in there. The castle dwellers were interesting as well.
We spent Easter with my brother's wife's family, which was really nice. We had two big eggy dishes and Marie made corned beef hash, which I had never seen made before. My brother has two cats too, so it was nice to play with them a bit, I've been feeling a little cat starved. My mom and I even got an Easter basket from Marie's mom. It was really kind of her to think of us.
After Easter we continued the drive on to D.C. The trip too waaaaay longer than we ever thought, but I guess that's what happens when you have to stop for things like funerals and Easter. We listened to a bunch of books on tape along the way, including the end of "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne, "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by some Countess, "Percy Jackson and the Last of the Olympians" by I don't recall who, part of John Grisham's "The Confession" and that may be it, I can't remember. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed "The Scarlet Pimpernel". It was hilarious and almost deep. I think I shall read it again soon, its probably one of my favorite classics.
After arriving in D.C. my Mom and I got busy getting my new place ready. My sister and her husband are very kind to let me stay in their basement apartment, located just minutes from Union Station and the mall, on Capitol Hill. I really couldn't do all the things I'm doing now without their and my mother's help. I am very grateful to them, and all of my family for their support.
My Mom had to fly back to Hawaii on a Thursday and we arrived in D.C. on a Monday. That left about three days to get all the major stuff done that I had to do, including going to IKEA about three times and spending a total of about 24 hours there (I'm not even sure if that's an exaggeration). After dropping my Mom off at the airport on that Thursday I came home and painted my living room and waited for the delivery of my IKEA stuff. Things are starting to look really great and I'm excited to see how well I do at having my own place.
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