The Travel Continues I

We made it to Utah. Hooray! Since I last posted we have officially graduated, attended a hooding ceremony and successfully pulled off a surprise party for Derrald. We packed up our apartment, sold off most of our belongings, and have driven 2,160 miles across the country to deliver the red rocket (hyundai elantra) into the waiting arms of Ramona Stice.

The Red Rocket.

What a busy month is May. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the graduation because we're having camera issues but hopefully my brother will be sending some of the shots he got and I will be able to impress you all with photographic proof that Derrald graduated. For real. Cap. Gown. Cape (hood) and all. It was a gorgeous day and we surprised him the night before with the arrival of his Mom, Dad, Ryan and my brother, Brendan. What a little party we had!! Our wonderful friends all arrived for a picnic celebration on Saturday afternoon, the second surprise of the weekend!

It was a bittersweet moment as, while enjoying the company our good friends, we realised we'd now have to say goodbye and leave them all behind with our move to HONG KONG.

Our journey to Hong Kong begins... with a road trip!

Chapel Hill, NC to Provo, UT - 2,160miles

Our first stop, Athens, OH, Ohio University or "Harvard of the Hocking" to see our friends the Plickas.

Joe and Emily are both graduating this year as well. Emily is getting her Masters and Joe his Phd. We loved our stay with them. Inspired by their nutritarian ways, we ate copious amounts of vegetables and discovered a few culinary delights at Village Bakery and Cafe. Sticky Date Cake, yum!

Dr. Plicka and Dr. Stice

Next stop was Nauvoo, IL.

I spent 4 years attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and not once made it to Nauvoo. In fact, I don't think I even knew it existed. Nauvoo is where the early Latter-day Saints settled before being forced to relocate to Salt Lake City. During it's day, Nauvoo was said to have as many inhabitants as Chicago! We visited the gunsmith, the brick shop, the bakery, the blacksmith and the Temple. We also went on a carriage ride to Inspiration Point. We had a lovely time.

Carriage Ride

Inspiration Point

Embracing our inner pioneer.

D informed me on our drive out there that I had a very good chance of "winning" the horseshoe. A mini horse shoe that the blacksmith makes during his demonstration. Turns out Derrald had won that horse shoe once (when he was about 9) and the way he talks about it today, you'd think he won the lottery. You "win" the horseshoe by being the person with the closest birthday to the day you are at Nauvoo. I did not want to let him down. Pressure was on. There were only four of us for our demonstration and I was already debating whether or not I was going to need to fake my birthday... but all D's dreams came true when I beat out all other competitors with my very own date of birth. We now have a mini horseshoe, a mini brick, and two nail rings to carry around with us for the rest of our lives. So much for "de-cluttering"...

Stop number three, was in Highlands Ranch, CO, to see our friends the Linds.

We love Colorado and we love the Linds. Even though our day got rained out, we had a great time drinking diet sodas, eating popcorn and playing Settlers (my first time!). Then we went out for a "night on the town" woop woop! Sometimes we feel so old when our idea of a "good time" is a night in with a DVD, so it was super fun to go downtown Denver for some delicious creole food, hit "D Bar" for yummy desserts and then see a movie at the cinema for a change. I felt hip.

Very sadly, I don't have photographic evidence of our CO stay. Jeff and Mindy, it's up to you! Send pictures my way asap so everyone can see our smiling faces!