Florida Road Trip, Day 1: The unfortunate delay.

     So the plan was to create a blog post for the entire road trip, but then today turned out to be a whole lot more eventful than we hope the rest of our move to Florida will be. And while it was frustrating at the time, now that I'm safe in a bed I'm happy to say I'm laughing about it enough to write a post. Today was supposed to be the best part of our road trip: only 7 1/2 hours, and all of it full of green, beautiful mountains (in contrast to what we'll be seeing tomorrow, which is nothing). Please read on to find out how this turned into a 12 hour excursion.

Heading Out

     Leaving Utah was so bitter sweet for me. On one hand, Utah county is no fun once you're married, and we are both ready to jump into more exciting waters. On the other hand, having grown up in Utah, this is like leaving the Shire for me. No more mountains, no family nearby, and WHERE did all the Mormons go?! I will probably cry as we get further away. 

Goodbye Orem apartment!

     We took off this morning after a yummy pancake breakfast from Mom (Walker). It's our plan to take a picture at every temple on our path. It seemed appropriate to start at Draper, where we got married last year. 

Then, of course, we got to say a proper goodbye to Utah County with detours at Mount Timpanogos and Provo.

Colorado

The first four hours of our drive were perfect. We got up into the mountains and enjoyed some gorgeous scenery. This is what it looked like most of the way.

And of course, we had to experience snow one last time before heading to Florida. 

Then we hit trouble. Suddenly, we found ourselves diverted off of the freeway because of a rock slide. Because there is no other way through the mountain without taking a 2 hour detour, everyone was stuck waiting in a little town called Palisade. On one hand, this set our trip back almost 4 hours. On the other hand, we would never have realized what a gem Palisade is had we not been diverted off the freeway and stranded there. Here are some  important lessons we learned about surviving in a small mountain town, should you end up stranded during a rock slide.

1- If you end up stranded in Palisade, eat here. Any cafe that's been in business for 75 years in a town like this is trustworthy. Make sure to get the onion rings, and if you can afford it, buy a "Keep Palisade Weird" t-shirt. they are awesome.

2-Don't get off the freeway in the middle of a canyon unless you want to be fooled with street numbers like this:

And this.

3- Don't try to find your own detour. If the 2 road workers, 7 policemen, and 4 army officers that you ask tell you there is not detour, there is no detour. While an illegal 30 minute drive through unpaved private property may seem like an adventure, it will not lead you to a secret freeway entrance that no one has previously been able to find. Instead, you will likely end up here. 

After which you will realize that the steep hill you just drove down may not be so easy to scale in a two-wheel drive vehicle full of everything you own.

4- They may let you back on the freeway eventually. This does not mean you will be moving. (don't worry the video comes into focus after a little bit)

Our unexpected trip to Palisade ended up being pretty fun despite the frustration of a 3 1/2 hour delay.

Our patience was once again tested when we emerged into Denver. We thought it would be a great idea to round up our trip for today with a photo at the Denver, CO temple. In Utah, if you simply tell your phone you want to go to a Temple, you'll navigate right there. This does not seem to work here. We ended up at a Jewish church in downtown Denver, and then some guy's house before finding that elusive angel Moroni. Because this added yet another 45-minutes to our trip, our patience was tested greatly. Thankfully, it did not take long for this to become funny. Here is our triumphant Denver temple pic. Which unfortunately only features me.

And so, our supposedly shortest day of driving may have turned into our longest. But I shouldn't speak too soon, since we are driving to Kansas tomorrow, despite tornado warnings. Stay tuned!

A Whole New World

Hello family, friends, and the world wide web!

     Following in the Walker tradition, we are starting a blog to document our adventures away from home. While I can't hope to rival the literary art that is carlybird.com, we think this blog will serve it's purpose: To help our family and friends keep up with us as life pulls us every which direction, and to give me an appropriate outlet for my sarcasm.
    As an introduction for our family and friends who are not as well informed as my mother, Sean and I have had a bit of a whirlwind year. Between getting married, being in and out of jobs, getting pregnant, and now getting ready to move, it's safe to say we are a little overwhelmed, but also extremely grateful.
    Sean has been applying for summer internships since November. We faced disappointment when after 3 interviews he did not get an internship with KPMG, a large finance company based out of Seattle. In January, he was applying for countless internships every day. When he found the Disney website, he applied for 21 internships, hoping one would stick. He also applied for in internship for Fisher investments in Camas, WA, where Ryan works. Good news finally hit last month, when Sean got an offer from Fisher, and, weeks later, from Disney! We could not believe our good luck! It was a difficult decision. We could either chose Fisher, which would keep us closer to family, or we could go out on a limb and move to Florida for 6 months, and have the baby there.
     Ultimately, we decided that not only was Disney a bigger name and a closer fit for what Sean wanted to do, but an adventure like this does not come every day. We had to take it. We are so excited for the move in 1 1/2 weeks, and we are trying to keep the faith as we face so many unknowns. Here are some Disney quotes Sean found to encompass our thoughts about the situation. (As we are both well versed in Disney movies, this will probably happen often.)

I love my husband.

Wish us luck! Hopefully I'll be able to keep this up regularly. Coming up, we're having another ultrasound next week, so hopefully I'll have some cute pictures of baby boy Johns! And then, ROAD TRIP!!!!