oops...a few more pics....

Here is just a couple of Cannery Row.....not very good pics....I'll try better!

Our new home....well home town that is....

Well...sorry it has taken me so long to update. We have been crazy busy looking for a place to live. We still have not found a place. We go this afternoon to look at a house that we really would like to have.....that is at 3pm Pacific time...so say a little prayer for us. We finally got a chance yesterday afternoon to take a much needed break from the car and looking for a place....and got to see a little bit of the town we will be living in. I can't wait for us to have a place and for people to come visit!!! Here are just a few pictures of what we got to see yesterday and these pictures do not even begin to do this place justice. Hope you enjoy and I will post more about our last day of travel and pictures from our drive in.

Our first view of the Pacific Ocean....thats Monterey in the distance
A deer that walked by our car while we were looking for a place to live....
he ended up laying down in the shade up against the fence!
Monterey/Pacific Grove California!!!
It doesn't get better than this!
One of the many seals...he wanted back in the water
No that is not rocks....its all seals....just catching some rays!

Can you see the little one swimming in?
Almost in......
They like to lift their "legs" and head everytime a wave comes!
Double bike thinging....we are so doing this....you ride it all along the water!

WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA....

Well we made if finally! We got to our hotel in Vallejo at 7:30pm(pacific time)! We are beyond exhausted. I plenty to blog about with our adventures today but I just can't bring myself to sit up and type. I did however want to let everyone who is checking know that we made it here safely. We will be heading straight to Monterey tomorrow morning. We stopped here because we were suppose to stop and pick up Josh's car on the way into Monterey tomorrow.....but just found out that his car will not be here until next week....so now we get to sleep in and then drive straight to Monterey and find a place to live. We have until Monday to get a place if we want to keep from having our stuff put into storage. That is all I have for now. Thank you all so much for all of your prayers and encouragement through our trip....I can't even say how much we appreciated it. We love you guys...and miss you! Especially my CT girls! I can't believe that we are on opposite coasts! Its crazy! Check back tomorrow and I will have up our fun facts from todays trip through the rest of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California!

Love and Hugs
Amanda and Josh

.....God is so Great......

Day 3 – Wednesday June 4, 2008

Today was a LONG day! This was our longest driving day of the whole trip…..and not only the longest….but for the most part the most BORING!
Here is the info:

• Started out in Des Moines, Iowa @ 5:34am Central time.
• We had 889 miles to drive in front of us totaling 12hrs and 24mins without stops
• We decided to go ahead and give the cats pills again since the weather forecasted more bad weather. This time it hit Ollie the worst and he was out before we even got him in the car. As always they did GREAT!
• We traveled through only 3 states today; the rest of Iowa, Nebraska, and most of Wyoming. The state mottos are; Iowa-Fields of Opportunity, Nebraska-The good life, and Wyoming-doesn’t have a motto that we could find but in my opinion doesn’t need one…just drive through it…it is BEAUTIFUL.
• It took us 1hr and 59min to get through the rest of Iowa, 7hrs and 1min. to get through Nebraska(by far the longest hrs of my life), and 5hrs to get to our resting point in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
• This next section is for you Texas people….the others won’t understand….
  o We passed over I-35 in Dallas county…..Iowa
  o We also drove through Waco……Nebraska
  o We then drove through Arlington……Wyoming
  

A few interesting facts:

--In Iowa there is free internet access at all the rest stops
--We got to see the site of the first Train Robbery in the West in Adair, Iowa
--We passed by an Iowa Winery but unfortunately we were not able to stop…too early
--Nebraska home of Arbor Day
--Crossed the Missouri River ( boarders Iowa and Nebraska)
--GRANDMA….this is for you….we saw 2 Casinos on the boarder of Iowa and Nebraska
--Omaha also has a Holiday Inn with an Indoor water park
--Nebraska is weird and names its streets with numbers and letters i.e.: 1,2,…50,L,N,Q
--Cracker Barrel is the new Waffle House…there is one on every exit from CT to here
--We drove past the air and space museum in NE
--The speed limit thru NE and WY is 75!!!
--NE has a Kool Aid Museum…how cool is that
--Part of I-80 in NE is made from 47,000 recycled tires
--All the bridges in NE have wind socks on them and warning signs for wind
--WE MADE IT HALF WAY @ 10:18am Central time in Buffalo County, NE
--We got to see and drive under the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument in NE
--We saw an original Pony Express Station in NE
--In Keith County, NE @ 12:15p Central we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone giving us an extra hr and allowing us to stare at 11:00 for the second time. For those in CT we are now 2hrs behind you.
--We saw millions of gofer holes in the field of NE and even saw many many gofers going in and out….pretty cool…I thought
--The Road in NE SUCK!!!! There are ridges the entire way down I-80 every 5 yards….so you can only imagine how that felt the whole way through NE….I know the cats were probably pissed at us
--For you outdoorsy people….we got to see the Cabela’s World Headquarters in Sydney, NE….don’t worry I took a picture
--The best part of NE was that we got to see Llamas out in a field….that’s right….it was AWESOME….that tells you how BORING NE is!
--NE’s gas prices ranged from $3.74-$3.89
--Wyoming’s gas prices ranged from $3.69-$3.96
--WY had several houses shaped like Tee-Pee’s….Weird
--We finally met the storms in WY @ 2:35p Mt. time….and of course I was driving….started to cry b/c it got real bad and I’m terrified of driving in the rain so we pulled over to the side of the road and switched in the car…it was very interesting and humorous
--The storm only lasted 15 min……and once we hit the storm the temp. Immediately dropped 20 degrees!!!! And there was SNOW!!!
--Once the storm was done we turned a curve in the road and it was like HEAVEN…..I have never seen the Rocky Mts before…….and let me tell you…..if you have not seen them….YOU SHOULD! It really made me realize how amazing our God truly is. WOW!
--We drove passed the Lincoln Monument carved in rock in WY
--While driving in WY we passed 2,000 miles of driving! Only a little over 1,000 to go!!!
--In WY we also reached the Continental Divide w/ and elevation of 7,000….passed through the Red Desert….then the Continental Divide at 6,930
--We finally reached Rock Springs, WY at 6:15p Mt. time

Well…that is about all I have for now. We are absolutely exhausted! We are going to try and get some sleep…we are going be getting up early so that we can FINALLY make it to CALIFORNIA tomorrow! We stopped tomorrow night just outside of San Francisco….so that we can pick up Josh’s car early Friday morning and then make our way to MONTEREY! Good night!

Love and Hugs,
Amanda and Josh