The movers are scheduled, the purging has commenced and the ‘to do’ lists are growing daily–but we are just about ready to move across country!
Although my husband has been flying around the country the last eleven weeks, I am just getting started booking my flights and figuring out our plans for transporting our household to Seattle.
Now that things are getting booked it’s making everything seem very real, and it’s exciting to have some timeframes and deadlines to work around.
In addition to figuring out all the logistics of packing, one of the things we had to decide was how we were going to get our cat to the West Coast. After reading a bunch of blogs and asking a bunch of friends, we have decided he will make the trip via plane. My husband and I will drive a small van out with items the movers will not take, along with some imperatives we will need during our stay in temporary housing. Then I will make a ridiculous 12-hour roundtrip home to pick him up, give the house one last look before we close and then return to Seattle.
(It will be exhausting and I can already tell this is going to be one of those events where I’m part-way through it kicking myself and wondering WHY I ever thought this was a good idea. I will try to remind myself it’s all for our darling pet!)
Despite all the opportunity for anxiety and stress, I’m trying to focus on how amazing it will be once we’re out there and I get to see my husband more than two days a week. And we get to put together a new home. And we get to explore a whole new part of the country.
And, even before those things, I’m just beginning to focus on the fact that we get to have a mini adventure making our way to our final destination! My husband doesn’t really have vacation time so we are going to have to travel quickly and see as much as possible with him working from the passenger seat and hotel rooms. I love driving so I know I will be in my element–I need to start putting together playlists for the different segments of our journey!
Speaking of the journey, it’s beginning to look a little something like this:
- Day 1: Cleveland, OH, to Madison, WI
- Day 2: Madison, WI, to Sundance, WY via Badlands
- Day 3: Sundance, WY, to Great Falls, MT via Devil’s Tower
- Day 4: Great Falls, MT, to Kalispell, MT via Glacier National Park
- Day 5: Kalispell, MT, to Spokane, WA
- Day 6: Spokane, WA, to Mt. Rainier National Park
- Day 7: Mt. Rainier National Park to Seattle, WA
We are going to try to buzz through the first through days so we can spend a little more time in the places I’ve never been–Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and eastern Washington. I can’t wait!
Have you been to any of these places? Have suggestions for where we should stay/what we should do? We don’t really want to book anything in advance–we would rather leave the itinerary flexible so if we have some time to enjoy things, we can. Your recommendations are welcome!
Heather's Compass 
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