We have officially driven across the US!

After two weeks of driving, flying, packing and unpacking we have FINALLY made it to our new home for the next three months...San Jose, CA! We started our adventure on Feb 6th. We left San Antonio after I got off work that morning. I got to sleep in the car for about 4 hours while Patrick started the driving. Then after I woke up and got some coffee in me we took turns driving. And we had to stop very often to let the puppies out since they were stuck in their crates for so long. After driving for 14 hours we stopped in Phoenix, AZ for the night. Note to self don't stay in an EcnoLodge. They have the most uncomfortable beds ever! We got up the next morning and drove about 6 more hours to Los Angeles, CA and stayed there for three nights. I am so glad we took this break because I don't think that I could have stayed in the car for another minute! I was sad though because the puppies had to stay at Petsmart because we stayed in this really nice boutique hotel in Beverly Hills that didn't allow puppies :( It was so hard to leave the puppies there. I felt like I hadn't seen them at all with all the driving we were doing. But the hotel we stayed at was really nice and the bed was defiantly better than the bed at the EconoLodge. The drive to LA was beautiful...but we were ready to be out of the car! We actually stayed in LA for those few days so we could visit Trey and see him perform at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA at downtown Disney. The day we got to LA was the day of his concert. So after we got there, Trey picked us up and we headed to the HOB. After Trey got all checked in we ate at the Rainforest Cafe, which was pretty gross after I think about it. I thought it was really good at the time because we hadn't eaten all day, but in reality what we got gross. After the yucky food we got to see an awesome performance by Trey and his band Qwiksand. You should check them out if you get the chance! Trey has an amazing voice. We did some sightseeing in LA for two days and didn't see one star...AND it was Grammy weekend. I was so disappointed :( The hotel we were in was one block away from Rodeo drive. We walked that a couple of times and still no stars. Oh well maybe on our next visit there. I did find two wonderful things in LA that we have here in San Jose that I am sooo excited about. The first thing would be Pinkberry. The best yogurt place...the plain yogurt really tastes like plain yogurt not like the yogurt you normally get at places. And they have toppings like Captain Crunch! The second love I found there was Peet's Coffee. THE BEST... I love it and was super excited about finding one in San Jose. Trey actually introduced us to Peet's as one of his places of employment. So we headed to San Jose on the 10th. This was another 6 hour trip. When we got to San Jose we dropped the puppies off at Petsmart (again...and I was sooo sad), the car was parked in a storage garage (with ALL of our belongings inside) and we stayed in a hotel that night to get up the next morning to fly home to Durham. Yes, that's right...we drove from TX to CA to end up in NC at the end of the day. I think we are a little crazy! But I would like to say a couple of things about our stay in San Jose. We stayed downtown, which was beautiful also. We ate sushi that night and on the way back to the hotel is when I discovered there are Peet's Coffees in San Jose. Needless to say I just had to get one. My favorite is the blended dark chocolate caramel! YUM I want one now! We had to stay in another boutique hotel because Patrick is obsessed. Which I am glad of for this particular stay because they had "Raid the Pantry" starting at 10pm. A heffer's dream. So at 10pm we ran downstairs to find any sandwich fixin' you could think of and COOKIES and milk and tea and coffee! So we raided the pantry! I defiantly recommend this hotel to anyone visiting downtown San Jose (Hotel de Anza). So the next morning we woke up at 9 to catch our noon flight heading home. The flight to Houston was smooth but I can't say the same for our flight into Raleigh. Raleigh had just had a wind storm and was having wind gusts up to 27 knots. I don't know exactly how fast that is but believe me when I say it was a very bumpy ride landing into Raleigh. We stayed at the house in Durham that night. After flying for about 7 hours on the 11th, needless to say we slept til 2:30pm the next day, only to get up and drive 4 more hours to visit Patrick's family. Between all the driving, time changes and flying it has taken us until now (Feb. 19th) to catch up on our sleep! We tried all week in NC to catch up but it never seemed to happen. We had a wonderful week in the NC mountains even though I was sick for most of it. I think being away from the puppies made me sick to my stomach...really. The first night we got there we met up with Patrick's dad and had Mexican. For Valentine's day we had dinner with Patrick's mom and stepdad at Bonefish. It was so yummy...we don't have those out west. We got to visit with Nanny Greene! We even got to see snow while we were there! It was awesome getting to visit family and getting to eat some of Mamaw's homemade dumplings...YUM! Our last night there Mamaw made dumplings, biscuits, dressing, yams and homemade coconut cream pie. By far the best pie (or meal) that I have ever had. I'm sure Patrick would not mind if I spent a week there learning her cooking tricks and recipes. If I lived next door to her I would not be able to fit through a doorway. After spending a week there we went back to Durham for the night on the 17th. We cleaned a little around the house, went to bed early and woke up at 3 am to catch a 6 am flight back to San Jose. I was sooo excited to get back to my puppies. I missed them sooooooo much. I think they missed us too ;) After getting the puppies and the car we found our new apartment and got everything in and mostly put away. It was so relaxing to finally get back to our bed. Even though it is really a new bed we have a memory foam (which I also recommend getting) which sleeps like nothing else. Patrick told me this morning that I did not move all night. I believe him because I have felt great all day! It is nice to finally be settled down again...even though it is only for a few months.