Cross Country Adventures - Travel Log

We drove from Provo to Auburn, AL in our Budget truck. It took us four days. Mason drove the whole time because he hates being the passenger in any car, and I was the photographer and navigator extraordinaire.

This is us outside our door after we were done with all our packing and cleaning. It's blurry, but I'm glad we documented it. That little apartment was a great place to call home, and we really liked it there. 

We hit our first snag about 40 minutes in when the road through Spanish Fork Canyon was closed unexpectedly. I guess they had been having problems with mudslides, and since it was scheduled to rain, they didn't want to risk anybody being in the canyon if there was another one. 

SO, we took a detour to Fairview through probably the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. We went up and up and up and up through beautiful mountains full of wildflowers and incredible views. I'm convinced I saw like 3 yaks up there behind a fence. And we saw some deer and some snow!

The road was beautiful, but it added a ton of time onto our route, and we ended up stopping in Green River for the night. We got there and stayed in a nasty room that was wayyy overpriced, but it was better than nothing!

Here's our Travel Log entries from the day:

• Day 1- Friday
• Provo -->Green River via Fairview, Utah
• Total distance: 190 miles
• Mason said, "There's no cruise control!" and we both laughed our heads off
• Tried to go to Burger king in Green River at 9:05 pm but they closed at 9. So we went to Arby's instead, got there at 9:30 pm.
• Checked into Motel 6
• Gross. Made me gag lots.
• Mason fell asleep instantly
• AC was SO LOUD. Sounded like people with velcro rubbing over our door with no particular rhythm, just randomly. 

Here's Day 2- Saturday

• Green River UT -->Topeka, Kansas
• Left Motel 6 at 7am sharp!

• Bri saw a gopher halfway in it's hole.
• We're driving next to the mighty Colorado River

• Mason keeps saying Green River instead of Grand Junction, and vice versa

• We passed a sign that said Frisco and I made up a song with Frisco, crisco, and risk-o in it and Mason thought it was real because "You just sang it with such confidence!"
• We went through some big tunnels

• It's raining outside in Colorado, and our truck is LEAKING WATER on us! Thankfully my purse was stuffed with clean rags, so we used them to catch some of the water, but we both still got really wet.
• We're mad there's not mountains in Denver.
• We stopped about 3:45 to eat Burger King in Burlington, CO and saw cute old men hanging out there.

• Bri is wearing ridiculous clothes and is embarrassed.

• Lots of corn and windmills because we're in Kansas!

• This truck is not a "quiet cab."
• Mom and Dad dropped their truck off at our new house this morning! Also, they got us a motel for tonight! They're so nice!!

• 968.5 MILES IS THE HALFWAY POINT
• Mason almost wet his pants. We stopped in Hays.

• Got to our hotel at 10:45 ish.
• The last hour and a half or so was terrible and we were so tired. So we listed all the countries we could think of in the car. 
• Mom and Dad got us our hotel room and it's AMAZING, the bed is huge and it's SO CLEAN.
• When we got to our hotel, Mason opened his door in the parking lot, heard the cicadas, got scared, and immediately shut the door again. 

Day 3- Sunday

• Topeka, Kansas --> Tupelo, Mississippi 
• We left at 9:51 am.
• We got free breakfast! I tried to make a waffle and the thing broke and made a loud clanging noise and mason took FOREVER to come and save me. He finally came and also a nice black guy came to save me. My waffle was burned and gross.
• We're on a toll road! There's no traffic
• The Elders Quorum President of our new ward texted me about helping us move in. We are grateful. 
• It rained last night. We hope our stuff in the back isn't getting leaked on.
• "We've passed into Hardee's country!" -Mason
• It's green now and there's tons of trees!
• Kansas has made 1 President (Eisenhower), like 5 astronauts, and Bob Dole. And the Chrysler guy. We know because there's big signs about them.
• Missouri looks just like GA.

• We've seen 2 dead armadillos (one was a baby)
• It rained hard and we got REALLY leaked on
• We spent $73 on gas at one gas station
• We saw our first Waffle House- Springville, MO
• We didn't see deer in Kansas or Missouri, but we saw them in Arkansas, Colorado and Utah

• Mason says there's lots of birds in Missouri
• Quality of gas station bathrooms has dropped dramatically since we got to Missouri
• We got to Tennessee and got on a big pretty bridge

• We got to Mississippi!

• We stayed at the Red Roof Inn last night, everything in the room was wet. (floors, sheets, etc.)
• It's VERY humid

Day 4- Monday, 8/12/19

• Tupelo, Missisippi -->Auburn, Alabama!
• We went to Elvis's birthplace!!! It was cool. In Tupelo.

This is the house he was born in and grew up in. It is extremely tiny!

This is the church where he used to stand outside and listen to the music

He shared this outhouse with a bunch of people on his street

• We made it!!!!!

We listened to Sweet Home Alabama when we crossed the line. Oh yeah.

First supper in our new house: Korean Beef

My trip to Ohio, Feb 14-17

I got the opportunity to go to Columbus to visit Beck this February (thanks Ben!) and it was SOOOO much fun! I got to meet and snuggle baby Ezra, and to hang out with Trevor, Lex, and Austin. They all have such different personalities and I really liked getting to know them better and just spend some quality time with them.
I regret to say that I took almost no pictures the entire time! Dah. But here's what I got:

 Mason and I were actually both in the airport together for a while on Feb 14 (Valentines day!) because he was getting flown out to Clemson for an interview weekend. We were on the same flight to Chicago, but didn't get to sit next to each other. But it was really nice to spend some time with my main squeeze on Valentine's Day.

 Ezra! He is so cute! And they call him Ezzie sometimes and I love that!

 Lex, showing me a front flip in the bounce house that is INSIDE THEIR HOUSE!!!

 Lex showing me her guitar she made at her friend's birthday party. Also she got that whistle that's shaped like an airplane and she kept blowing it after like every sentence she said and we cracked up over that.

 Trevor reading me Encyclopedia Brown mysteries that we tried to solve together. 

This is the candle they had in their house that smelled SOOOO GOOD.

And yeah, that's all the pictures I have. I know, I know, those aren't even great pictures and there's none of Austin or Beck and Ben. But I did spend time with them too! I pushed Austin in the swing for forever, and was very impressed that he wasn't freezing to death the entire time. And I went on a walk with Lex and Austin once while Trevor was in school and it was so fun. Austin kept looking for the basketball hoops and Lex was carrying around like 45 pinecones the entire time. It was so fun. 

Then when Saturday came around Ben was home the whole day so we had fun playing Just Dance on their Wii and I pushed Austin in the swing while he played soccer with Lex and Trevor. 

Honestly though, I think the main highlight of the trip was getting to just sit and talk to Beck. I could talk to her for like 500 hours straight and not get sick of it. I also liked it when we made cookies one afternoon and she thought I was industrious for doing it, because apparently she only makes cookies in the morning! She is so funny and optimistic, and I really enjoyed the chance I got to spend some time with her, one on one. I haven't gotten a ton of opportunities to do that with her! 

In summary, I wish I had taken more pictures, but it was seriously so great to get to see the Griffioens. Each one of them is special and great, and I love them with all my heart. I hope I get to see them again soon!