We made it!

Fun Canadianism of the day....they call tennis shoes "runners".

We've been in Vancouver for 3 days now and things are going pretty well.  Other than missing our friends, family, the comforts of our "home" and some minor culture shock, we're doing fairly well.  

While here, we've been staying with a wonderful couple named James and Anna.  They have been wonderful hosts and have been very kind to us since we've been here.  They are a super fun couple and we've really enjoyed getting to know them!

We found a place to live!  Once I decorate it and make it more of a home, I'll post some pictures.  It's a one bedroom basement suite in a GREAT part of town.  It is partially furnished which is great! We can walk to the grocery store, some produce stands, lots of shops and even to the beach (don't get too excited, it's no Wrightsville Beach or even a Carolina Beach, but it's still nice to see some water and sand)  Our landlady is originally from Malaysia and is super sweet! She gave us several maps of the area with highlighted routes to IKEA, Walmart, and some other great places.  She even invited us out for dinner this coming Saturday with her and a former tenant of hers who was also a student at Regent.  We are eating at a dim sum type restaurant and chicken feet was mentioned in the conversation, so we'll let you know how that adventure goes...

Please feel free to send Matt or I an email or FB message!  We'd love to here how all of y'all are doing back home!!  We also have skype too! So if anyone wants to skype with us let us know!

Yellowstone

We had such a great time in Yellowstone over the past few days.  We saw sooo many beautiful things! (and even a few animals, no Grizzlies thankfully!)  We also got to see our friend Liz, one of Matt's former IVers who works there.  She took us on a short hike, showed us the Grand Parasmatic Springs and some other fun sites.  Even though we saw some great things in Yellowstone, it was even more great to see a familiar face so far from home! (Thanks again Liz!)

Enjoy the pictures!  We'll post more when we get some more time....

Don't worry mom...we were in our car stuck in a "Buffalo traffic jam" when we took this picture.

South Dakota

Hello friends and family!  Just a quick update on our trip...

South Dakota is a beautiful place with lots of unique things to see!  We've driven through the Badlands, saw fields and fields of sunflowers, visited Mount Rushmore and viewed the nightly lighting ceremony which was pretty fantastic. 

Tomorrow we leave for Yellowstone!  Say some prayers as we travel! Also say a few prayers of encouragement for us.  Honestly we've been a little discouraged along the way.  Our car got pounded by hail (it matches our hammered silverware, thankfully we have insurance to cover the damage), our house still doesn't have a renter (1st renter left after a few days...see previous post, other possible one had to have emergency surgery and will no longer be in school so she never even moved in) and just the entire process of moving, leaving behind friends and family to go outside our comfort zones is starting to become more real....thanks and we appreciate it!

 Here are a few pics of the Badlands, the sunflowers and Rushmore.  Enjoy!

St. Louis to the Land of Corn

Matt and I had such a nice drive from STL to Kansas City!

Then....at the Welcome Center, we found out that a big part of I-29 was closed due to flooding and that we'd have to take an alternate route through Kansas and Nebraska to get to Omaha. 

Hint for future travelers:  STOP at welcome centers and talk to people.  It can be very helpful!

 Minor flooding in along the Missouri River (I can't imagine what the closed part looked like)

Corn

And that's all we saw in Nebraska for 5+ hours!

Kentucky to St. Louis

Metropolis, KY

St. Louis

We had a wonderful time in St. Louis with the even more wonderful Potter Family!  Thanks for the yummy meals and the hospitality!

Nashville, Tennessee

Look who we found wondering the highways of Tennessee

(Liz's bro being goofy)



Cat, our wonderful Nashville host and Liz

Opryland Hotel

From King, NC to Virginia

Itinerary

A.  King, NC

B.  Nashville, TN

C.  St. Louis, MO

D.  Omaha, NE

E.  Mt. Rushmore/Black Hills, SD

D.  Yellowstone National Park, MT

E.  Spokane, WA

F.  Bellingham, WA

G.  Vancouver, BC Canada

Goodbye Wilmington

Thanks to Shelley & Anthony for the party,

to the Bartons for hosting it,

to Anna for the wonderful pictures,

and to everyone else for coming!

We'll miss y'all greatly!!