Road Tripping, Part 2: Culture Shock

My mom and I drove south.

Iowa was beautiful, if a bit lonesome, too. Exits called "Hills" and "Lone Tree" stood out to us.

Later we crossed the Missouri River.

Not long after crossing the border into the state, we saw signs like these:

We saw ads for pllaneturine.com (misspelled on purpose) as well as many in-your-face political signs.

We saw references to towns (villages?) called Humansville and Peculiar.

But the best, by far, was this:

And 500 yards behind the Cowboy Church sign was this blue billboard:

Up close:

After two days of driving, we had had a lot of chuckles--some small, some large--over signs such as these.

So when we saw this at a local Taco Bell (back right corner), I just couldn't resist snapping a picture.

Tattoos, trucks, and mountain men.

Welcome home.

(Lest you think I am completely bashing our new area, I'm not. Yes, it is a different world here--but I have also found, in just a few short weeks, a whole lot of positives. For instance, the pace of life is decidedly slower and more deliberate. People open doors for strangers and are patient with children. They are warm and friendly. They care for their neighbors. They don't honk their car horns. There is a surprising amount to do. It is affordable, and there are oodles of opportunities for lessons, activities, and general well-being. All of these activities are generally close to home. Our particular neighborhood is small, full of terrific families, with lots of kids for our kids to play with. And to top it all off, we have a neighborhood pool.)

Road Tripping

On June 30, while I stayed behind in St. Paul to deal with the moving, Brian headed west to Utah with the kids.

They took one scenic stop, at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

The kids with Grandma, who lent a lot of assistance during the journey to Utah:

Other than their twenty-minute hiatus at Rushmore, the group moved westward for twenty-one straight hours. They didn't plan on driving straight through...but the kids were asleep, and they were in the middle-of-nowhere, and so Brian and his mom decided to plow through until their destination.

Along the way, Brian texted me a few pictures, mostly along these lines:

Our little Ikea potty, $3.99, has come in terribly handy over the last year.

Brian and crew had left that morning. My mom and I left twelve hours later, after the house was empty and clean, and we drove to northern Iowa that evening. The next day over breakfast, we decided to take a detour to this place:

The lovely Nauvoo Temple.

My brother and his family were there participating in the Nauvoo Pageant. We decided to surprise them. We were in Nauvoo for just a few short hours--but it was fabulous.

After Nauvoo, it was on to our new locale, where we would meet the moving truck the following morning. And the day after that, I would leave for Utah to join Brian and the kiddos.

The Last Day

On the last day in Minnesota, Brian and his mom loaded up the kids and left the house at 5:45 a.m. to drive to Utah. More on that later.

My mom and I stayed behind to help the movers and clean the house. The temperature, which had been in the sixties the previous week, hit almost 100 degrees on moving day, with 100% humidity. Our poor movers had to unload a house with four flights of stairs (attic--bedroom level--main level--basement--outside). And 1/3 of our belongings were still in boxes in the attic, which was dangerously hot.

By 10 a.m., the living room looked like this:

And my entryway looked like this for hours on end:

My mom and I cleaned and directed and cleaned and directed some more.

But I couldn't leave our house without receiving one final, fitting goodbye gift.

My farewell gift: three more mice, trapped and hidden and decomposing, found as the basement was emptied.

My mom stealthily snapped this picture on my phone, which I didn't discover until weeks later. (She had flipped the trap upside down before taking the picture.)

I saw the picture. I laughed. And I shuddered.

And I wished those little critters a less-than-fond farewell.

St. Paul House

On the last day we lived in our Minnesota house, I finally got around to taking a few pictures--only a few, unfortunately.

The house was built in 1890. While the house has been renovated multiple times since it's beginnings, it still retains some of its old charm--the solid bedroom doors and old-fashioned locks. The windows above the doors. The creaky, sloping wood floors--original in the attic and a coat closet. One of the bedroom light fixtures. The built-in cabinets and closets, and the stained glass (pictured below). Apparently, until a few years ago, a horse hitching post stood alongside the road in front of the house.

The double door entryway/breezeway. Every home in the Twin Cities had one of these--a must in the frigid winter. I loved our little mail drop at the bottom left of the door.

A dark picture, but this window was in the living room above one of our couches. I wish I had taken a picture of the rest of the living room. And the playroom. And the dining room.

Upstairs are four bedrooms. One of those bedrooms was transformed into a closet room. I. Loved. This. Room.

A view of the closet room as you enter. On the left is the door of the closet room's "closet"--part of the former bedroom. The top two drawers under the mirror were lined with velvet and divided for all of those jewels that I am still waiting to obtain.

One of my favorite parts of the house was the bay window of stained glass, with a window seat below, in the dining room.

An up-close of the window.

The kitchen was huge. On the left hand side, not visible here, was a huge center island with bar stools. The back left corner behind this picture had a nook for a table. Directly opposite the range was a large wall of cabinets with built-in microwave. The appliances were falling apart when we moved in, as most of them dated to twenty or more years ago. But it was a well-designed, functional kitchen, and we enjoyed it.

The kitchen had a door to the huge (and rotting) back porch as well as to the backyard and access to the detached garage.

The rest of our backyard had just enough room for our trampoline, which was worth its weight in gold this past year.

Behind the trampoline is the roof of our detached garage. While I was so grateful to have a garage this year, for the first time in our married life, I WON'T miss it being detached. To get to it, we had to go down ten steps, around the corner, and down the sidewalk. Hauling in Costco stuff in the dead of January, with the wind blowing, icy sidewalks, and twins in tow, wasn't exactly an easy task.

All year long, Brian and I would comment to each other on how fortunate we were to have found this neighborhood and house, for many different reasons. We enjoyed our time in this home and will look back fondly on the memories we made there.

Minnesota Lasts

Before we left St. Paul six weeks ago, we had to enjoy a few of our favorites one more time.

We spent a delightful day at the a-MAZ-ing Minnesota Children's Museum. We are already missing this place.

We also took another trip to the fabulous Minnesota Zoo. We have loved our trips to this zoo over the last year. In addition to vast numbers of world animals in remarkable exhibits, this zoo offers a water play area and an incredible treehouse playground. We love it.

Emma had farewell get-togethers with her two best MN friends, Kinsey and Grace. These are two of the nicest girls you'll ever meet.

Clara at the zoo with her pal Scout.

And a special farewell dinner with Clara's close friends Lily and Lauren.