Today marks the beginning of my first full month of California dreaming living.
I arrived in to town a week ago yesterday. I don’t even have the words to describe how beautiful, incredible, amazing this place is.
Let’s start with the drive down from Washington, shall we?
Our start was a bit of whirlwind. So we found out that we got the apartment on a Tuesday (the 21st of August) evening. The next day I called to see what steps we need to take to so we can get moved in on either Saturday of Sunday, as my family and I planned to leave early Friday morning.
Welp, the realty office was not able to assign keys, go through paperwork, and do their formal walk-through of the apartment on the weekends, so that left us with two choices – a Friday afternoon appointment OR a Monday afternoon date. Seeing that my family had to leave town early Tuesday, Monday was out of the question; there would just be no time to get unloaded, set up, or more importantly, explore the town! So Friday afternoon it was!
Thankfully, during my conversation with the realtor, my father was out picking up the U-Haul trailer, so at least we had something to pack all my belongings in to, and that’s exactly what we did. He got home, and we began loading up. Three hours later my Dad and I hit the road in his truck. My mom planned to bring up the rear in my Subaru the next day after she got off work.
Whirlwind, no? Instead of leaving Friday, we left Wednesday afternoon – a day and a half ahead of schedule. I am usually a planner/scheduler that likes things to run according to plan, so I really must pat myself on the back for my flexibility during that time – no freak outs, just a get.it.done attitude.
SO, after that whole fiasco, we hit the peaceful road. I won’t bombard you with photos of the drive down (I took over 300), but here are a few of my favorites. If you want to see more, check out my facebook albums.
Saying goodbye to the beautiful Columbia River.
Heading in to Oregon.
Gorgeous sunset over the farmlands.
Mt. Hood.
And that was a wrap for Day 1.
Moving on to Day 2…
Beautiful view of the Three Sisters.
And the breathtaking Mt. Shasta.
I mean, seriously, it’s huge!
BTW, Welcome to California! There was no big California sign when we entered, just an agriculture check to make sure we weren’t smuggling any produce into the state. {They allowed our big bag of Costco carrots, thankfully.} You can see why they have this border check, as the rest of road down to SLO [San Luis Obispo] was lined with farmlands, orchards, and vineyards.
The California Aqueduct.
About half hour away from SLO is WINE COUNTRY! I think Paso Robles and I are going to become good friends.
We made it!
That big M stands for Mustangs, the Cal Poly mascot Madonna. {Yeah, was totally wrong on that.}
Dad and I checked out the campus, Friday morning before hitting up the real estate office to pick up keys.
Yay! Found the Nutrition building!
After our quick tour of campus, we picked up our keys and the rest is history!
Welcome Home!
{Pictures from my lovely roomate, Dana!}
I think I’m going to like it here!
