garrisons + life: The Move to Florida

Yes. We moved to the Sunshine State. Which was a big surprise to me because all these years I thought California was the Sunshine State. But I stand corrected. California is the Golden State. Which makes sense. So I've traded gold for sunshine, which in literary terms, could be seen as a synonyms or figurative metaphors. So in my mind, I'm at home.

My friend Jessica lived in Miami a few years ago. When I told her I was moving to Florida she told me, "You'll love it. It's the closest you'll get to California." And she was right! I love it here. We are only 15 minutes from the nearest beach. Scott works on Merritt Island so he drives over the Indian River to get to work. We love our apartment and have a fun view of a lake. It's definitely warm and sunny and we love it. (I literally have suitcases upon trash bags upon duffel bags upon suitcases of winter clothes that I think I may never wear again. And that's ok by me.)

And we are so close to so many fun attractions: SeaWorld (which has rollercoasters and water parks!!!), Disney World, Universal Studios, Gator World (need I say more?), Cruise Ports and of course the beach. Cocoa Beach, which is one of the most famous beaches in the world, is just 25 minutes from us. Everything has just fallen into place and we are having so much fun. We feel so blessed that this is where we moved to. Nebraska would never cut it after seeing this place.

Speaking of Nebraska, let me just detail our cross-country trip for you. We traveled through 11 states. Yikes. I still can't believe we did it. We packed up, cleaned, moved everything pretty much by ourselves, sold my car to a Russian, said goodbye to Margene's, had one last Bachelorette party with Melissa and Mallory, cried and hugged my sister, and that was that. We started the trip with a prayer that we could find large open spots at gas stations and that we would never have to go in reverse. (It was answered for the most part.)

Idaho--Wyoming--Colorado--Kansas--Missouri--Illinois--Indiana--Kentucky--Tennessee--Georgia--Florida.

Since I traveled through these states, I believe I can make appropriate assumptions on their livability.

Idaho: Day 1. Lived there for about 6 years. Good times. BYU-Idaho was a blast. Met my husband. Fell in love. The newlywed years. An outdoorsy place to live.

Wyoming: I love Jackson Hole. Gorgeous, beautiful state. Except for all the darned construction. A good day was wasted stuck in Wyoming traffic. Those are two words I never thought I'd hear together: Wyoming and traffic. And holy steep hills! Those roads were brutal. Keep in mind we were driving a 20 foot Budget Truck while towing our Ford Escape on a dolley. We were heavy, slow and loud. Going up steep hills was torture. I thought my foot would shoot through the floor I was pressing the pedal so hard and we were still only going maybe 35 miles an hr, all the while being honked at and tail-gated by F-150 hillbillies. Oh memories. Oh and ironically, a speeding warning.

Colorado: Stayed the night with the Powells. In the morning they packed us a lunch :) Thank you Powells for your hospitality! We started Day 2. We weren't really in the mountains and I was surprised that it looked like farmland. I could live in Colorado. Green, mountains, fun outdoors feel.

Kansas: I hate you. We literally drove across the entire state. Hours and hours of wheel-jerking wind and white knuckles. Hours and Hours of nothing. Never again.

Missouri: I hate you, too. But not as much as Kansas. Spent the night. Started Day 3. Driving through Kansas City was cool though. The freeway went through the city which was interesting. But about that time, the GPS started going a bit loony and we got a little lost. One hour later, after searching for a way out of the ghetto, we were on our way.

Illinois: I hate you less then Missouri. Still windy. Driving on bridges was fun at times. I definitely started to feel like we were heading to the east coast and fringing upon the dirty south.

Indiana: My favorite!!! Who would have thought? It was all rolling green hills, adorable white farmhouses and towering red barns. So beautiful. Iconic Americana. Loved it.

Kentucky: I don't remember you. Except we did stop and eat lunch at this awesome fried chicken restaurant. It was fun to eat real Southern food. It was called Kentucky Fried Chicken. Those mashed potatoes were amazing.

Tennessee: The scariest road I have ever been on. Beautiful, but scary. Up up up we went on a windy two lane road, flanked by massive green trees and mountains, then down down down a 6% grade. The brakes were buckling and shuddering the whole way. If I took my foot off the brakes for a second we began to fly. Horribly scary. I had a nervous breakdown when we reached the bottom. Sobs. Oh so many sobs. Nashville was a traffic nightmare.

Georgia: The dirty south. That's when things really felt different. We stopped for gas and a group of black motorcyclists pulled up next to us. One of the girls, who was quite intimidating in her black leather and long durag, started talking to me about our tires. I know she meant to be nice, but she didnt sound nice. I wanted to say, "I'm just a frail white girl, be nice to me." She was nice. :) Then I screamed. Not because of the motorcycle-chick. Because Mothra flew onto my shirt. Kim, if you had been there, I think you would have had a heart attack. I did a jig in the gas station parking lot as I screamed and fluttered my hands at the beast. It flew away. Scott was inside getting a sandwich so I didn't have someone to laugh it off with and try to look cool. I'm sure I entertained quite a few motorcyclists. We drove through Atlanta at night. Atlanta seemed like a fun place. It would be cool to go back.

Florida: Home. Crossed the border and got some shut-eye. First thing I noticed: humidity. I felt like I was back in Singapore. Which was actually a kind of cool feeling. I loved Singapore. Day 4. I cant recall really what I thought except that the trees seemed more tropical. We rushed to get to our new home so we could sign the papers before they closed and then meet the elders quorum group that were coming to help us move in. It all worked out. About 6 guys from our new ward came to help us move our things in. I knew I loved our ward from that instant. They were so wonderful to help. Especially since we moved in during the hottest weekend of the whole year. I felt so bad when they told me jokingly. But it wasn't a joke. It is literally the hottest weekend of the year. We were all sweaty and sticky and yucky and thirsty. They were amazing.

So that's the moving story. Long. But needed to be remembered. This was such a huge event in our lives and we were blessed all along the way. Everything fell into place. We talked and listened to Harry Potter and pointed out things along the way. We were, and are, safe and happy. But the journey has just begun!