And finally, New Hampster*!

*My buddy, Max, has zero problem pronouncing Jamie & Hudson, but New Hampshire and Leslie totally throw him for a loop. Instead, we are New Hampster and Wessawee! And I love it.

We did it!! 

3000+ miles across the country in this big yellow truck.

View of the back of our building.

View from the living room & back door.

It's been what the locals call an "unseasonably warm" with a record 28 days over 95 degrees. Because our new home doesn't come with air conditioning, I'm forced to believe this is an unusual occurrence. Every attempt has been made to survive the first extraordinarily warm weeks: sleeping downstairs, getting a powerful fan, drinking gallons of iced coffee, hitting up the movie theater mid-day, and taking cold showers (me). Our unpacking has been frustratingly slow because I haven't wanted to lift a finger, let alone move things out of boxes. Little by little, it's getting done and we're settling in nicely!

In the meantime, it's been fun to explore our new 'hood. 

The New Hampshire version of "shopping".

only stores east of the mississippi

Loads of farmers markets, but the stands are so super small!

Baskets of 20 tomatoes, 8 stalks of broccoli, etc.

Small-scale farming....weird.

Delicious, crusty bread (note: 8 loaves).

Forget learning how to knit.

Can't I just wrap one of these around my neck?

We discovered some great wood-fired pizza.

Found our local post office and held mail.

And some days we just sit and stare at how large the sky seems here.

These two have been LOVING all the sunshine

All of my target and old navy clothes are madly coming in handy as I haven't lived in weather above 65 degrees in 5 years. San Francisco hasn't prepared me for this many days in a row of sundresses and tank tops! It's been borderline spectacular (aside from the being-sweaty-all-the-time thing).

Cross Country Journey (part 5).

A big, huge thanks to Katherine for housing the three of us for so many days, including an impromptu extra day (y'all know I have a hard time leaving Chicago).  We had a terrific time with you: long chats, yummy meals, STARBUCKS, and even a blind group date (!). Hopefully, you'll get a chance to come up here sometime soon.

Hudson loved the chance to stretch his short legs for a few days in Chicago and take a break from the trembling vibrations of a diesel truck. We took him down the Wiggley Field (dogpark) to run around, take a short dip (he's not a fan of the ole H20), and he even attempted to befriend Katherine's cat every.single.day. 

Hudson trying so hard to be friends with Otis

But as much fun as we were having and as heartbroken as it made me, we couldn't stay in Chicago forever....eventually (and reluctantly, on my part) we headed back on the road. A third of the country left to go until we got to our new home...Jamie was eager to get this thing over with.

yay. the truck. again. yay.

And what did we see on this leg of our journey, you may be asking yourself?

the open road.

small homes.

large homes.

factories.

and corn.

lots and lots of corn.

as far as a dog's eye could see.

Umpteenth night on the road: Buffalo, New York.
for the record, we typically made hotel reservations the night prior to our stay. partially to create a destination goal, partially to ensure we were getting a good deal, and partially to stay away from creepy locations.
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Btw, did anyone catch the significance of the "large home"?
Here's another shot:

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It's alpha phi, you guys!

Syracuse, NY....aka the first chapter.

• In 1886 Alpha Phi became the first women's fraternity in America to build and occupy its own chapter house.
• In 1902, Alpha Phi called the inter-sorority meeting that resulted in the formation of the association now known as the National Panhellenic Conference. This was the first intergroup organization on college campuses.
• The Greek letter Phi is pronounced "Fee". It is a common misconception that this pronunciation is because Phi follows the vowel Alpha. However, the pronunciation of Phi as "Fee" rather than "Fi" actually results from the fact that the organization adopted the Greek rather than anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation of the letter because it sounded more feminine.

My two favorite "Notable Phis":

Alice Waters (Gamma Beta - UC Santa Barbara)

Kimberly Williams (Beta - Northwestern) -  (uh...FATHER OF THE BRIDE!)

Cross Country Journey (part 4 + meeting piper).

lots of water towers, but this one was my fave...smiley.

stopped by a mall in iowa

(where trish used to live!)

we cruised over a major waterway

it was HUGE!

I hardly remember this part of our trip because we were racing the clock to try to beat Devon getting discharged from the hospital. She had Piper and Patrick all ready to get home for the first time as a family and I was hoping to catch them at the hospital before they left (to give them private family time at home). It was a super stormy day and Jamie did such a terrific job of keeping our truck on the road....I think we were listening to Sweetness At The Bottom of the Pie (hilarious read). 

But all the while, I was thinking of how many life events I've been able to go through with Devs and how lucky I was to be able to meet her first born child within the day. We've been friends since the 7th grade and I was going to meet her baby so soon?? I couldn't stop grinning and kept our rest stops super short this day.

Eleven years ago...

omg, look at my crazzzy acrylics. i must have thought they were so hot.

We finally got to Chicago with a gorgeous rainbow floating over the city. It was a huge arc across the entire sky and I couldn't get a picture because we were busy trying to exchange our moving truck for a rental car! By the way, fun moving tip....when renting from a nationwide trucking company and wanting to safely long-term park, you can leave it with them on their official lots. It worked out great for us to leave it at the O'hare lot (locked at night), rent a car from the airport, and get around Chicago in our own ride (public transportation with a dog can be a little tricky). 

Once we got into town, I abandoned Jamie at Katherine's, and raced over to the Larkins for a quick visit, to hold Piper for the first time, cry, and sit with my friend....a new mom. It kinda blew my mind. Patrick escaped for a quick nap while we girlie-chatted in the living room with the baby. She was so gracious to let me come over that first night.

The next morning:

Me = so proud.

Piper = grinning as best she could. (i think her tongue was out!)

Devon = not looking like she got discharged the night before. pretty.

Dev wanted to take a picture kissing Piper.

I joined in on the fun.

There have been a few times in our lives together that folks have thought us an actual couple. The few that stand out in my mind:

1. Showing up for evening swing dance lessons in northern orange county one summer while we were home from college.
2. Mass pre-summer emails sent out to future camp co-workers were signed off as "devon and leslie". Led to many a confused reaction when we tried to explain our non-couple status upon arrival.
3. We moved into a big, yellow house in Sacramento and sent out "New Address" postcards. Our high school english teachers returned it with a HUGE house plant and a super sweet "congratulations on your new home together" card. We hypothesized the card must have led them to believe we finally pulled the trigger and purchased a home as a couple. 
4. And most recently, the photo above. 

It's like piper is OUR baby, devon!!

The joys of cross-country driving with a dog.

PRIVACY.

heh, heh. he can't find it. 

Maybe he needs some help searching for it.

Ooh! Squirrel!

~for the record, jamie came back empty-handed. but only after a old nebraskan man (in a truck, obviously) watched the whole thing go down and came over to tell us to just leave "that bizness right there. the mower'll get it."

Cross Country Journey (part 3).

Quite frankly, the larger-than-life and scarier-than-poop Native American character should have been reason enough to retreat to our safe haven of yellow truck, but it was truly the swarm of invisible, but mean bugs that has us RUNNING away from Buffalo Bill’s. And when I say running, I’d like to add that we were FULL ON SPRINTING to get away from the ankle biting meanies (whyyy do bugs exist??). They even followed us INTO the car and we spent a good amount of time trying to convince them to leave us be. Luckily, by the time we arrived at the Cornhuskers stadium (I’m sure it has another “real” name), we were bug-free and able to enjoy this pit stop. 

We came across this unassuming gate and entered...

I thought this was going to be the best view we would get:

And then, around a corner, we came across this view:

As uninterested as I can act about sports and any sporting event, this was truly impressive.

Fun Nebraska Cornhusker stadium facts:

• Winningest college football program over the last 50 years.
• The stadium holds an ongoing NCAA-record 304 consecutive sellout streak.
• Construction was completed in just over 90 working days, back in 1923. With updates, it now seats 81,067.
• When full, Memorial Stadium holds more people than any Nebraska city except Omaha and Lincoln

Is this where they play the basketball?

clearly someone was reluctant to get back in the truck.

Fourth night: Omaha, Nebraska

Unfortunately, no steaks consumed this night. It was pb+j in the hotel room with as early a bedtime as possible. We were hot, bug bite ridden, and although I did nothing but entertain Jamie while he drove, I was exhausted. Next stop...CHICAGO!!

Cross Country Journey (part 2).

Back to Third Night: Wyoming

We arrived in Cheyenne just as the sun was setting, ready to grab a big meal and a hot shower. Wyoming was a pleasant surprise; gorgeous views, nice people, very clean streets. Unfortunately, we were wiped and so many of the town streets were blocked off in anticipation of Frontier Days (world's largest rodeo) coming in the next day. So after a quick drive around town, we headed straight to our hotel room. Hudson had fared well so far, enjoying his makeshift dog seat, and realizing each time he hopped back into that yellow truck, he ought to not plan on getting out for several hours. Every time we got out of the truck for the night, you could physically witness his huge sigh of relief.

The Pie Lady in Cheyenne where the owner opened the kitchen back up to get us some dinner.
Phew.

I talked to devon's dad for awhile, we scarfed down some dinner and pie, and we eventually passed out. Hudson was spent and we snoozed hard in anticipation of the next day's big drive out of Wyoming and into Nebraska.

This is about where the corn started: Nebraska.

note, it didn't end until...well, it never really did.

And things started to get a little weird:

It was so humid here, my fingernails were perspiring.

This place was TOTALLY NORMAL.

See? LARGE indian....totally normal.
Whaaaaa?


Hudson made some interesting friends:

Buffalo.

Pony?

Ahhhh...a dog. 
Much more his style.


Fourth Night: Omaha, Nebraska