The Move Day 1: Dec. 30, 2008

December 30, 2008 - Day 1: Leaving Ohio
or “why my New Year’s resolution is to have less stuff in my life.”

I owe my mother and my mother-in-law the world. Without their help we never would have made it out of the apartment. My mom stayed for a few days around Christmas and helped pack, and Jim’s mom spent a couple days packing and cleaning (and cleaning!) with us. No exaggeration – we couldn't’t have done it without you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We underestimated the time it would take us to pack out and clean the apartment, and didn’t end up starting our dive to Chicago until about 4pm. The cats (poor things!) were less than amused about being stuck in their cages, and they cried most of the time. We elected not to drug them for the car portion of the journey so that they wouldn’t be drugged for three days straight. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Our journey to Chicago was fine, until we actually got to Chicago, at which point we were overwhelmed with construction, pothole-filling and some random traffic issues (at 9-10-11pm at night!). With all the traffic problems we didn't end up getting into our hotel until about 11pm. It turned a 5.5 hour trip into an 8 hour trip. Ugh! Not what we needed right before this huge travel journey.

Here’s a picture of the sunset as we were leaving Ohio:

From The Move

And here is a picture of my cat Jasmine taking in the dramatically different view from our hotel room in Chicago:

From The Move

We stayed at the Hotel Sofitel in Rosemont (right by the airport) - and we were really impressed. The beds are comfortable and the sheets are nice. If you need to stay overnight before heading out on a flight out of Chicago, I highly recommend the Hotel Sofitel.

We did our best to get some sleep that night, but I couldn't sleep much - too worried about the next couple days.

The Lights Before Christmas

I love the Toledo Zoo - it is one of my favorite things about living in Northwest Ohio. The Toledo Zoo is one of the top ranked zoos in the country - and it does deserve that distinction. Every year the zoo holds "The Lights Before Christmas" - when they put up over 1 million lights all throughout the zoo property. I've been every year since I have been here, and it is a tradition I am sure to miss.

Jim and I decided to go to the zoo on Thursday, figuring that the ice storm wouldn't come through until later, and arrived at the zoo to discover we had the place practically to ourselves (we arrived at about 3:30). We had a chance to enjoy much of the zoo without actually seeing another person - it was amazing. We could actually hear the noises the animals were making (particularly the tiger, which "wuffed" at us as she/he walked past). Even as it started getting dark there weren't near the number of people there that the lights normally gather - good for us, if not so good for the zoo. It was so nice to walk around and take pictures, and not feel overcrowded.

Here are some pictures I took this past Thursday with my point-and-shoot Canon. I think they turned out pretty good, especially considering that I didn't have a tripod with me. Here's a link to the album:

Lights Before Christmas 2008

And a few of my favorite pictures:

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

Less than 40 days before we move

With less than 40 days to go, the reality of our move to Oahu is starting to sink in. Not that we haven’t been working and planning for and rejoicing in our upcoming move, because we certainly have (and I think people are tired of hearing us talk about it). It is just hard to wrap my mind around the idea that 38 days from now I am going to be on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean – an island that will be “home,” at least for a little while. The prospect of our move is both exciting and terrifying, and a little sad. It’s exciting because – well, it’s Hawaii! It’s terrifying because of just how far away Hawaii is from everything, and because I am going to be unemployed for who knows how long. And it’s a little sad because I am going to miss my friends and family. There will be no car trips to go visit friends and family; any trip home is going to be a major event (and majorly expensive, too).

Any time I get bummed out about leaving Ohio, all I have to do is think about this:

From Ohio

From Ohio

Snow! And it was this dark at 5pm, as I was leaving work. Nope - I won't miss the snow at all!