Road Trip - Day 1

The time arrived all too quickly for us to move. Many wonderful people in our ward came yesterday and helped us load up our moving truck. In the evening, Jeff picked up his parents from the airport. The next morning, after cleaning the apartment, we set off on our new adventure; Jeff's parents drove the moving truck for us and we decided to make the move a family road trip, driving one of our cars. We are very grateful for their help so we could do this cross country adventure.

As a personal and symbolic footnote, the moving truck we rented was licensed in Oklahoma. This was significant because Oklahoma both literally and figuratively was our means to attending school in Washington, D.C.; now, it is our means to moving back to Utah. Oklahoma was a great blessing to our family in many ways.

We first stopped at Monticello and had an enjoyable time.

Aliyah loved having grandpa and grandma; we would drive next to them and they would wave to her. She kept asking, "Where's grandpa and grandma?"

We then parted ways and headed into West Virginia. We did not realize how mountainous the whole state is. It was like the whole state was covered in monticellos. The Allegheny Mountains cover most the State. The West Virginian license plate summarizes it well: "Wild, Wonderful."

Along the way we stopped in White Sulfur Springs for a late lunch.

To avoid the toll road leading to Charleston, we diverted for about fifteen or twenty miles along a winding road. We went up and down the little mountains in heavy rain. This was definitely the scenic route.

We then drove by some beautiful waterfalls--Kanawha Falls--and stopped to take a picture.

After, we arrived in Charleston and pulled up to the Capitol Building to take a break and explore a bit.

West Virginia produces a lot of coal and you can see a boat moving coal along the river that runs right in front of the Capitol.

Lincoln stands in front of the Capitol, looking over the river. We didn't know that West Virginia became a State by proclamation during the Civil War, having split from Virginia because it opposed slavery.

We set off again on our trip, entering Kentucky.

Kentucky was another beautiful Commonwealth. We were surprised at how rocky the mountains were. Also, the topography became less mountainous and more of rolling hills. It rained a bit and the sun set on us. We saw pretty fireflies on the sides of the roads.

We left Kentucky and traveled through the corner of Ohio, passing Cincinnati. We wish that we had taken a picture of the city. It was very unique and beautiful, especially in the late evening. Everything was lit up, but it was just a unique city. Finally, late in the evening, we arrived in Indianapolis, Indiana. The girls did so well for their first day, but, as you can see, Aliyah was pretty exhausted.