Hello! Long time no blog. Big life update is that I recently moved from Florida to Washington state! The big diagonal, as I've been thinking about it. I've been trying to get out of Florida since before I started my master's degree in 2023, so this has been a long time coming. It's for the best that this has been happening now though, as it's the best possible situation for me to be heading into. Won't have rent to pay and have a job lined up that's going to be plenty to pay my bills. So, to Washington we go!

Ground work

This move has been months in the making. I knew since about October of '25 that I would have a place in Washington if I chose to accept it, so I've been planning since that point. I started applying to jobs in earnest around November, but I didn't get any call backs until April. I believe this was in large part because April was when I would be moving and many jobs wanted to be sure that I would be in Washington when they wanted the position filled.

I also had to figure out moving my belongings. Having lived in the same city for 7 years, I had accumulated a lot of larger furniture that I had to figure out what to do with. After weighing my options, I decided to move all that I could fit in a minivan. Renting it would be half the price of a uhaul and would be much more comfortable and easier to maneuver. I ended up selling some of my furniture and just leaving the rest of it behind for my roommates to do with what they pleased (this was discussed with them beforehand of course). Luckily a Chrysler Pacifica was just the right size to hold my most precious items while still having room to see out of the rear view window.

Speaking of precious cargo, I had to decide how I was going to take my cat, Boris, with me. Boris is about 9 months old at the time of moving and cute as a button, but he still has kitten energy and does NOT do well in cars. The route looks like a 5 to 6 day trip after the math is done on the distance, and I do not think either of us would survive it. So I make the choice to fly him to Washington the week before my move. It was tough on my wallet due to the $150 pet fee through Delta, but can you really put a price on a road trip without caterwauling. The fee and flight there shook out to be about the price I would've paid in pet fees at hotels. And flying him left me without the stress of finding hotels that would lodge cats. It also gave me the chance to move some things ahead of time to free up space in the van, mostly clothes (spacesaver vacuum seal bags were so helpful).

I had so many anxieties leading up to the flight. What if they decide that my measured and certified carrier actually isn't up to code and I can't fly with Boris? (Didn't happen.) What if he whines the whole time and bothers the people around me? (Didn't happen, but I had given him gabapentin before the flight as well as during. I also had a stroke of luck and was sitting next to two people who would be making the same flight with their two cats in the near future. Crazy!) What if he ends up peeing or pooping midflight? (Didn't happen. Boris held it, even when I offered him a travel litter box before and after the flight.) What if he breaks out of his carrier? (Didn't happen. Although I let him poke his head out a few times for pets.) All-in-all, I had prepared for the worst and it ended up not being a very eventful flight. Which is really all anyone can ask for.

The last step was planning the drive. The two options were through the Midwest in the north or through the south and up the West Coast. No offense to the Texans out there, but driving through the glut of Texas has always sounded terrifying to me. Not to mention the drive would take an extra day. So I went with the 3000 mile route through the Midwest and started plotting what stops I wanted to see.

Given the length of the drive, I enlisted the help of my sister to drive with me. I also offered to cover the cost of any hotel stays (not a hard loss given that I would've been paying it anyway if I drove alone), and she agreed, excited for an excuse to take a road trip. Given that I had a AAA membership through work, I used their TripTik travel planner to determine where my sister and I would be stopping overnight during the trip. We chose these stops based on spending between 8-10 hours driving on the road each day as well as on the things we wanted to stop and see along the way. There are other free trip calculators online that will also map out a trip in this way, and I highly recommend it.

Day 1 -- Gainesville, Florida to Murfreesboro, TN

I didn't plan for a very long drive on the first day. I knew I would be picking the minivan rental up at 9AM and would need time to pack. I also knew that my sister would definitely not be arriving first thing in the morning. Neither of us had any stops that we wanted to make on this leg of the trip either. We've both lived on the east coast for our entire lives and were well aware of the things to see in this area, so it was an easy skip.

On this day the worst part of the drive was the two and a half hours of torrential rain just past Atlanta. Thankfully we got through Atlanta before it started or it probably would've added an hour to our drive. The rain also stopped off as the Appalachian mountain range started, so we got to see some mountains before the sun set.

Stay:

Red Roof Inn Murfreesboro

Day 2 -- Murfreesboro, TN to Lee's Summit, MO

This day started in the lovely mountains of Appalachia, which my sister and I got to know well during our high school years. And then the mountains slowed down to rolling hills as we made our way through Kentucky and Illinois and into Missouri. We stopped a bit south of Kansas City, MO so that we got most of the way across the state in one day.

Stops:

The City Museum in St Louis

We only planned for one stop at the City Museum in St Louis, and it was a great choice. We stopped for probably about 90 minutes and got a good overview of what was going on in the inside portion, but we could've easily stopped for a whole day. As it was, it was a great experience. My favorite area of the museum was the cave area, especially when the pipe organ was playing. Unfortunately, after we left, we got a meal so bad that it hurt our feelings. But a dirty Dr Pepper made me feel a lot better about it.

View looking up from the ground floor of the Cave Area at the City Museum

Stay:

Best Western Plus Lee's Summit Hotel and Suites

This hotel had the best breakfast out of all of our stays by far. They had powdered eggs, bacon, even biscuits and gravy. All of our other stays boasted the same bagel and cereal bars.

Day 3 -- Lee's Summit, MO to Wall, SD

First thing in the morning on this day I broke my glasses. While I was cleaning one of the lenses I managed to knock out the screw holding the frame together. Thankfully I have a weird prescription so the lens that popped out as a result of losing the screw isn't actually prescription. But I still had to manage the rest of this trip knowing that I looked very silly.

Most of the drive this day was very dull. Iowa doesn't have much going on and it was very brown when we went through it. And South Dakota was extremely samey until we got past the plains and into the hillier part. Unfortunately, the sun was going down as we got into the badlands part of South Dakota, so we weren't able to enjoy it as much on the day but we would backtrack into it some later.

Stops:

Buffalo Ridge Ghost Town, South Dakota

This was a spur of the moment stop when my sister knew that I had to use the bathroom and she saw a sign for it on the horizon. It was definitely interesting. The guy who owned it also owned some free ranging bison, and being out and seeing them was a highlight. The animatronics and rundown ghost town were also cool to see, even though they've definitely seen better days. It was a good excuse to get out of the car for a bit and stretch our legs on the plains.

A billboard sign reading Welcome to Buffalo Ridge South Dakota with a few bison in the foreground A sign reading Bird Cage The beautiful lady who owned this bird cage did not have a radio, a record player or a telephone. But, she did have her god, her family, her cat and her canary. Many pioneer women kept a canary while living on the prairie. This bird gave beauty, color and song to help ease the harsh living conitions. There were very few birds on the prairie, which helped to create an agony of silence. Dignity of Earth and Sky, South Dakota

While this stop was planned, it wasn't a super long one because it's one cool statue at a rest stop. But it was nice to see it because I've wanted to since around 2016-2017 when I first heard about it.

Stay:

America's Best Value Inn Wall

This hotel was cute. The pillows were amazingly firm and dense. While we stopped here because it was a good distance from where we started, it would be nice to have more time to see what Wall Drug was all about in the morning.

Day 4 -- Wall, SD to Jackson Hole, WY

This was the day we stopped for the most sights. About half of these were planned, but they were all pretty good. We needed the excitement after how boring day 3 had been. On this day we would also be driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota and start into the Rockies. We also would go through the Grand Tetons towards the end of the drive day, and driving through there at night was probably the scariest part of the whole drive for me. There were deer all over the place and I kept worrying about hitting one or taking the curves or the steep grades on the hills too hard. I have a good amount of experience driving in mountains and would not recommend this to someone who doesn't. Save your nerves and drive it during the day.

Stops:

Wall Drug, South Dakota

I have to say, Wall Drug was worth the hype from the road signs we'd been seeing for hours on I-90. It was a kitschy tourist store, sure, but it was also a bustling reprieve from the empty roads. It was also well-kept up and had some cute exhibits and an arcade. A store is a store, but I'm sure plenty of people who go to Badlands National Park find it to be a welcome return to civilization.

Four cowboy animatronics depicted signing a song together. Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota

This was a cool understated site. It's not too big, and it didn't seem like this was where you could see the inactive warhead, but I still spent some good time here. It's a really well organized and designed exhibit about the cold war and the part South Dakota played as a place where the government stored nuclear warheads. The exhibit, in my opinion, wasn't too jingoistic when it came to its portrayal of nuclear politics in America (maybe I feel that because I've seen a lot of portrayals that are on the extreme end). Although most of the dissent it talked about was from the people whose homes were in the same neighborhood as these warheads rather than the people who had been bombed. But those stories are worthwhile too, I think.

The Cosmos Mystery Area, South Dakota

This was my spur of the moment stop. The Black Hills enraptured me after the dreary flatness of the plains and I had heard about something like what this spot claimed to be. A place with "gravity hot spots" that defied the laws of physics. Obviously a hokey illusion show, but I still wanted to see! The tour was probably about half an hour in total and was definitely a summer job spot for local kids, but it had a certain charm. I had a lot of fun here, and so did the family who did the tour with us!

A sign reading What is the cosmos? The area known as the cosmos is the strangest location in the entire black hills. Here the world is different, topsey turvey with nothing in its normal position including yourselves. The laws of nature seem to have gone completely berserk, especially in the mystery house itself. However to feel the pressure of the area against you is the most unusual feature of all. A physical experience you will never forget. Family approved attractions. Mt Rushmore, South Dakota (Technically)

Technically we saw Mt Rushmore, but only in passing. After taking the tour earlier and buying souvenirs at two other places, I was not about to pay $10 just to park at Mt Rushmore. I hadn't been planning on seeing it anyway, but it didn't add too much time to our stop to drop by. You get a really good view of the mountain in passing it turns out. There also ended up being a turnout further down the highway that gave us an excellent view of George Washington's profile in the mountain. So we stopped off and I ate a Taco John's chicken quesadilla in the shadow of the big man.

A view of George Washington's face in profile at Mt Rushmore.

Stay:

Super 8 by Wyndham Jackson Hole

This ended up being the most expensive stop during our stay, which makes sense since it was in Jackson Hole. It would've been nice to stay at a place that was cooler, but the lobby of the Super 8 had super cute theming and to get a place of similar price would've had us probably staying a bit far out of town (or getting an AirBNB boooo). It was nice to be close to the retail places since we would need to get more provisions before we set off the next day.

Day 5 -- Jackson Hole, WY to Lolo, MT

Stops:

Some retail chains in Jackson Hole as we made our way out. We would've done some more before we left town since we only had a 6 hour drive, but we were too early in the season and a lot of touristy things were closed. It ended up working out for the best since it was nice to have time to relax at our destination.

Stay:

The Lodge at Lolo Hot Springs Montana

When my sister and I started talking about this trip, the first thing that she brought up to me after seeing my planned route was that she wanted to stop at a hot spring in Montana. I spent a while looking around at smaller resorts in Montana that boasted having hot spring pools, and The Lodge ended up being my pick. My sister didn't have much preference where the place was or what it looked like, but she really liked this place beyond just the pools. The theming of the lodge really feels like summer camp. There's no cell service (though the lobby has Wi-Fi and a DVD selection), the lobby has incredible rustic decor, and the rooms are sectioned off areas in two story wood cabins. All-in-all it was excellent. Since we got there fairly early, my sister and I had some time to chill with some beers and soak in the hot spring pools before dinner. I ended up eating in the room, starting my initial draft of this post, and my sister went to the restaurant next door. The only downside is in the morning they woke us up doing repairs to one of the other rooms. But it was around the time we needed to be up to get back on the road anyway.

A view of a hotel room that is designed to look like a log cabin. There is a corner of a queen bed, a table with three chairs, a chandelier above the table, and a dresser with a TV and DVD player on top of it

Day 6 -- Lolo, MT to Olympia, Washington

There would be no big stops today. After almost a week without seeing my cat and of driving in the car with my sister, I was eager to be done. For the first bit of this drive, Maps took us on a bizarre route down a gravel road through Lolo National Forest. Cell service wasn't great here, so I had started the route using the Wi-Fi from the hotel and the map I had downloaded to my phone of the area. Thankfully we didn't encounter anyone coming the other way, but we did weirdly encounter road work pretty far down the gravel road. Eventually though we got back to asphalt and continued through the Rockies.

The Rocky mountains were such a treat and eastern Washington was so dull by comparison. It was like we were in South Dakota or Wyoming all over again. But I guess that's how mountains work after all. This part of the trip wasn't super eventful, except for what we saw of the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. I think I would brave 3 hours of flat Washington to go back and see that properly at some point.

Eventually we made it to the mountains of Washington, braved those mountain roads (and more roadwork!!) and made it home. And here I've been ever since.

Stay:

Home!