road trip, part 1

Have I mentioned that we have to move?  Oh, ok.  Just checking.  In preparation for this move, Brian and I went on a quest to find the perfect house.  Actually it was more of a road trip than a quest, and more like an "it will do" house since we'll be there for only a year or so. 

So last week we dropped the littles off at my parent's house (who are still awesome) and we went on our way.  We took a detoured route down to South Carolina through Washington D.C. for a dear friend's memorial service.  It was a beautiful service at the botanical gardens.  There were a lot of pictures, stories, and memories of our friend.  And it was pretty much the best memorial service I've ever been to, not in small part to an open bar.  It was like a fancy version of an Irish wake.  It was perfect.

One of the best parts of a road trip is the views.  I snapped this one just as we were only about a half hour from my parent's house.

I'm not sure what these are; maybe Gladiolus?  It was beautiful though.  A whole field of flowers.  I wanted to get out of the car, run through them, and maybe throw my arms up and spin.  I may have watched The Sound of Music too many times as a child.  But I settled for a blurry picture instead.  And, well, just to warn you, a lot of my pictures have some blur.  It was rare that I took the time to get out and take a stationary photo.  Cause we had a schedule to keep!  We drove through some charming small towns like this one.

And got some spectacular roadside views.  I think this one is Ohio.

Or maybe Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvania gave some really really beautiful scenery.  Especially because I made Brian take a side trip to Frank Lloyd Wright house Falling Water.  I was really excited to see it.  But this is as far as we got. 

It was closed, and the guard wouldn't let us even drive to see it.  Frank apparently enjoyed placing houses about 10 miles from the road.  Brian briefly considered busting through the gates, but we had a schedule that didn't allow for a night in jail.  Bummer.  We'll be back!  During open hours!  We drove 40 miles out of our way to see the sign.  But we got to see a lot of other beautiful scenery on the trip back to the highway.

We really enjoyed all the views, and let me say that those Pennsylvanians in this area were an interesting bunch.  We saw no less than 10 Confederate flags on the houses here.  And it really confused us since we were still in the north.  Weird.  Anyway, we took in the scenery and listened to good road trip music.  I know you're interesting in knowing our playlist, and so here you go.  It included Avett Brothers, Cat Stevens, Journey, Bob Seger, Adele, and some Mumford & Sons.  I know.  We be old. 



Yes, this is Brian playing air guitar WHILE driving.  Talent.  Don't try this at home, kids!  I will also admit in addition to all the music, we also listened to an embarrassing amount of NPR.  Because, well, we be old.  And I may have a slight addiction to This American Life. 

We had a pretty easy trip all the way to D.C., and drove straight through.  When we got there, the sun was setting and we got gorgeous views like this.

More soon...