Route 66 Skull, uploaded by amybaeder.

Our trip is almost over. I feel EXHAUSTED, yet full of new experiences and renewed relationships. I have finished three books, visited with family and friends, seen new sights, revisited old ones, and, despite some mishaps, had an excellent time. I’ll be home tomorrow, and with home comes work. I look forward to the adventures that come my way in this next school year as well as the ones that I make happen.

Big Brother or Big Sister?, uploaded by amybaeder.

I’ve posted just a few of the 400+ photos we’ve taken during our trip on flickr.com, so check some of them out! Justin has posted a few, too. I’ll select a few more to post as time goes on, but I should really go to bed now so I don’t over sleep in the morning. Ciao!

So we’re in San Francisco for the last night, and our two week trip is almost at an end. Tomorrow we have to wake up early, check out of our hotel, and catch a ferry for Alcatraz and Angel Island. I’m rather tired now after a day that was full of obligations due to our car getting broken into last night. I was rather upset that many of the items that were taken (my journal, bible, knitting materials and knitting books, AP Bio book, etc.) had no “street value” for whoever took them. I did file a police report and we got our back window replaced, so that took most of the day. But I will not dwell on this…we had some fun today, too. We went to the palace of fine arts, Ghiradelli Square, The Cannery, the old pier, and the city hall square. We also went to REI for replacement backpacks right before they closed. Yesterday was a fabulous day, packed with a variety of activities and adventures–Golden Gate Park, Marin Headlands, views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Napa Valley, Twin Peaks, Lincoln Park, and more. It’s time for bed now, but stay posted for photos.

Today begins the start of our 6,000 mile road trip. It’s beginning kind of late because of our procrastination in getting things packed, cleaned, and ready to go, but hey–that’s why we’re taking a car and not scheduled for a flight.

Tonight we hope to end up somewhere in Montana–as far as we can drive in 10-12 hours, at least. Our car is ridiculously full of everything we’ve packed, but I hope to spend very little on eating fast food, hence the cooler and 2 bags of food we’ve stashed in the car.

Some tasks I’d like to accomplish while Justin is driving include:
read the rest of Love in the Time of Cholera
knit baby bibs and washcloths for Joanna’s baby
work on AP Biology curriculum
grade papers and notebooks from Upward Bound Summer School
read lots of other delicious books

The weather here has been ridiculously cool, so I hope we get some not-scorching weather in Arkansas, although the last I checked, it was going to be over 100F each day we’re there. Better swimming weather, I suppose.

We’ve had an excellent visit with my friend Bethany since she’s been out here from Missouri. We’ve gone blackberry picking, we played soccer with my team, we went to my book club with Dawn and Erin, and we went to the Farmers’ Market and Pike Place Market, the Elliot Bay Book Company, Andaluz, Fireworks, and Cafe Ladro. She got to come to my classes with me and went to the UB summer banquet and picnic. We’ve had an excellent time and I’m sad to leave her here, but I know she’s going to have a great time with Dawn and the rest of the gang here in Seattle.

Oh goodness! We’ve got to go! Hopefully I’ll be able to make some updates from the road.