Who is the one person that is most unlikely to move across the country? Me!!! I love my family and friends. I love routine. I love to know what to expect. I love comfort, and really, really dislike change! When my hubby found a job opportunity in Seattle, he asked what I would think about moving that far away. We had never even been to Seattle! I said, “Sure, go for it. You won’t know if you don’t try!” We knew that we didn’t want to live in Central Illinois forever, so why not? It probably won’t happen anyways.
6 months later, my mom and I were loading up my car to drive 2,000 miles across the country (my hubby moved out 3 months prior). We headed west on a beautiful Friday morning in March. We made the long boring drive over the flat plains of Illinois, Iowa and eastern South Dakota. We laughed, we sang, we danced, we shared stories and chatted for hours. We finally pulled over for the night in Rapid City, SD, with a plan to stop at Mt. Rushmore the next morning for some sight seeing.
Morning came, and that’s what we did! We went to Mt. Rushmore. It was cold and windy, but sunny. We were the only people there, and it was perfect.
We continued on our way fairly quickly because we knew we had a long road ahead. We just had no idea how long the next few hours would seem. Hint…snowstorm!
This is what the next few hours of our drive looked like! We had to pull over a few times due to white out conditions, and it seemed we were the only people on the road. We did manage to stop at the Wyoming state line to take a picture because there was a break in the snow. It was crazy windy, but worth it!
We continued on through Wyoming, in and out of snowstorms, and finally reached the Montana state line! I will never forget this! It was snowing like crazy, and the only other vehicle we saw was a snowplow. Mom and I were taking these pics when the snowplow turned around and starting spraying the snow right towards us. My mom took off running. Check out the look on her face!! Also, notice how my facial expression is the exact same in both pics. LOL!!
We managed to stay dry, and got back in the car, cracking up laughing!! We ended up driving clear across Montana that day. At times, we were even on gravel roads because our GPS told us that was the “faster” way. We drove through many small towns, and saw animals we had never seen before crossing the road in front of us. It was SO MUCH FUN!
We made a few more stops along the way. We got as close to the Idaho State sign as we safely could. We enjoyed a great breakfast in the city of Coeur d’Alene, ID and drove around to see what the beautiful city had to offer. I’d definitely like to go back and visit.
We made it to Idaho! 
Antelope?? 
Coeur d’Alene 
Don’t ask…we were delirious at this point! Lol! 
Columbia River
Long story short…but not really…the next day, we arrived in Seattle. I was now in my new “home,” and reunited with my hubby. I will forever cherish the amazing memories my mom and I made on our trip out west. We shared so many laughs those 3 days. Best memories ever! Stay tuned as I shared more about life and adventures in Seattle in my blog.
Looking exhausted, but we made it!! 
My hubby!!