Hello, Blog. Part 2

I forgot to mention in the last post that Jon gave me an iPhone for Christmas... Although, most of you probably know that already since I love to use it for Facebook now. It made our upcoming travels not so miserable and were able to know exactly where we were at all times and where we could stop for food and gas.

About halfway into January, Jon and I hit the road, in our wonderful Kia, to drive out to Arkansas. I really didn't want to have to take the longer route (down south/I-40), but we figured it was our best bet to avoid ice and snow. We had an adventure out there like we always do.... especially in that dang Kia. (Long story, but something has always happened with that car in the South!) I took some pictures along the way and posted them to Facebook to help with the boredom, so you may have seen all these, but these are all I have from our Arkansas trip.


The sunrise over the mountains when we left.

These were taken near Arches and Canyonlands, where I soon lost my 3G internet for most of the first day of our drive.

Somewhere in New Mexico, Jon decided he needed to stop to go to the bathroom. This was the lovely gas station. I locked the doors of the car because I was freaked out. Got to love the Indian reservations- so safe.

We stayed the night in Amarillo, TX. My Mom later told me that both my younger brothers and I were all in Texas on the same day. Crazy! (One brother is serving a mission in Fort Worth and the other had finally gotten his visa and was on his way from South Carolina to Brazil for his mission.) I wish I had taken a picture of one of the waffle makers the next morning when we got breakfast at the motel- it was in the shape of Texas. Only in Texas would you be able to make Texas-shaped waffles!!!

Anyways, I don't think I could ever live in Texas. Jon and I have considered it, but from what I have seen (see above), it is pretty flat. Although, I'm sure this is mostly just the panhandle, but it hasn't looked much better whenever I have flown into Dallas.

On our second day of driving, we were getting close to Oklahoma City, when we heard a loud noise- like something hit our car. Jon pulled over immediately (he thought we blew a tire) and checked everything out. He looked at all the tires, and even laid on the ground to see if anything was dragging underneath. Nope. He didn't see anything... until he looked up near the windows. A piece of the trim had come off the back passenger door and whipped around, hitting the back window. I didn't get a picture of it at the time, but I did take pictures later. Jon just ripped the piece off and threw it in the car. (See what I mean about the South? It hates that Kia... or the Kia hates the South. We've had a crack in our windshield and the motor for a window go out in previous trips down there.)

The wonderful trim that broke off the car. Good thing we sold the car to his sister!!!! She knew what she was getting into with that car though (and we sold it for a lot less than it was probably worth).

Well, that's all the pictures I took on our trip to Arkansas. Pretty much, we were there for a month, and, for the most part, it wasn't very fun. The weather was horrendous. I just had to laugh when Jon said we would be getting away from Utah's winter, when it was just as bad in Arkansas. It was freezing almost every day (and even more so inside the house since their heat really doesn't work). It snowed quite a bit for the area, thus making it so you were stuck inside all day (hills + no plows + freezing weather = frozen, slippery roads). Also, since weather was crappy a lot, that meant no school, which meant too much time spent with my Nephew. We did get to go to Branson for a weekend, which would have been nicer if the Nephew was not there. But Jon gave me money to shop at the outlets (although, I didn't get to go to all the stores I wanted to because the Nephew was having a hard time- what a surprise!). I watched the whole Veronica Mars series on Netflix out there because there wasn't much to do (why was that show cancelled?!). Jon's Mom did buy me a month's gym pass, so I got to go there a few times. And I did get to hang out with Emily and Tanner a few times. Wish we got to hang out more- and wish Jon and I hung out more with Joseph and Julieta too. Oh well, let's just say that Jon and I are never planning on going back for such a long period of time again... and Jon will probably not be working for his Dad again. We both were ready to get home to Utah and have some quiet and privacy again! (And I was excited to go to San Diego and Disneyland soon after!)