2700 Miles Later!

We made it!

We’re home!

Seattle is here and so are we! I thought this day would never come!

It was a crazy trip getting here, let me tell you. My Dad and great friend, Miles, flew into Nashville last Wednesday and spent the next three days helping us pack the rest of our apartment, removing large furniture, AND attending George’s graduation ceremony. George’s family drove up from Georgia and were a huge help when we started loading the “U-Pak It! We Haul It!” trailer behind our building.

On Saturday, in the short hours following George’s graduation, we finished with 90% of the packing. This gave us time to meet up with a handful of our best friends for dinner to celebrate everything that was about to take place. But it was bittersweet… We hate leaving such sweet friendships behind. We especially  hated not having one last chance to say “goodbye” to other friends who couldn’t make it to dinner or hang out in the days before we left. Being grown up can really get in the way of things like that…

The good news is that we have every intention on coming to visit! This goodbye is not forever and we will see the South again! There’s simply no doubt in my mind! So keep your couches warm because we will be crashing them in the near future!

As for the 2700 miles across the country? Goodness, they were rough… If you follow me on Twitter, you might’ve seen the “stately tweets” I would make as we crossed each border. It was fun and I felt like I was bringing my friends along for the trip. Also, my very good friend Christy-Anne gave me a vintage Canon AE-1 film camera with a 50mm/1.8 lens and I totally used it! I bought two rolls of film and I shot through both.  Unfortunately, the second roll didn’t turn out because I don’t think I put it in right. But the first roll turned out nice and I’m going to share them with you here! I am really excited to try different types of film and see how it effects the way I work in the “digital darkroom.” I found myself being insanely intentional with every shot I took and I quickly realized that being more deliberate in my shooting style is something I need to work on! Thus, I believe I will be shooting film a lot more often! Look forward to that!

Alright. So let me show you exactly the path we took from Chattanooga, TN to Seattle, WA…

If you can’t tell, the path we took was roughly 2700 miles and that is a looooooong way, my friends. We drove straight through the first two days, starting at 8:00am in Chattanooga on Sunday and stopping overnight in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at 8:00pm on Monday. We checked out the Grand Tetons on our way to Yellowstone, which was amazing, but sadly, the south entrance to Yellowstone was closed because of snow. And all the other entrances were way out of our way, so we decided to continue our venture without seeing Yellowstone. Still, there was plenty to see and we had our share of adventures! Driving through a snow storm and not hitting the deer in the road was definitely a challenge!

So check out some of the photos below! It’s just a hodge podge of digital and film. Enjoy!

Me and Dad at Lee University, where George and I received our degrees. I gave him and Miles the full tour.

George graduates!!!

We got to say goodbye to our wonderful photographer friends, Rich+Heather Smith!

We’re SO classy! I love it!

These next few photos are film…

We took about 45 minutes to visit St. Louis, Missouri and it’s really TALL Arch…

The next few are digital…

Back to film…

More digital… It was COLD at the Grand Tetons!

Wyoming is pretty darn epic…

I went to my second roll of film after our stop at the Grand Tetons, and as I said, that roll didn’t make it through… So this is pretty much the bulk of the trip. But it was fun and I won’t ever forget it! Not to mention, exhausting… Of course, the day after we arrived, I got sick! The first time I’ve been sick in a very long time! I guess my body just couldn’t take it any more and it crashed! Better now than when business starts picking up again.

So there you have it! We are officially Seattle-based and ready to do business! I’ll share more from our trip as the pictures are downloaded. Dad, Miles, and George, also got some fun pictures. So stay tuned for that!

It will probably be a week or two before things start to feel normal and workflow becomes fully functional. So if it takes me a while to respond to you by email or text (my reception is horrible at the moment), please be patient and I promise to respond as soon as possible!

PS. Thanks for the warm welcome, Seattle! The weather has been perfection from the moment we arrived!

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6 Comments

  • Looks like so much fun! Glad you guys made it safely and had a pretty sweet adventure along the way. Here’s to the next chapter of your life!

  • Laura says:

    Thanks for sharing the pictures! I wish we could have said one last goodbye before you guys left, but of course we plan to see you again someday. 🙂 I’m glad the trip went well. I’m impressed you guys made it in the time you did!

  • michelle says:

    thanks for sharing your trip with us… i am looking forward to continuing to read about your journey of life. 🙂

  • hillary says:

    You were SUPER close to me when you hit that KY line…I live off exit 1 right before that, haha!

    Can’t wait to see more from you with your new backdrop up in WA!

  • Faith says:

    Ackkk, I don’t like the map shot LOL It cements it in your mind just how far you are away 🙁 We are still just loving the photos you took of us….I pray our paths cross again one day 🙂

  • Cynthia says:

    um… what size shirt is George wearing?! HAHAHAHA! These are so great, I love your documentaries.

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