We decided on a less direct route, mainly to visit friends, but also to avoid bad weather. We took two weeks, seeing friends and family the whole way. But first, we had to make a treacherous crossing through Los Angeles on a rainy Friday afternoon. It took us roughly more than four hours to cover 120 miles. The good news is that that was the worst part of the entire trip.
The rest was a ton of fun. We saw my dad in Tucson. We saw Brandon's parents in Fredericksburg, TX, where we also hiked and ate German food. We also stayed in an amazing rental house made of stone.
We ate barbecue in Austin. We saw good friends in Houston. We made a pit stop in Breaux Bridge, LA, which was decorated for Mardi Gras.
We had some glorious days in Jacksonville with our old neighbors. We got to drive through the Virginia countryside. We had good beer in Philadelphia with even better friends. It was the best way to move away from what I consider paradise (California). But it's still hard to leave family.
