Since I turned 30, I’ve been fining myself less and less excited about my birthday. But this year I wanted to be different. I wanted the chance to start a brand new year. What better way to bring in a new year than to watch the sun rise.
So that’s exactly what I did. I woke up at an ungodly hour and took the train down to Tempe, climbed up to the top of Hayden Butte, and took pictures.
It was pretty refreshing and I couldn’t stop smiling. Here’s to another year of adventure!
I’ve been trying to get back into photography lately since I have a lot of spare time on my hands. Particularly I’ve been messing around with the manual setting on my DSLR. I used to really know that stuff when I took photography classes in college using my trusty film camera.
Yesterday, the husband and I ventured to Tempe so I could take sunset pictures. Our plans were almost scrapped due to the dust storm that appeared out of nowhere followed quickly by a severe thunderstorm.
We waited out the storms and I’m so glad we did. This is just a few of the pictures taken yesterday evening.
The move has come and gone. I’m happy to say we made it to Arizona in one piece, the cats survived, and our marriage still in tact.
Our map for the trip
We left a day later than originally planned and unfortunately left/threw out more than we had originally wanted. There were times during the packing that we didn’t think we were going to make it, leading stuff up until we were physically sick. But we did it. We left Huntington at noon on June 16.
Our first stop was St Louis, Missouri. My husband, being the expert driver he is, timed it perfectly to drive over the Mississippi River viewing the Gateway Arch at sunset. If it one thing I love, it’s a good sunset picture.
Day 2 had us driving from St Louis, MO to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was a long day of driving and the first time we started getting annoyed with being in a Uhaul of hours on end. It certainly didn’t help when the hotel we booked for the night (which said they were pet friendly), told us they were not CAT friendly (other pets were okay though.) We found a new hotel pretty quickly at least.
Athena
Ophelia
Day 3 had us ending in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We started feeling that desert heat. I got a sunburn for the first time in years.
Made it to New Mexico!
New Mexico is absolutely beautiful. I wish we would have had more time to stop so I could take more pictures. Honestly I feel that way about a lot of places. But I did get a badass picture of sunset on our way back to hotel after dinner.
Sunset in Albuquerque
Day 4 was our last day on the road. I was beginning to get really exhausted and anxious about sitting in one spot for long hours. It certainly didn’t help that I had a cat carrier on my lap the entire time. We finally made it to Arizona.
The drive down from Flagstaff wasn’t so bad. The drop in elevation is what killed me. We stopped about midway down for bathroom break.
But when I saw the city come into view for the first time, all the exhaustion and anxiety from the last couple days didn’t matter. We had made it to our new home.
The cats have adjusted better than they did the last time we moved. Ophelia and Athena enjoy being Arizonan and honestly, so do we.
And I still haven’t seen an armadillo or a scorpion.
I’ve started and given up on plenty of starts to this blog. Each was sounding as dumb as the last. It’s creation and subsequent purchasing of the domain was a spur of the moment thing. Sometimes I have a problem with spending money when I really shouldn’t. Oops.
The original concept for the blog was going to be travel. Hence “Sarah on the Go.” However, being that 1. I don’t have extra money to travel and 2. I felt there wasn’t anything of interest in my current immediate area. I know I’m wrong about number 2. Partially.
I’m currently in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in a West Virginia town on the Ohio River. Kentucky is just a stone’s throw away, and I can see Ohio from my house. (No, really, I look out my bedroom window, and I can see Ohio across the river.) The town I live in has made international news for its drug epidemic (there was even a Netflix documentary about it), and it’s known nationally as being the fattest city in America. I’m more than ready to get out of here.
Luckily, we’re finally almost out. Less than 30 days in fact. In theory, of course. There is still a LOT that needs to be done (like finding an apartment to live and packing up all our crap.) We’re heading out west. Arizona to be precise. “Why Arizona? That place probably sucks too.” I’m sure it does, but honestly, what place isn’t going to suck? I’m also sick of winter.
I plan to document the move, our adventures after, and everything in between.
The act of moving is such a mix of emotions. On the one hand, the thought of excitement initially shows up. It’s an adventure; you’re going somewhere new. Then there is the dread. The stress of packing everything. PAYING for the everything and not to mention finding a place that will be big enough for my husband, me, and our two cats. (And a place big enough for all my books).
