So this is Washington

So now, after three months of living in a new state and being incredibly delinquent in my writing, this is what I've learned about Spokane.

1. Once you figure out the major streets, you can't get lost. Since it's a block system out here and all the streets are laid out in a grid, you can follow a road through all of Spokane. Figure out which ones are the more important roads and which way they run, and you cannot get lost. At one point or another you'll run into them and you can figure out where you are from there.

2. It doesn't matter if there's snow on the road or if there's a blizzard out, people will still be driving. It can get really cold here, too.

3. Everyone here is inexplicably nice.

4. Speed limits are at least 5 mph above what everyone drives.

5. One-way streets are very popular.

6. People are really big on the outdoors here. Huge, even.

7. Once you get used to the grey, it's really pretty here. The hills and evergreens and snowy mountains are very nice to look at.

What I've learned in general:

1. Taxes are way too complex and take up a lot of time.

2. Libraries are fantastic, they give you books for free.

3. Exercise alleviates all manner of problems.

4. Jobs are hard to find but it can be done.

What I've done:

1. Survived more snow than I've seen in my entire life. (You don't get snow in North Carolina. Ever.)

2. Gotten purposefully lost just to see what's around town.

3. Ran around a park and climbed trees like a crazy person.

4. Found a library and a job (not in the same place, sadly).

What I have yet to do:

1. Go to Seattle.

2. Go to Canada.

3. Go to Glacier National Park.

4. Take part in local activities and figure out what life here is really like.

And, now that I'm moving back across the country in a month, the clock is ticking on the amount of time I have left to do fun things. As it turns out, six months is not a very long time, especially when three of those months are spent in snow. I'll be sad to leave because there's so much I'll be missing.

Spokane!

I am now a Washington State resident. More or less.

I've driven for a week (approximately 9 hours a day), seen Vegas, dealt with Atlanta traffic (verdict: I never want to live there), spent the night in various hotels and people's houses, and gone from realllllly cold to fairly warm to absolutely freezing weather (it snowed and fogged on us today).

But we're here. In an apartment in Spokane and it's awesome. And that's all for now.

May to January

So in the past six or seven months, I have graduated college, found jobs, gotten promoted in one of my jobs, owned a car, payed rent, payed for repairs to my car when I accidentally plowed through a barbed wire fence, and dealt with a haunted house that smells of old lady and is regularly invaded by a crazy family. I have lived alone, had a house mate, been to a rock concert and a festival and a fair by myself, and sustained an impressive injury due to a very sharp cooking knife. I've been on a camping trip, hosted sleepovers, lost my keys, broken my laptop, and learned how to take care of myself in some capacity. At the very least, I'm still alive.

I've learned to support myself, pay bills on time, buy food (and cook it to some extent), and make phone calls. I've quit one job after two days of work, cleaned a house in secret, dealt with two sinus infections, and spent my first Thanksgiving away from my family.

But now all that is about to change. Tomorrow I'm getting into my car to travel from North Carolina all the way to Washington state where I will live with two of my friends from college. From Massachusetts and California and Carolina, we're all going to spend some time adventuring around the country, starting way out west.

So here's to the beginning of a new adventure filled with places we've never been before, new jobs, and people we don't know. To rent and utilities and taking care of things ourselves. To being real adults for the first time and wherever that takes us. In a nutshell, here's to independence.

And here's where we'll be keeping record of our adventure. I'll still be posting here, but the whole story (from all three of us) will be written there.

Westward ho!