It's Time to Begin, Isn't It?

I can't believe today is finally here! The week of packing, goodbyes, and road trip detours is finally over, and I'm in a beautiful hotel in Columbus, OH! My dad and I are certainly tired but we had a great day today seeing lots of Pennsylvania, a little bit of West Virginia, and Ohio!

We left the house at 7:40 AM- this was in the driveway!

The driving was the easiest part of this preparation, however. I packed for a solid week, putting clothes in and out of different containers, and deciding to take some things and leave others at the last minute. Everything fits quite comfortably in the back of my car, and any of my PC friends will be shocked to know that I really have gotten rid of a lot of clutter over the course of the summer, so there is not a lot left in my room at home! I'm sure I packed more than enough- lots of things I don't NEED, but I took a significant step in the right direction of simplicity for sure!

While packing was no dream, the hardest part of the past week has definitely been all the goodbyes! I had dinner with my mom's family in New Jersey last week, spent time with ND girls on Wednesday, my friend Kelly Hughes from PC on Thursday, and the weekend was spent with my family and boyfriend. Tom came down on Saturday afternoon, and we went to lunch at the Sansom Street Oyster House with my parents- it was delicious! He helped me pack, and my mom made us a great dinner at home. We watched the Olympics, but went to bed at a reasonable hour because we got to go the Bruce Springsteen exhibit at the Constitution Center on Sunday morning after a yummy breakfast at home. It was so nice to be able to spend time with Tom before I left, because I'll really miss seeing him so often next year! He'll be a JV in Philadelphia, and I'm so excited for him to be able to explore the city he's heard so much about from me. He is also keeping a blog, follow his adventures here!

Yesterday, Kristy, Mary Emily, and Juliann all stopped by to say goodbye, and I got to see some of my Dad's family before we had cheesesteaks for my last Philadelphia supper and packed the car up! This morning was an emotional goodbye- I miss my mom a lot already, and my Dad and I both wish she could have come with us, but there was no room in the car for another person and she had to work. We kept her updated all day with texts and photos, but it's hard to imagine not seeing her for so long!

We're pretty tired tonight, but will adventure out into the city for dinner before we crash. We have some great recommendations from Gail, Kathleen, and Anthony- thanks guys! Hopefully a great bookstore, some chili, and delicious ice cream will be in our future.

I mentioned earlier that there were roadtrip detours- it's actually changed twice since I last posted, but our final itinerary is in place. We'll go from here to Louisville tomorrow, then drive to Nashville to spend the night. Wednesday will bring us straight to New Orleans, which will be a long drive, but then we'll spend two nights there so we have all day Thursday in my favorite place to visit! Then Friday brings us to Houston!