Posted by marshall
Tue, 30 Dec 2003 19:00:00 GMT
Time to provide an update on the trip so far. We spent Saturday with family in Chicago and celebrated Christmas. The Elfstrand and Williames families finally got their copies of the DVD of Andy and Ingrid's wedding, and were quite happy to see it. On Sunday we went to church with Andy and Ingrid at Crossroads, then joined the rest of the Elfstrands and Williames at Old Country Buffet. Andy and Ingrid left for Dallas that afternoon. Adam, Britany, Dad, and the two of us went to White Castle for dinner.
Yesterday morning, we left for the next leg of our trip. We had a tasty breakfast at Nick's Cozy Corner (a local family restaurant) and left town around 11am CST. We took I-55 to St. Louis, where we visited the famous Gateway Arch. We were surprised by how much there was to see at the Arch, and recommend it highly. We were also surprised by how easy it was to get in and out of St. Louis to visit the Arch. To get from the highway to a destination and back in a foreign city without ever feeling lost is a wonderful thing.
From St. Louis we took I-44 to Springfield, MO. Here we ate dinner at Braums, an ice cream shop (and more!) that my family used to visit frequently when we were living in Dallas. We checked into La Quinta Inn (for which we got a great price on Hotwire) and called it a night.
A couple other items of note: the hotels here in Springfield all have free high-speed Internet access. It wasn't even advertised at La Quinta, but I opened up my PowerBook and immediately got a wireless connection. I don't know how many hotels are doing this, but I hope the pattern keeps up! Also, we noticed a surprisingly large number of "adult" shops/advertisements on the highway here, and just about every one of them had a large billboard next to it with messages like "Porn destroys families" and "Pornography exploits women and children". Interesting.
Today we continue on to Dallas, TX, to visit with Andy and Ingrid for a few days.
Posted in News
Posted by lara
Mon, 29 Dec 2003 19:00:00 GMT
Well, today we continue our journey again. We are about to leave Mom & Dad E.'s house to head south to visit with Ingrid & Andy in Dallas. We should arrive there on Tuesday evening and stay through until January 2nd. The weather from here to Dallas was looking good when we checked yesterday. So here we go....
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Posted by marshall
Mon, 29 Dec 2003 19:00:00 GMT
Many have been asking for pictures of the area to which we are moving. Here is a collection of photos we took of Redlands (and surrounding areas) during the interview in November and my apartment hunting visit in December.
As usual, you can click on any photo to see a higher-resolution version, and we have 1600x1200 versions of these if anyone is interested.
Posted in Pictures
Posted by marshall
Sat, 27 Dec 2003 19:00:00 GMT
Today began our driving trip across the USA, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Redlands, California. First stop: the Elfstrand household in Chicago, Illinois.
We packed the car this morning with our luggage, a few things we didn't trust to the movers, and my initial entries in the Elfstrand Computer Museum, which will be living at my parents' house until we have a more permanent place of residence. We enjoyed a tasty brunch with our good friends Jim and Laura Sloat, said our good-byes, and started out.
Unfortunately, there was one remaining errand: we needed to return the cable modem to Adelphia. I had called Adelphia earlier in the week to make sure they would be open today, and I was assured that I could stop by anytime between 8:30am and 7pm today to give them the modem and stop our service. Well, we showed up at the Adelphia offices, and there was a sign posted saying they would be closed for 12/25 and 12/26. So we're going to have to mail them the cable modem and deal with the closing of our account remotely.
Thankfully, that annoyance was the only low point of the day. The weather was clear and beautiful for our drive to Chicago, traffic was light, and we arrived around 10pm CST. We'll be spending the next couple of days here with family before starting on the next leg of the journey.
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Posted by lara
Tue, 23 Dec 2003 19:00:00 GMT
Well, the movers were here this morning, and our stuff is all loaded up and on its way to Redlands. I'm finally getting a few minutes of rest... and it feels great! We went out and bought some paper cups so that we can finish off the milk and some of the hot drinks that some thoughtful friends and family bought for us for Christmas. But now it's just time to relax and enjoy some time with family for the holidays. We are very grateful to our friends the Sloats for the offer of a bed for the next few days until we're ready to leave.
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Posted by lara
Mon, 08 Dec 2003 19:00:00 GMT
For any of you who haven't heard yet, the Pittsburgh Elfstrands are about to move! Marshall has accepted a position as a software application developer in the I.T. department at Mission Aviation Fellowship. He will be working at the headquarters in Redlands, California. Lara's last day at U.S. Bank will be Friday, December 19th. So now there is an apartment to rent and a house to sell. There will be goodbyes to say and new people to meet. And there is a whole country to see as we drive across it. It should get very interesting. So be sure to leave us messages and keep in touch! And we're looking forward to seeing what God will do.
Posted in News
