I am skipping the “saying goodbye” part of our story for now, because, well, it’s really, really hard to put into words how it feels to move across the country from the only state you have called home and to leave all of your favorite people behind. Let’s just say, the ugly cry that happened when we pulled away from our house for the last time (and the subsequent THREE times, because we kept remembering things that we needed to go back for) was a big one. (Side note: I’m doing this all from memory 4 months later, so forgive the lack of details!)

We rolled out of Austin on the morning of December 17th, 2014, and headed off to our new life in New York. We had rented a car to get us across the country, because we really couldn’t figure out how to live for the first couple of months on just what we had in our suitcases, especially since we needed all of Nelly’s gear – her kennel, toys, food, etc. I wasn’t sure what our temporary apartment was going to provide, so in my normal fashion, I completely overcompensated and brought a crap-ton of stuff we never ended up needing. As David would say, ohhhhh well.

See, told you that we had too much crap. 

It actually ended up that we mainly just brought too many clothes, and since we had a Duane Reade (think Walgreen’s, because they are in fact, the same store) literally underneath our building, we had access to anything we needed in a pinch, like cleaning supplies or coffee creamer.

We made it to Memphis the first night, with only one small detour when Nelly decided to get car sick on my lap after being in the car for 6 hours. That was fun. Or, the opposite. One or the other. We stayed in downtown Memphis, and of course had to go pick up some Rendezvous BBQ for dinner! It was delicious!

Driving on Beale St, into downtown Memphis (I think?)… It was fun to be IN Memphis ON Beale Street after loving the Marc Cohn song “Walking in Memphis” for so long. Of course, I plugged in my phone and we listened to it as we drove into town.

We left Memphis early the next day and headed toward North Carolina to stay with David’s parents for a night. Anyone who knows us, knows we stopped at the first Bojangle’s we came across. I’m pretty sure that, even with his well-refined palate, the Cajun Filet Biscuit and Bo Rounds are David’s favorite things to eat in the whole world.

4 piece Supremes with fries and a sweet tea, for me, please! 

Always the best feeling to see this sign. You’re only about 10 minutes from home at this point and we always get so excited to see David’s parents.

We had Christmas with David’s parents, ate dinner, visited some, and then crashed. We headed out early towards Washington DC the next morning. It was a short stop in Saluda, but so good to see the Sierks. I think it did David’s heart good to go home before we began our NYC chapter. And Nelly had fun being spoiled by her Nana for a few hours.

Headed down the Saluda Grade on the way to DC. Gorgeous view.

We got to DC around dinner time, and David’s fraternity brother and his wife who live there came to meet us at our hotel for some dinner and drinks. It was so great to see friendly faces! We visited with them for a few hours and then got in bed to rest up for the last leg of the trip.

Loved seeing Nancy and Alex! 

With BIG butterflies in our stomachs, we headed out from DC, through Maryland and Delaware into New Jersey. This sign was the first one we saw when we approached the City:

EEK! Almost there!

Our first view of the City in the distance. That was a really cool moment. We were so excited and so anxious about what adventures this new place would hold for us. 

We came into the City through the Holland Tunnel and when we popped up on the other side, it was completely surreal. We were right in the heart of Lower Manhattan, with all of the buildings and traffic and people and noise. Having not been to the City since I was 16, it was quite a sight and honestly, a little stressful, as I began to think about how we were going to unload our packed-to-the-ceiling car in the middle of Chelsea, which is where our temporary apartment was. With a dog. In the freezing cold. It gives me heart palpitations just thinking about it now.

The Texas-sized Tahoe rental car was not designed to be in NYC. Once we found our building, we circled the block several times, looking for a place to park, but it was just too busy and there was too much going on (it’s much busier in Chelsea on the weekend-days), so we double-parked went in to get our keys from the doorman and headed up to the apartment with what all we could carry, including a 22-pound dog. David went back down to the car, and I shut Nelly in the bathroom, so she wouldn’t escape while we went in and out of the front door, and then I headed down to get the next load of stuff. RIGHT when I closed the apartment door behind me, realized that I hadn’t grabbed either set of keys off the table and I was now locked out of the apartment, while Nelly was shut in the bathroom. In that minute, it was all I could do to not completely lose it, but I gathered myself and went down to the front desk, where luckily, the super friendly doorman had one extra key to our unit. I wanted to kiss him, but I refrained. 🙂

It took about four loads on a hotel-style luggage cart to get all of our things out of the car, and we just piled them all up in the lobby of our building. I was convinced that someone was going to steal all of our stuff (because that’s what happens in New York, right?), but of course, nothing happened. David took the car to return it, while I brought up loads of stuff from the lobby and started getting things unpacked. I thought he was so brave to drive up 20+ blocks on his own and return the car, and then walk back to our building. I realize now, that’s just what you do in the city! I was thankful that we got all of our things unloaded and the car returned, with only one teeny crisis. I’d call that a win.

Nelly, after being released from her bathroom prison. She wasn’t too sure about this new house and being 17 floors up in the air. I would have loved to know what she was thinking at this moment.

When David got back, I’m pretty sure both collapsed on the couch, and then looked at each other and said, “Holy cow, we live in New York City now!” Which is what we continue to say over and over. It’s so surreal to be here and write our address as “Brooklyn, NY” (spoiler alert: we live in Brooklyn now.), but it’s been so, so much better than we could have ever imagined, and we are having a ball!

This was outside our Chelsea apartment. Our celebratory “WE MADE IT!” picture on the first night we were there.