gRegorLove little g big R

Go West Young Man

It has been a month since I started the big move from Chicago to Bellingham, WA. Thankfully I had a lot of help that made it go pretty smoothly. Jon, Chris, and Erica helped me pack the truck and clean up the apartment. Then we met up with Jenn and Robert at Giordano’s for a farewell pizza dinner. The next day Jon and I hit the road and met up with my parents and their friend Laurie outside of Chicago. From there we started our four-day, three-vehicle trek across the country.

Mom and her friend Laurie had a lot of fun together. One of the funnier stories of the trip involved me explaining the term “duckface” and how silly it looks. Later they showed me a picture they’d taken of themselves, with duckface of course. Unfortunately I do not have a copy of the photo to share. :]

A will-be-funny-someday story happened at Wall Drug. Wall Drug is a large, kitschy drug store/tourist attraction in South Dakota boasting an 80-foot dinosaur sculpture, among other things. Amanda had requested a group photo of us. The jackalope sculpture that's large enough to ride seemed like a great option (see below). Then Jon spotted a small version of Mount Rushmore and wanted his photo taken in front of it. I saw a sign that read “no running” and — smartass that I am — started to run. My phone was in my hoodie pocket and got bumped out as I ran. It landed flat and shattered the screen badly. It turned on, but would not recognize touch at all. OK, the irony was rather funny, even at the time. Obey signs when they tell you not to run, kids.

Wild Jackalope

Riding a wild jackalope at Wall Drug.

Group Photo

Group photo with the now-tamed jackalope

We stayed at Hampton Inns on the way out because my parents have had consistently good experiences there and they have a full, hot breakfast (the most important part of any hotel stay). They also had indoor, salt water pool and hot tub, which was very nice after each day of driving. I’m sold.

Other trip highlights include the Pandora station I made based on Wreckx-n-Effect's song “Rump Shaker” and the '90s hip-hop that resulted. I was also able to get together briefly with Sweeney in Missoula. It’s always fun to see Internet people in real life.

We arrived in Bellingham the evening of the fourth day. Jon and I were tired so I did not think we would unload more than a few things that night, but once we started unloading, Jon entered beast mode. I think we knocked it out in an hour and a half, thanks to him.

My parents and Laurie were only staying in Bellingham two nights, so the next day we went sightseeing. We took a scenic trip down Chuckanut Drive through Larrabee State Park and then to Deception Pass. I think they had been a bit traumatized by the Seattle traffic experience the previous day (it really is awful), but this was a relaxing day and a much better picture of the Pacific Northwest. We said our farewells that night since they were leaving early the next morning for Oregon and their drive back east.

Suddenly the long move was over and I’m living in Bellingham. It has been an interesting adjustment, but I am liking it here. It is weird being 2–3 hours behind most of my friends. Here are some photos of the new place.

Kitchen

Kitchen

Living Room and Balcony

Living room and balcony. Caliente the couch made the move, too.

Sunset view from balcony

Sunset view from the balcony

Backyard

Backyard

P.S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj42Xh0Zaak

View responses or leave your own response

Responses

The Pretty Spinster, Isha, Sheryl, and 10 others

Isha Isha
@gRegorLove geta new phone?

Laurie Laurie
Like. Esp the pandora station

Alanna Faith Abrams Alanna Faith Abrams
YAY! Welcome to Washington! And yes, Seattle traffic is terrible.

Joshua Robert Guynn Joshua Robert Guynn
Wowzers! I didn't know you were moving. I hope you like it :)

gRegor ♥ Morrill gRegor ♥ Morrill
@indiana_mama I was rocking an old school one for a while, but I'm back in smartphone land now.

Clint McManaman Clint McManaman
@gRegorLove Welcome to Bellingham!

gRegor ♥ Morrill gRegor ♥ Morrill
@elclinto Thanks! I had no idea you lived here. Small internet!

R Eugene Smith R Eugene Smith
we're almost to the end of our journey to Portland. We would have been there Saturday, but we hit a deer in Idaho and had to stay two nights there. The people were really cool in helping us out and went out of their way. We have pics along the way of being a total Dharma bum sitting in meditation on a rock overlooking some mountains on our way to Boise :D

Danette Marko Danette Marko
Congrats, Gregor! The new place looks great! I hear the company out there is pretty great too ;D

gRegor Morrill gRegor Morrill mentioned this –


This is an older post, so the public comment form is now closed. You can still use the form above to send me the link of your reply or sign in with your email to leave a comment. You can always send me a message, too.

Search

Proud member of An IndieWeb Webring 🕸💍