Making Our Way to California

Wednesday 17 June 2009 at 10:21 pm

We just completed a cross country trip traveling over 2,700 miles by car from New Jersey to California, stopping in 6 cities, visiting friends and family.

Before we left New Jersey we spent four days with our family.  We have never driven cross country and while we were anxious to return to California we wanted to take in a few sites.  Our first stop was a small town in Ohio called Yellow Springs.  We stayed at The Arthur Morgan House . 

As we entered there was group of women sitting around a dining room table singing a cappella in a foreign language.  It was delightful and learned the next day they were practicing for a concert to be held in the living room of the home and they were singing in Czechoslovakian.  We also ate in the small town home to Antioch College and had our first Peruvian meal at the Williams Eatery & Gathering Place . Pretty cool first night.  Next morning we had an organic breakfast and met four other travelers and shared some stories.

We traveled to St. Louis next but stopped off in Indianapolis to visit and have lunch with Darryn and Loree.  They are Pastor friends of ours from Philadelphia and left to start a new church in Indy called The Heartland Church at the same time we moved to California.  We had a great visit and made it to the Four Seasons by 6pm.  We had a very interesting adventure in search of original St. Louis pizza at IMO's .  It would take too much space to tell the whole story but let me just say we went to IMO's in a stretch limo.  I never did that before.  Our room at the Four Seasons (thanks to my niece Jennifer) was on the 11th floor close enough to touch was the Arch.   

I forgot the flash.  The silhouette is my wife Maryann.  Next day we left for Oklahoma City making a quick stop at Cuba, Missouri that's right Cuba named after the island of Cuba it is on Route 66.

  Motoring on we made it to our next Bed and Breakfast in Oklahoma City called The Grandison Inn at Maney Park  and had dinner at 1492 New World Latin Cuisine .  Absolutely spectacular accommodations and dinner was the best. 

We then went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum  .  We were there at dusk for a reason. The 168 chairs you see pictured are on the former site of the Federal Building that was bombed and represents empty seat around a dinning room table. 

The base of each chair is illuminated at night to symbolize a thought to keep the person in your mind.    We had a lecture from a National Park Ranger who explained the entire memorial.  I have only been to one other memorial/museum that moved me like this one and it is the Holocaust Museum in DC.  Very solemn yet it offers hope.  Next morning we had another great breakfast and met some local people.  The woman was a nurse on-duty the day of the bombing.  We then left for Albuquerque and there is absolutely nothing between Oklahoma City and Albuquerque (no offense Amarillo).  We arrived at our last Bed and Breakfast The Mauger Bed & Breakfast Inn .  It was phenomenal.

Next day we were off to Phoenix our final stop before California.  We had lunch on Route 66 just outside Flagstaff, Arizona at Brandy's Restaurant & Bakery featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Pretty cool!

Later that afternoon we visited with my Aunt in Phoenix who we had not seen for several years.  It was great.  The following day we completed the last leg of our 2,700 mile journey and arrived safe at our home in Valenicia.  We are gradually recovering.