Day 38 - Power drive back home to Raleigh

Final day, we got up early, packed the car for the final time, and set out for the 12 hour drive home to meet Zadie's request to be at home for her 10th birthday. We loved the trip, but it was time to be home.

Final stats:

7,317 miles
19 states
7 national parks
12 nights camping
15 nights in hotels
10 nights with family

I feel incredibly fortunate that we were able to do this together. I hope our travels not only give us unplugged time together and great family memories, but show the girls what a great variety of places and experiences exist in our country and world, and empower them, later, to feel comfortable exploring new places and possibilities for themselves. Until the next adventure, that's a wrap!

Next Up - The Great American Road Trip!

Dear reader - and here I'm speaking primarily to myself, as I'm writing mainly to document these memories for my own future enjoyment - I must apologize. I barely captured anything here about our Costa Rica trip in summer 2024, and nothing at all about our two weeks in Prague and Vienna in 2025. Maybe someday I'll catch up, but in the meantime, let's forge ahead! This summer we're staying in the US. Time for a nearly 6-week long road trip! Why now? Ruth will be a senior in high school next year, so this might (?) be the last time we can all do such a long trip together. Bill quit his job in April (yay for FIRE, aka Financial Independence / Retire Early... but that's a whole separate post), so we've got this short window where we all have the time freedom to do it. Here's the plan: Leg 1 - Raleigh west to Denver. We'll visit Asheville, Chattanooga, Huntsville, Memphis, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, and Great Sand Dunes National Park along the...

Wall and shower (?!) paint

Last post, I mentioned that we'd painted the walls, so here are finally some pics. The color was pre-selected for us: we found this teal on one of the three layers of walls that we demoed. Bill installed a fan in the wall above the window, which got new trim to match the rest of the house. He also put in two recessed lights in the ceiling, a medicine cabinet, and a light over the cabinet. In the pics below, you'll see only the top half of the wall painted, since the bottom half will have white beadboard. The last picture shows the shower area, painted in a crazy "liquid rubber" waterproofing goo (ShowerSeal). Here's hoping that works.

Dishwasher and stove and sink, oh my!

Bill took today off work, and blew my mind. When I left this morning, the stove was in the entryway. I came home to find our stove in place and working. While I was playing with all the knobs and seeing how high a quick boil gas flame goes (answer: pretty darn high), I noticed a strange noise. It was the dishwasher. A running dishwasher!! Do you understand how fabulous that is?! It has been 6 months since I've heard that noise. And that meant... water is on throughout the kitchen. We have a sink! In the kitchen! A big one! Unlike the little pedestal sink in the downstairs bath, it's big enough to wash dishes in. Of course, screw washing dishes by hand - we have a working dishwasher! Woohoo! If that all wasn't enough, Bill also installed the under- and over-cabinet LED light strips. Nice!! We still have plenty to do here, including installing the tile backsplash, adding baseboards, and trimming out the doors. Cabinet installer also has a few tasks - filling that hole next to...

McBerkoBlog

Search This Blog