The Move to Texas

The craziest time of our lives was finally here. After graduation, Nate's commissioning ceremony, and a nice week in Park City with our families, we started the adventure of a lifetime. The movers came and packed all of our things and we headed off the next day.

The first stop was Littleton, Colorado to spend one night with Nate's family. That was an 8-hour drive. 


The next morning, we headed off to Roswell, New Mexico. That was about another 8 hours. I offered to drive but Nate insisted he was okay both days. We stopped into the UFO museum in Roswell, which Nate was extremely excited for. Sadly, it was a little bit of a letdown because all there was to do was reading and more reading. I think we were expecting things like a big UFO to tour and more hands-on exhibits. Even though they don't have a real UFO, it would still make the museum more interesting and fun for kids or people that don't like to read that much, like me :). It was still fun to say we did it. It was also funny to have such a themed city. There were pictures of aliens all over and signs on businesses saying, "aliens welcome".

 After Roswell, we went another hour to Carlsbad, NM, where we stayed at a Fairfield Inn. We were unable to use my mom's Marriott employee discount because there weren't enough rooms available but we found out we could use the military discount and get 2 beds for the same price as the employee discount. Next, we stopped by a restaurant called, Cortez Famous Mexican Food, which was really good. We thought it was interesting that in Utah and Colorado, most of the employees at Mexican restaurants seem to be hispanic but at this restaurant, all employees were caucasian...not what we expected. Anyway, our food was really good and it was awesome that they gave both complimentary chips and salsa for the appetizer AND sopapillas (scones and honey) for dessert. YUM!!!

Thursday morning, the last day of our drive, we headed off to Carlsbad Caverns. That was definitely a worthwhile stop. We took an elevator about 750 feet down into the ground and then took about a 1 1/2 mile walk through the big room of the caverns. 




                  

After the caverns, we headed toward our final stop--Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas. It was so weird to think that it would be our new home. It was kind of an interesting drive because there were lots of border patrol trucks driving along  the side road. That is when you know you are close to Mexico. When we got close to Del Rio, we were pleasantly surprised by the pretty reservoir and how blue it was. Del Rio was also better than I was expecting. There isn't a Nordstrom or Macys but there is a JCPenney and other clothing stores. There are a lot of restaurants too. When we got to Laughlin, we were surprised at how well it is kept up. There are palm trees, which is fun because it makes me feel like we are in a tropical vacation spot. The lawns are perfectly cut and edged.

This is Laughlin Manor, the base hotel we will be staying at for awhile...could be a week, could be three. Hopefully it won't be too long because it is just like a basic hotel room but with a fridge and microwave. It's pretty tiny. There was a form that we read when we found out we would be moving to Laughlin that said, "Do NOT contact housing until you get on base and start your in-processing." I guess that was meant for the single Lt's because it's a privately owned company that takes care of family housing on base and they said that since we didn't call ahead of time, it could be quite some time before they can get us moved in because they need to get the cleaners into the house and get it fixed up. I don't know why it would take weeks to do. We tried to be extra nice and help them understand our situation because we heard that they tend to do special favors for people they like. Nate showed them the form online because they said others were having the same problem. They really appreciated that and are going to try to get the military to fix the form...so hopefully since we did them a favor, they will do us a favor.

Anyway, so today is Diversity Day...whatever that is. This means a lot of businesses on base are closed and there was a big picnic on base ("mandatory fun"). We were planning on getting a lot of in-processing done today but I guess we will have to wait until Monday. This means we still don't have a mailing address, we don't have health insurance, and I don't have a military ID, so I can't get on and off base or go shopping without Nate. I probably wouldn't go anywhere without him right now anyway because we are always together. So...this is just going to be a very relaxing weekend. I am not sure what to do with so much free time, especially with most of my things in boxes, probably somewhere in Utah. That is probably why I actually blogged for the first time in my life.