Road Trip!

We made it! We are now residents of the state of New Hampshire. Cait is in the thick of medical school. I am in the thick of trying to get our home organized, as well as registering, licensing, insuring, and organizing our lives.

However, we had an unforgettable time getting here and that's worth sharing!

Upon leaving Cait's folks' home in Seattle,  we spent a little over two weeks traveling across the country, stopping along the way to see friends and family or just do fun things! The image above more or less depicts our route of travel.We hit Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and finally New Hampshire!

Some Memorable Moments:
-  Cait's folks seeing us off.
- The entire drive without air conditioning!
- My sister informing, as I finished complaining, that vehicles didn't used to have air conditioning (a.k.a Suck It Up!).
- Going on two brutal mountain bike rides in Sun Valley.
- Burgers in Victor.
- Watching our nephew on his bicycle.
- Spending time with the Hopemans!
- Hiking to the falls.
- Riding Johnny Behind The Rocks.
- Fremont Canyon!
- Having some punk teenagers steal our camping chairs and getting said chairs back.
- Jumping into Pathfinder Reservoir with my folks.
-Watching Adam and Pearson compete in a triathlon.
- Seeing my ski coaches at the triathlon.
- Visiting Laramie after many years away!
- Vedauwoo!
- Mount Rushmore at sunset!
- Seeing Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls!
- Going to Iowa, just because we wanted to.
- Seeing every Twin Cities located Hopeman there was to see.
- Spending the day with my Grandfather.
- The S.S. Badger Ferry across Lake Michigan.
- Catching up with family you haven't seen in such a long time!
- Poppycock's Restaurant, Traverse City, MI
- Road construction signs with low speed limits that play host to no apparent road construction.
- Spending time with Cait's Grandmother.
- The George Washington Bridge.
- Three Stones Restaurant, Brattleboro, VT.
- Crossing the New Hampshire state line.
- Arriving to our new home in the dark.
- Meeting our wonderful landlords.
- Two weeks of absolute wonder, exploration, and beauty.

Cait and I have been to 25 states together! Whoa! Only 25 to go!

Who's in for Hawaii?

Riley

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The Hopemans!

Whirlwind

What a difference a month can make! This past month has been jam-packed and our lives are on a much different track than they were the last time we posted. Thus, my hope is that this entry will serve as an update of everything Caitlin & Riley.

On June 16th, I graduated from IslandWood! It was a wonderful celebration of my ten month program made all the sweeter by having my folks and Caitlin's folks in attendance. I will sure miss my colleagues, professors, faculty, and students but feel much more empowered as an educator than ever before.



Four days later I awoke feeling like I was making an enormous mistake. I didn't want to spend the first year of our marriage across the country from my soon-to-be wife. I didn't want to attend the University of Washington. I didn't want to live in Seattle. I quickly realized that I wouldn't be as happy as I wanted to be. Fortunately, Caitlin was incredibly supportive and understanding.

For the entire morning, I scoured the internet looking for Master of Education programs in the vicinity of where Caitlin will be doing her medical school. I'd missed the application deadline for most. Many schools didn't offer an Elementary Education focus. I sent out a slew of e-mails and the first to respond came from a woman at Antioch University New England. She was incredibly kind, offering to hear me out and answering my countless questions. The more I spoke with her, the more incredible Antioch sounded. This was exciting! I was never this excited about the University of Washington...

So, I applied and waited for my paperwork to make its way across the country via USPS.

On June 23rd, we drove to Idaho to finalize our wedding preparations.

On June 24th, I had a wonderful interview with an Antioch faculty member that I thought went really well.

June 27, June 28, June 29, June 30 - Wedding, Wedding, Wedding! We got married. It was incredible! We cannot stop talking about how amazing it all was and how fortunate we were and are. It deserves its own blog and we will definitely take the time to post some photographs as soon as we have those.



Since our wedding it's been go, go, go... After all we are moving across the country!

Oh, and on June 3rd, I was accepted to Antioch University New England!

Otherwise, we've packed up our apartment and carted everything over to Caitlin's folks' home in Seattle.



We had two UHaul "U-Boxes" dropped at Caitlin's folks' driveway.



We filled them to the gills!



They picked them up and they're on the way to New Hampshire!



And now?

We have a couple more days in the Seattle area before we are road-tripping our way across the country in a honeymoon-eqsue, mountain-biking-theme-esque, see-loved-ones-along-the-way-esque, take-in-the-sights-esque, enjoy-our-wonderful-lives-esque manner.

We hit the road Sunday bound for Hampsha! Touch base with us if you are en route and feel so inclined! Our navigational beacon is bound for adventure!

Riley