Under the Tucson Sun… August 8, 2009

Forgive me if there are some errors or typos throughout this entry…I am exhausted from the events of the last week.  Owen and I got married last friday, the 31st.  It was a wonderful day, but it flew by so quickly that sometimes I need to remind myself that it really happened.  We packed our belongings and headed out on the road on Tuesday morning and after some tearful goodbyes, were soon on the road to Arizona.  Owen and I drove my little ’99 Saturn (more fondly referred to as Stewart) and Owen’s dad and brother followed us in a minivan crammed full of our junk.  It was a 26 hour trip in total, which we did without stopping.  We stopped in Omaha to see Owen’s friend Courtland who just moved out there to start a teaching job.  This was when my shift of driving began and I was lucky enough to drive all the way across the belly of Nebraska which was god-awful boring.  Not sure how I made it out of there…thank you god for the GPS!  The only issue that we had during the entire trip was when we got into Denver at about 1:00 am and the fuel light came on in the van.  The GPS must be set to a default that searches for the most sketchy points-of-interests in the entire city because the gas station we were brought to featured old fashioned gas pumps and a man carrying a breifcase while wearing a trench coat without any pants on.  But we soon made it out of there with a full tank of gas.  We arrived in Tucson at about 2:30 on Wednesday and it was a scorching 108 degrees!  It was also at this time that we decided to unload the van and the car and carry everything up to the second storey.  By the time we were done we had lost about 40 pounds of water between the 4 of us.  Hello Tucson!  Dry heat my ass!

The area we are in is amazing!  We are on the city limits of Tucson in a residential area.  The road that leads up to the apartment entrance is incredibly scenic and the mountains tower over us to the north.  Saguaro cacti litter the landscape with scattered palm trees in the valley.  There is rarely a cloud in the sky so it is always beautiful.  We live in the northeastern part of the city near Sabino Canyon, so we are at a higher level of elevation.  The city itself has height restrictions on the buildings  so it has developed itself outward rather than upward.  That way the mountains are visible from anywhere in the city.  The sun sets very rapidly at about 8 pm which works fine for people around here anyway since during the summer season most people stay inside during the main chunk of the day.  It makes me want to go to bed at about 9 pm so I feel old.

Owen and I have been working all week to try to finish furnishing the apartment and unpacking all of our boxes.  The result of this is an entire room filled completely from floor to ceiling with boxes and plastic wrap.  We purchased our couch and bed frame from ikea in Tempe and our entertainment center, end tables, lamps, dishes, etc from target.  We were able to find a really nice wooden folding table from wallmart that will serve as our dinner table.  We just need to find chairs for it.  We still have a lot left to do before we can officially call it our home but the apartment is shaping up nicely.  I will post pictures once things come together a little better.

Lots of changes…this next week I need to apply for jobs like our lives depended on it (cuz it kind of does), we have to get new licenses and plates for the Saturn, I have to get a new ss card, and change my name on all of my bank and credit cards.  We have to transfer our car insurance down here and also get the car into a shop because the engine has been overheating (can’t say that I can blame it in this weather).  Even though there is a lot to do, we are both taking it in stride and enjoying every minute of it.  We plan to take full advantage of pool this afternoon which I can not wait for.  Living in Tucson is going to be a great adventure for us and we plan not to take a moment for granted.