We have arrived...in heaven...

Ok, so maybe not quite heaven but the fact that we have arrived in Destin, Florida is nothing short of completely heavenly! No more waking up in a new city, in a different bed...knowing that we only hours and hours of driving ahead of us - in the big, wide world - known as the U.S. of A. Admittedly, it has not all been bad - it has been fantastic...getting to drive through (or at least to) 8 states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida - 5 of which I have never been) - countless number of cities and even more stories to count. I will remember this experience for the rest of my life. But, in the same breath, I am SO glad to be home (or at least home for the next two months and a bit) - knowing that tomorrow, we will drive no more than a few miles and we can start to enjoy our time together and spend time with our great friends that we know (the amazing Lee family!!!) and those we will meet. My parents offered today to fly across the country and drive our car back so we won't have to do the return trip. While it is a wonderful, amazing, completely generous offer - neither of us can imagine putting them through the drive and giving them the honor of seeing the amazing U.S.A. - just kidding mom and dad!

We woke up late this morning - ok, late for us these days is at 8-ish am (which my body still claims to be 6am!) in New Orleans. I was in no hurry to ready myself for the drive ahead since Andrew told me the night before that he definitely had to put in a few hours of work before we hit the road for our final day of travel. But, I was still anxious to get on the road since I knew in about 5 hours, it would all be over and I could see my friends Brooke and Brittany again....which made the all the hours on the road completely worth it. But, this morning, we didn’t do much in New Orleans except putter on the internet and of course, I got my morning cup of coffee and anxiously stared at Andrew, willing him to finish his work!

As far as where we’ve been today – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, I can't really claim to have seen Mississippi nor Alabama except we stopped at the Applebee's for lunch in Mississippi and drove by Alabama – where apparently stars shine down on this state.

Anyways, at the Applebee’s in Mississippi, I realized a few things.
1) It was totally apparent that neither Andrew nor I were considered “locals” anymore. I think Andrew’s accent gave it away ☺. Also, the fact that our poor waitress had to deal with the fact that when she tried to use Southern slang, I had absolutely no idea that she was speaking English. Amazingly, Andrew was able to translate – and yes, please read that word again – amazingly.
2) I hadn’t seen another Asian person since we left LA and at that, it was only because my parents happen to be Asian and we stopped by to say goodbye to them.
3) Tea is a totally different thing here. You have to say unsweetened tea or else they give you tea that is sickeningly sweet.

This is going to be a great summer.
Driving into Destin I think was the most exciting part of the entire trip! Knowing we were minutes away from our home and our friends just brightened my day. We have already stopped by the photo studio (owned by one of my very best friends, Brooke Lee) - where I will be "working" for the rest of the summer. We have also already made our first friends – a precocious little boy named Zane (who excitedly told me he skateboarded like Tony Hawk) and his father, Craig. They live on top of the studio.
Our condo is amazing! Even better than our apartment in LA. Hardwood floors, washer dryer, huge kitchen. We can even see a slit of the beach in the distance. Amazing. Please come to visit. I’ll post photos when I figure how to….maybe next week when my sweet husband returns to LA for work and I have more time.
We’re about to go watch our first sunset – which Brooke tells us is at 7:45….then off to have dinner with Brooke and Britt. Can’t wait!
Love and Hugs from Destin!