On the Road...

Ever since I was a little girl my family has done road trips. Mostly we drove the 13 hours from our house in Florida to my Papaw and Mamaw's house in Kentucky. One year we did drive from Florida to Maine which was pretty awesome, but since I wasn't driving then I mainly read or watched movies with my brother instead of really soaking in the sights.
But I do believe that all those hours in the car set my heart up for loving road trips. I took several in college and loved each one.  I've always dreamt of driving up the coast of Northern California through the winding roads of the coast and through the Redwood Forest, last week I got to do just that.
One of my dearest friends from college, Karisse, asked me to join her on a road trip from LA to Portland and I jumped at the opportunity.

in Santa Cruz

In San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge with our mascot friend Mikaila

 We took the drive slow and enjoyed each moment. In a way, it was a chance to celebrate 14 years of friendship and to celebrate life. Where we are right now is not not where we expected, what we are doing right now is not what we expected. Singleness in our 30's is not what we expected. Cancer, death, heartbreak, is not what we expected. 14 years ago when we were freshmen neither of us would have predicted that we would be where we are...

we got to drive through a tree!

Look, Big foot is real!

 But it's been an amazing journey that neither of us would change because of the things that we have learned from it. Do we wish that things could have gone differently, yes. Do we see God's plan in it all, sometimes. Has it been worth it, in the end. For me, road trips signify and remind me of the way that I need to live life. As a journey that I take slow and enjoy the stops along the way. Like the unexpected pit stops because you see something that catches the corner of your eye that you've just got to see for yourself, life is full of things that can catch you off guard but if you take the chance it could end up the best part of the journey. 

Standing in a Red Wood

Breathtaking

So big! So magnificent!

Karisse was right, this was darn good coffee

dancing on the beach

Karisse's favorite flowers

Elk! Right off the road

My Favorite random pit stop of all. Paul Bunyan and his faithful bull, Babe...

This road trip was redeeming for me. I had passed it up once before for a boy that broke my heart. But not this time. This time we made the trip, we laughed, we cried, we drove. Maybe a little like Thelma and Louise. Oh, and we took pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. (I would show you more, but already I have way too many for one blog post.) This trip was about friendship. A friendship that had spanned a decade and more than a thousand miles. Thanks Karisse!