Well, it was a long trip from Richmond to Rexburg but it was tons of fun. We were ready to get out of Richmond and get back to school but not without seeing our family and friends along the way. This is my 4th time driving across the country and this one, by far, was the most epic.
Our first stop along the way (well, not really along the way but one of our most desired destinations) was Florida to see Trevor, Lesley and Riggs. But first, we had to go through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
I felt it necessary to stop at every state line to get a picture. Makenna wasn't too fond of the idea in the beginning.We had a great time in Florida. It was good to see Riggs...... oh and Trevor and Lesley. One day, we all headed to the beach. The water didn't bring much relief from the heat since it felt like taking a bath but it was nice and relaxing.
Trevor and Lesley introduced us to some good ole southern cooking at Hungry Harry's.
And the Riggs Show continues....
We also found time to head to a Rays game which they won in dramatic fashion. We bought cheap seats and then moved up to some pretty good seats since the stadium was empty.
One of our last days in Florida, Makenna and I went to a beautiful beach called Siesta Beach.It was a recommendation of my Boss Farnsworth. Siesta Beach has been ranked multiple times as having the best sand in the world. It lived up to the hype. It was very white and very fine, felt like powder. Another plus was that everyone in Florida had gone back to school so it was practically empty.
Well, except for these two guys. My guess is one, European and two, friends with Barney Frank, Adam Lambert, Ricky Martin and Lance Bass.
Then it was off to Nawlins with a few stops along the way. At the Louisiana sign, Makenna was not happy because I accidentally pulled over on to a giant ant hill and she was a casualty of that.
New Orleans was an experience. It's a place we don't ever plan on going back to. We stayed in the French Quarter in a nice hotel for only $45 a night and stayed two nights. The best thing about New Orleans was definitely the food. I liked the fried gator, catfish and hushpuppies and the donuts that Lesley suggested were excellent for breakfast on the road. We spent a full day walking around the Quarter. The architecture was pretty sweet but we stayed inside at night. It was dirty, smelled and gave us a creepy feeling at night.Just chowin' down on some fried gator.
This is Makenna and the inner courtyard of our hotel.
Don't mess with Texas! After New Orleans, we took off for San Antonio. 
We got in around 4 or 5 in the afternoon and checked out the Alamo. It was a lot smaller than I was expecting and it only took us about 10 minutes to check it out. 
Makenna and I then walked around on the Riverwalk for an hour or so. It was nice, clean and family-oriented. The opposite of Nawlins.
We stayed about 90 minutes outside of San Antonio in Junction, Texas. This was a nice small town of a couple thousand people. The motel we stayed in was straight out of a murder scene from CSI but it was a good price. I thought the funniest part was Makenna on the bed and peeking under the bed to see if there were any bugs. ( There were but all of them dead.) 
We then headed to Arizona to stay with some friends of Makenna in Chandler, AZ. It was hot, about 105 degrees at 8 at night. We went out for some ice cream with some of my mission buddies and their significant others. I thought Tuscon was a pretty place and supposedly it's not as hot as the Phoenix area.
Mother nature calls at the border of New Mexico and Arizona.
The next morning, we took off for Albany. Highlights along this section of the trip included a stop at In and Out Burger for lunch and getting so annoyed with traffic as we went through L.A. and its surroundings. It was a Sunday afternoon bumper to bumper and I just don't know how people can handle that everyday.
Makenna wasn't the happiest when I woke her up at 1am to take a picture in front of the Oregon sign.
It was good to be back in Oregon for a few days. It was the first time for us back in Oregon since we got married. The timing worked out well too since everyone was back in town. One day, Makenna and I went to the Oregon Coast. The last time I went to the Oregon Coast was before my mission.
I made sure that I squeezed in a few rounds of golf with Riley and Bossman. I was victorious in both attempts. While the whole family was in town, we went swimming out at the Wiests.
Our trip wasn't done yet. We went up to Kirkland and spent a few days with Makenna's familly. On the way up there, our beautiful Malibu Maxx crossed the 100,000 mile mark. We've put 42,000 miles on that car since we got it in March 2009.
Due to the difficulty of getting a picture in front of the Washington sign off the freeway in Vancouver, I used some of the very little creativity that I have to produce a picture.
Washington was a great visit with a lot of events packed in there. Makenna's brother, Taylor, left for his mission to the South Salt Lake Mission so we were able to go through the temple with him and listen to him speak in church. A common theme of our trips to Washington is food. Now, that may come to the surprise of many of you since you would think that would consume the Winn part of the trip. One night, we went out to an all you can eat Chinese buffet with all of her extended family. We got to meet Elijah, Makenna's first cousin on her mom's side.
Another night, we went with just the Jollys to the Crab Pot. This place is unique because you don't really have any dishes. You pay per person and then they just bring out all kinds of sea food like crab, oysters, clams, mussels. Then, they dump it all on the table and you take what you want. It was a little messy but they did give us some bibs. 
Dean at his finest.
The last activity was family pictures before Taylor left. You can't tell in the pictures, but Dean's face was majorly sun-burnt. He was oozing and peeling and looked like a lepor but I guess it's a good thing for Photo Shop.
We concluded this epic journey on Sept. 1st when we made it back to our nice, little apartment in Rexburg.
