Tentative route

I'm finding that the trip planning makes for a good break from schoolwork and dissertation. So I spent a few hours Friday working on this, and with feedback from Dad and well traveled Uncle John, came up with this:

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Any suggestions are welcome! This has us going by Western Lake Tahoe/Truckee/Reno to start, then to Salt Lake via Route 50, Great Basin and some of the forests in Utah. From Salt Lake, it's onto Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, then through the Big Horns (a long scenic route, via Route 14A, then back through Route 14, and then Route 16), to Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, and then to Indianapolis to visit my Dad's friend. From there, we're stopping in Pennsylvania Dutch country since I missed most of the sights when I was there for my interview. And then home to CT!

I'm so excited to see these places. It's one thing to see photos of these places - and it certainly fosters more enthusiasm - but to be in the midst of so much natural beauty will be wonderful and a welcome change and respite from city life.

rationalizing

It has been a long time since I kept a public blog, but now that I am preparing for a cross country drive in June, I'd like to have a forum to share my experiences, photos and video with my family and friends. 

I don't think this is news for anyone at this point, that I'm moving from San Francisco to New Jersey for my internship. I'm leaving May 31st or June 1st with my Dad and we expect to take 10 to 15 days to travel, spending most of our time in Yellowstone and I suppose any other state or national parks along the way. We don't have a plan set in stone yet, so suggestions on where to go and what to see are welcome! 

As I prepare, I am looking for a car (hybrid Civic vs. Fit vs. Yaris vs. Insight) not so much geared toward the drive itself, but for economy, low mileage and greenness. (Car advice is also very welcome.) The rest of the time I have been shipping boxes to CT, working on my dissertation proposal which needs to be accepted before I leave (!!!), and working on/thinking about working on two papers for my electives this semester (30 pages!). Okay, and having some fun with my friends here and Kevin. I'll be selling all my furniture and some other things, too, so maybe I'll post the craigslist links here. 

It will be a big change, leaving behind the community of classmates and colleagues I have here and starting all over. It will be nice to be near the psychoanalytic community in NYC but I have heard it's somewhat different than the one here, and I don't think they have so much going on for students/prelicensed clinicians. I think that might be one of the hardest things about leaving, because I have relied on my colleague-friends so much to get through this process. Of course I am also leaving behind other friends who balance out my psych.-heavy community. There's a lot I will miss, but I am also gaining so much with this internship (I can't wait to begin!) and being nearer to my East Coast friends and family. 

I think at first I may use this space to process (did I ever use that term in this way before grad school?) the change, but after May 31st, it will be mostly about our travels. After losing all my Italy pictures on my old hard drive (until I have thousands of dollars just sitting around to pay for restoration), it will be nice to have all the media from this trip in another place aside from my laptop. And I hope that some will enjoy what I share here.