Final Countdown

Well, I failed to give a big update after our apartment-hunting trip in April, and then life became a whirlwind of trying to get this dissertation finished up!  For the past couple of weeks we've been on our "farewell tour" with family and friends, driving to various cities in Texas to see everyone before the big move.  Right now we're at Brad's mom's house, watching the Baylor baseball game (sic 'em bears!) so I thought it'd be a good time for a blog update, finally.

First of all...on our week-long trip in April, we found the perfect apartment!  We visited 9 different complexes, decided on one, and the night before we were supposed to go sign the lease I changed my mind in favor of a different one (the closet space was the deciding factor, ha!)  Here are some pictures from our trip.  It was neat to experience Albany with Brad for the first time (and really, it was my first time to explore, too, since my interview trip was very short and with a singular purpose!)

Pretty tree outside of our hotel.  We saw a lot of these

Interesting bedding at the Hotel Indigo

Pecan Pie!  at Grandma's pie shop

Here are some pics around our apartment complex of choice!

This is the sitting area inside the apartment office.

View when standing outside the office

Our building!

Our building!  Just four apartments within the building (I think).  Our door is on the right!

Driving on a side road in the complex

Our complex is called "The Woodlands" :)

Pretty park where we ran a few times, I'm sure we'll be coming back here a lot!

View of (I think the NY capital building?) from inside the NY State Museum

Tulips at Washington Park in Albany.  They were all gorgeous.  They had been planted in anticipation of the upcoming Tulip Festival (although I heard most of them died before the festival, sad day!)

The buildings on this street were interesting to us (looked like they were all smooshed together)



Some observations about our trip:

• The people we encountered were a lot nicer than we had heard they would be!  (maybe it was because most people we talked to were getting paid for something -- waitresses, hotel clerks, etc.)
• It's cold.  Well, the day we got there it was 91 degrees, but the following weekend it was rainy and in the 30s/40s.  We had only brought short sleeves and light fleeces, so this was kinda rough.
• Mexican food exists in Albany!  Certainly not like the abundance of tex-mex places we have down here, but we were able to find a couple that we enjoyed.
• I can get just as stressed out driving up there as I do down here.  Always the same!
• Many beautiful parks and vibrant colors in the flowers.  Everything was green.  It will be a beautiful place to live.
• We still have NO idea just how cold it will be in the wintertime.  It's smart of my company to get us up there while it's still warm outside :) ("lure us in"!)

Anyway, I'm so excited for the move.  I'm really going to miss our family down here...I've had a couple teary moments already...but it will be such a neat adventure for us.

And since I was so lazy about keeping up with my blog, now we're just a week away from the move and I'll have lots of fun updates coming soon about our new life!