Times they are a'changin...

A few months ago, Tom and I made the decision that 2011 was the year to leave New York and start our next adventure. After four years in the Big Apple, we are ready to see what the rest of the country (and other countries) have to offer. By August, hopefully we'll have satiated some of that travel itch (does it ever go away?) and be ready to settle down in the southeast.

Here's the rough outline of our adventure:

• April 11 - pack up our suitcases and our cat; drive a rental car to Charlotte, NC
• spend a few days in Charlotte with Melissa's family; find/buy a car (!!!); leave cat with Melissa's parents
• spend a few days in Chapel Hill with Tom's family
• hit Asheville, then head south to Key West with stops in Charleston, Savannah, St. Augustine, etc.
  
• hug the southern border of the U.S. all the way to California with frequent stops & zig zags (Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Austin, etc., etc.)
  
• drive up the Western Coast from southern Cali up to Portland (with even more stops & zig zags inland)
• hit British Columbia, then hug the northern border of the U.S. , wrap around the Great Lakes
• turn north to Canada again (Montreal, Toronto), and then back into the U.S. to revisit some of our faves in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and of course - NYC
• if we have time/energy/money - cross the Atlantic to Europe by plane or by sea (and this leg of the journey is a giant question mark - no idea when/where/how long this will be)
  
• head south with stops in Philly, D.C., etc.
• regroup in North Carolina, find a new place to live, start the next phase of our lives!

The cities we're considering living in are (subject to change, of course):

1. Charleston, SC
   
2. Savannah, GA
3. Chapel Hill/Durham, NC
4. Asheville, NC
5. Wilmington, NC
6. Washington, DC

So, lots of excitement and adventure coming up for us... and lots of question marks! This blog won't really get going until the end of the month, but around Easter there should be lots of awesome updates and photos starting to pour in so you can live vicariously through our journey (and so our moms will know that we're alive/safe).

"Afoot and light-hearted [we] take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before [us], the path before [us] leading wherever [we] choose."