Our Move From San Diego to Chicago

Now that we’re getting a bit more settled into our new home in Chicago, I wanted to take some time to do a little recap of our journey from San Diego!

In case you aren’t familiar, my husband and I have lived in San Diego for the past 6+ years, and work has brought us back to where we’re both originally from: the greater Chicago area! Except this time, we’re in the actual city. (He grew up in the suburbs, and I’m from more of a rural area.)

Towards the end of December, we had officially emptied our condo and packed our car full (most of our stuff went with movers). We spent 4.5 days driving from southern California to northern Illinois.

Before locking our condo with the keys left on the counter (I always think of the last episode of Friends when we do this), Matt got our last San Diego meal: massive breakfast burritos from Palominos (in Kearny Mesa). After that, we finished loading the car and got started on day 1 of our road trip.

Road Trip: Day 1 (San Diego to Tuscon)

Tuscon, Arizona was our first destination, which took about 6 hours. Once we got there and were done sitting in traffic (we forgot to account for the time change and rush hour), we threw our stuff in the hotel room and left to go to a brewery Matt found. I highly recommend Iron John’s Brewing if you find yourself in the area! (Our brewery bartender lady was amazing.

Road Trip: Day 2 (Tuscon to Albuquerque)

The next morning, we set out to Albuquerque, New Mexico. On the way, we stopped in Truth or Consequences (their real town name) at a random brewery we found. We got lunch in Hatch, where everything had chiles in it, because in case it wasn’t obvious, that’s what they’re known for. This day didn’t really have a lot to see, but similar to most days, plenty of cows and open space was a guarantee.

And that night as we were trying to find any place to eat (that wasn’t packed completely full), we ended up at…basically an empty nightclub (which we were not expecting). We were the only ones there, and it was incredibly awkward as we ordered food (which was clearly not their main attraction) from the bored employees. As we were leaving, we noticed the billboard that advertised bikinis and tan lines. Suddenly it all made sense. #Fail

Road Trip: Day 3 (Albuquerque to OKC)

Once we were done with our strange experience in Albuquerque, we headed out [dark] and early the next morning for Oklahoma City. Halfway through the day, we had plans to meet up with a friend who happened to be driving from OKC to Albuquerque! We decided to have a really chill night once we got to the city, just wanting to lay low since it was one of our longer days. I will say, though: one great thing about long road trip days during the winter is you get to see both the sunrise and sunset in clear view.

Road Trip: Day 4 (OKC to St. Louis)

The next day we were feeling a bit more optimistic, because it was our last full-day drive. St. Louis, Missouri was our destination, and it signified that our road trip was nearing its end. At that point, we were both a bit over it and ready to be out of the car. Despite living close-ish to St. Louis growing up, neither of us had ever been there, so we tried a little harder to enjoy the city. We got food at this fun hipstery restaurant and then finished our night at a brewery (shocking, right?!), playing a bit of pool before ending our night.

For the last morning of our road trip, we decided to go to the St. Louis Arch to do something touristy. It was technically closed due to the government shutdown, but it was still worth visiting since we were already so close.

Road Trip: Day 5 (St. Louis to Chicago)

We started out our last day headed towards Indianapolis without realizing it, which was totally my fault. The whole journey, I was determined to see the “biggest [object] in the world” or something similar. Why? Because they’re everywhere, sound underwhelming, yet have some weird touristy appeal. Once I realized the cluster of “World’s Biggest” objects we were headed towards were in INDIANA, we immediately changed our path, because that stuff is not worth changing day 5 of a road trip for.

Since we couldn’t get the keys to our new apartment yet (since it was Christmas Eve), we ended up driving to my in-law’s house. Even though we were anxious to finally get to our new home, I’ll admit that not going to an empty apartment and instead staying with family worked out for the best.

Now, anytime I’m not working (I was able to make my job as a writer a remote gig), I’m unpacking box after box. We’ve never had someone move us before, so it was shocking to see all our stuff boxed up and all in one room. As weird as it sounds, I really love packing and unpacking, so I’ve been perfectly happy taking the lead on sorting it all out (though we both worked super hard the first weekend because we needed some basics).

Since it’s pretty cold outside and we’ve both been really busy, we haven’t had the chance to explore too much around our new area yet. I think I’m still in denial about the fact we don’t live in San Diego anymore, like we’ll walk back into our old condo and everything will be the same. And although that does make me sad, I know this is where we need to be. We’re both really excited to be back in Chicago, near family, and starting a new chapter in our lives.

Lots of new adventures to come! Thanks for reading. 🙂