Scranton

This place deserves a post of it's own. Oh Scranton, where do I begin. I must first say, I had culture shock more than I ever would have imagined. And I know you're all totally interested in what Scranton is really like. Here are a few fun facts and observations we've come to learn about our new home:

- Moving here was like stepping back in time 30 years.
- Seriously, all the houses are super old, all hardwood floors, and no air conditioning. My guidelines for a carpeted, air-conditioned apartment were tossed out the window when we quickly discovered this. (Sigh.)
- Vice President Joe Biden grew up just a few houses away from us. Everyone loves to tell us that, he's a celeb around here.
- Everybody smokes. And when I say everybody, I really mean EVERYBODY. You'll see like 12 year-olds running around with cigs. Blows my mind.
- Everyone also buys lottery tickets. Given, this is new to me because we don't have the lottery in Utah, but man there are lines everywhere for those little gems.
- You can tell this town is old because of the driving situation. Cars parked everywhere, roads going everywhere. Mark my words, Dave or I will be in a wreck in the next year.
- The people here are incredibly friendly! A few friends here will argue that, but I really have never met nicer people in my life.
- The libraries and parks here are amazing. I wish I could take them with me back to Utah.
- You know that sign from The Office? Apparently too many people were taking pictures by it, causing traffic jams and such so they pulled it out and put it in the local mall. Lame. No picture for me.
- And for my favorite Scranton story....they used to have a little zoo here. Really, it is tiny, we did a drive-by. They had an elephant there named Tony. Someone fed Tony a softball and he choked on it and died. They didn't know what to do with the giant elephant, so they threw him down and old mining cave? Say what? There is a huge elephant in a cave around here. That just describes this place perfectly. Poor Tony.

All right, I will stop. I hope that painted a fascinating image of our new home that we are growing to love. So far, we've met some great people. We have an awesome landlord, great neighbors, and fabulous friends. I feel lucky to have found such great friends already.

For my family and friends who have been asking, here a few pics of our new casa. It's actually pretty cool. This place reminds me of the Avenues in Salt Lake. We have glass doorknobs and awesome chandeliers. I wish these walls could talk.

The bedrooms are huge which is nice...

And I had to throw this bathroom pic in because doesn't the seashell sink rock?

And for the best part! We didn't bring anything with us. Since we knew we'd only be here a year or so, we left all home decor at home. We even sold our dinner table and brought our card table to eat on. We were totally going back to poor college student days. Well, this place has like a restaurant style booth. It's money. We scored a real table!

There you have it, welcome to Scranton!