Sunday July 8, 2012

Well, I guess I will try this again...while typing the last draft, I hit the wrong button and cleared everything. Place a few choice words here!!! Anyhow...

Kathy and I went to Mt Rainier on Monday (July 2nd). I left my apt. at about 9:30am and got home about 11:30pm. It was well worth the trip! Such a beautiful place!! Everything was so lush and green. There were a few times while driving down the road, it felt like we were being engulfed by Mother Nature with the branches of the trees covering us. We saw multiple waterfalls along the road caused by snow runoff. The regular waterfalls were even more spectacular  due to the runoff as well! Kathy even braved a short hike with me to go see a spectacular waterfall!! What a great sport!! MANY pictures were obtained...

We stopped at the new visitor center in Paradise (I think). It was interesting to see the thick/heavy panels they used to cover the windows and doors to protect them from the snow. The ranger told us that they had been open for about 1 1//2  weeks due to the snow cover. Through the winter the building was covered with 30 feet of snow!! When we got there about 5:00, we noticed the cloud cover coming down off the mountain. By the time we left at 6:00, the visitor center was totally engulfed by the cloud. It was sooo cool-in an eerie sort of way! While on the mountain we saw a fox, a marmot, and elk. The only disappointment of the trip was that Mt Rainier was under the clouds the whole time. What a bummer!!! Maybe next time...

Tues/Wed/Thurs were spent working. I did get to see some of the fireworks at Lake Union. I hear that they are some of the best fireworks in the country. It would have been kind of nice to actually go and watch them. I heard that there were over 250,000 people there...some of them were there at 8:00 in the morning! Maybe its a good thing that I didn't go...

Saturday I did some exploring and found Martha Lake! It is a very pretty lake about 30 miles north of Seattle. I also went to Wal Mart for the first time since being in Washington...just saying I STILL HATE WAL MART!!

And on that note, I will write soon-

Safe travels-

Laura

Sunday July 1, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Mom!! Sure wish I could be there...next year.

Caitlin, Amber, and I had a great time this past week! (they were here Sat-Tues) I was glad that I had been here for a few weeks anyway before they arrived, gave me a chance to scope the place out a little bit. Still much more to descover...if only I didn't have to work the few nice days we have had since I've gotten here. Oh well...at least its cooler here then back home! Holy Cow!! Its kind of scary to think what the rest of the summer will bring if its that hot already!! Maybe I should extend my contract here to avoid the heat in the midwest!

I just got off of working 3 nights in a row. Had some good pts to work with (challenging but good). I had to laugh to myself on Saturday  morning...the son of one of my pts came to visit. It looked like he just stepped out of the 80's!! (Think Journey frontman.) He had the shoulder length, feathered, jet black hair with tight blue jeans and a white cut off belly shirt!! I tried really hard not to stare and laugh!!! He was a really nice guy though...very concerned about his mom.

I just realized these past few nights of work how truely close to Alaska Seattle is...many of our pts are airlifted here from Alaska for more intensive care. I guess Seattle really is the "Portal to the Pacific".

Not much going on today...I decided that maybe I should spend a little time doing laundry, cleaning the apt and paying bills. SO EXCITING!! Sure wish I could run away from those, but they seem to follow me EVERYWHERE! Oh well...it is what it is. I think I might venture out to find a park close by called "Goldsmith Park", must be really neat with a name like that!

To those of you in the midwest...STAY COOL!

Safe travels-
Laura