Not in life, just the whole “blogging” thing. It’s safe to say I ended up having too much fun on Nantucket to worry about blogging and writing. Which I guess is a good thing.
I completed slightly over 5 months on ACK, and enjoyed every second of being on that little East Coast island. Sure, it got cold, and foggy, and it got annoying sometimes having limited resources, but I’m so thankful I did it. I met some awesome people, gained experience in a setting I had never been in, and learned so much.
The day I ended my assignment in ACK, I had no clue where my next step would be. I ended up interviewing that evening for a job at a hospital down in Tucson, AZ- and long story short, accepted! They didn’t need me to start until November 6th, so I spent 3 weeks hanging at home, celebrating Becky, being an auntie and watching the pups while my parents went on vacation. It was an awesome, relaxing three weeks.
October 28th Dad and I set off on an epic, monumental cross-country American road trip. We decided to take our time and sight see (well, I decided and Dad rolled his eyes and sighed). Our first stop was initially Harrisburg, PA- but then we realized we didn’t need to travel that far south to make the same goals. We ended up driving through the gorgeous mountains of PA on Sunday and enjoyed the fog and the view (though there was rain to be had, too). We even got to see an Amish buggy (man, those things move fast!). Sunday night we landed in Indianapolis and experienced some local brews.
Monday we checked out St. Louis and travelled up in the arch, which was awesome and something I was super pumped to see and do. Dad and I enjoyed walked a bit in the city and passing the Cardinals stadium, and again checking out the local brews. Springfield, MO is where we landed that night- in a Route 66 converted motel! It was awesome, with vintage gas pumps and cars outside, and a cute retro eating area.
Back on the road, we flew through the rest of MO, all of Oklahoma (not the most exciting state, and way too clean of roads to count roadkill on), and landed in Tucumari, NM. This, after sighseeing whatever we could that was Route 66 related. I ended up finding an authentic Route 66 motel (straight outta the movie Cars, people) and it was awesome! Everything was authentic, right down to the magazines from the ’30’s and the rotary telephone.
Wednesday was the day we landed in Arizona. We chose the northern route to enter the state, to travel through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert- well worth the $20 admission to drive through and see some amazing, beautiful and natural works of art. Driving south, we ended up staying over in the White Mountains of AZ- where you would swear you were in New Hampshire. The funniest thing was my lungs could feel the difference in elevation- I was short of breath at 6,000 feet!
Thursday we arrived in Tucson after meeting Aunt Claire for lunch in Queen Creek. Friday we moved in all my stuff, made a few Walmart trip for provisions, and ended up mini-golfing and grabbing a bite to eat before setting back in for our last night.
Overall, I am so grateful my Dad was with my for that drive for so many reasons. 1) it’s a crazy long drive, and it would have definitely taken me double the time to get down to Arizona without him. 2) When else in my life am I going to get to spend 1:1 time with my father for that long?! 3) We had so much fun laughing, counting roadkill, sightseeing and just chatting. 4) Honesty, we make a pretty good team navigating and driving!
Now, I am in a new city, where I don’t know a soul. I have family 2 hours away, which is always a great thing, but new to everything and everyone else down here. It’s funny, but I haven’t actually done that since my first assignment in Dallas. I knew Kim in Charleston, and Dawn in Nantucket, so I always knew I had a buffer. So, while it’s a great thing, I know it’s going to take me some time to get used to being comfortable with being solo again. I moved into a house with two roommates, and they’ve been great so far with providing suggestions on where to go and what to see. Time to take a deep breath and jump in. I can only hope it works out as well as Dallas did and I get to meet some amazing people!
Wish me luck!
Life Beyond the Green Line 