Tag: roadtrip

Red Rocks and Butte-iful Canyons

.Reading time 12 minutes.

February 7-February 18

We worked Monday and Tuesday, as my floor started moving back to its regular med-surg population. Jamie’s floor would be the last to convert from a covid floor. We finished up our couple work days and spent Wednesday relaxing locally for a bit. I went for a run that morning, and couldn’t help but compare my jog on the streets of Ahwatukee to former outings in Santa Barbara. Of course, if scenery is a necessity while running, I could always head over to South Mountain nearby.

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Settling in, getting out

.Reading time 8 minutes.

January 22- February 7

After unloading the car at our new home, a process that now takes maybe an hour at most, we picked up dinner and drove over to Kaivan’s to visit. He’d done a cross country road trip back west after spending a couple months in Binghamton in the fall and we hadn’t seen him since early September when we left New York. It was nice to catch up, though Charley was a bit confused as to why Uncle Kaivan was here in Arizona and not in New York.

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Solitude

.Reading time 25 minutes.

January 16 – 22

We awoke Saturday morning in St George rather sluggishly. The motel room’s heater was on the fritz, having only two modes: off and full heat blast.

We took our time getting out the door, recouping after the long traverse across Nevada the day before. That afternoon, we took a nice 10 mile off-road drive from the corner of town into the Dixie National Forest and set out on a short hike to Yant flats and the Candy Cliffs. Pale orange and red striations cut through the sandstone around us, as we leisurely climbed a few hundred feet over a couple miles through the sagebrush and juniper trees. Ground-hugging cacti spotted the trail along the way, and we were sure to be mindful of Charley wandering about so as to avoid any needle sticks. 

Arriving at the Flats, we stopped briefly to take in the enormity of the landscape in front of us. An ongoing difficulty in the West is conceptualizing the scale of the cliffs, peaks and formations strewn about in the vast wilderness. The Candy Cliffs, farther along the same trail, offered a stillness that was lacking at the Flats, as most folks don’t continue on after that.

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Tahoe

.Reading time 14 minutes.

January 11 – 15

The day had come to leave our lovely little abode. It’s always sad to leave when our contracts are up, but I found Santa Barbara to be especially difficult to leave.

“Why the hell are we leaving?!” Jamie and I would ask each other. The hospital had offered to extend our contracts a while back, but we declined, as we were already set on heading to Arizona. It was a special time in SB, but eventually it had to end. 

We packed up our car in typical Tetris fashion, sure to leave ample space for Queen Charley’s throne in the back seat, complete with a bed and only the softest and comfiest blankets.

So Monday morning, when all the preparations were set, we punched Lake Tahoe (specifically, Stateline, NV) into the GPS and left Santa Barbara in our rearview.

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Yosemite Pt. 2

.Reading time 7 minutes.

October 1-2

We woke up on Thursday morning, still exhausted and groggy from our hike the day before, covered in dirt and sticky sweat. We were hoping that there was somewhere to take a shower in the valley, only to learn that the showers were closed for the 2020 season. Whats another 4 days without showering? At that point it was no big deal.

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On the road again…

.Reading time 1 minute.

September 9th: Departure day

We spent the morning wrapping up our car setup and enjoying a final meal with family. Google maps has it clocked at 2,787 miles to Santa Barbara, but with all that we have planned, we are looking at quite a few more.

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WA to MA pt. 2

.Reading time 20 minutes.

Leaving Banff via the Trans-Canada Highway, we made our way toward Calgary. Situated about 120 kilometers east of Banff, Calgary lies at the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Its climate and setting is not dissimilar to Denver as you travel east on I-70 in Colorado. With our plans up in the air at this point, we were essentially knocking down miles as we figured things out.

Bozeman seemed like an excellent second option as Glacier was crossed off the list. It had us reminiscing about our detour to Palm Springs when Yosemite didn’t work out (also due to snowstorm) as we road tripped from PHX to Seattle.

Crossing back into the States at the Sweet Grass, MT port of entry, the windy high plains were put on display. The great flat expanse of the plains gave us an excellent view of the storm moving south and parallel to us, along the Rockies to the west. We were trying to outrun the storm as the winds picked up and clouds collected about a hundred miles to our right.

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WA to MA pt. 1

.Reading time 11 minutes.

Leaving Seattle was bittersweet. We had an incredible time in the PNW, but we hadn’t seen many of our family or friends since we left the northeast 8 months prior. We were excited to get back to see people we love and gain back some familiarity. Bijan and I were lucky that our former managers rehired us as travelers on our old floors at Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston for a 3 month contract. We were tired of learning new hospital systems (it gets exhausting) and wanted something familiar for a little while. We were also lucky that my parents were willing to take us in for a few months. With 3 weeks off between assignments, we packed all of our belongings into our little Crosstrek and hit the road, with plans to visit some national parks along the way. We didn’t plan it out this way but we ended up road tripping during peak foliage season which made for some awesome views and photos!

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Washington Travel Assignment

.Reading time 16 minutes.

Ahh Washington! It is hard to sum up all that we did here in one post because we did SOOO much while we were there and absolutely loved it. We still talk about our time in Seattle frequently, and the state of Washington has got to be one of our all time favorite places. We also have to add that we were there the most ideal time of year, mid-May to the end of September, so we may have a skewed perception of the Seattle weather!

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