Micah left off on our last post with the trip to Montana. We drove through Spokane to spend an evening with my aunts, uncles and Grandma before arriving in Missoula, MT. For four days, Micah and I, along with my best friend from grad school, explored the new parts of my old college town, hiked mountains, and ate great food. On our way west to return home we stayed overnight in Moscow to visit my Grandpa and more college friends. One of the biggest blessings of the fill-in work I've been doing is having the flexibility in my schedule to take a two week trip to catch up with those we haven't seen in over a year.
The month of February found us in Eugene, Oregon- Duck country. As Micah's rival college town, he was reluctant but we both agreed the work opportunity was worth the internal distress it may cause him. Transitioning back to the working world has been easier than I expected. I don't love setting my alarm and I miss days where my only responsibilities included a hike to a waterfall. However, returning to physical therapy has reminded me how much I enjoy my job (especially 35 hours/week of it as opposed to 50 hours/week, as I was doing previously). And there's no denying how wonderful it is to receive a paycheck. This allows us to discuss and begin planning our next retirement and ensuing budget travels 😊. From a professional standpoint, I am enjoying experiencing different clinics and operations to develop a better idea of what I hope to find in a future, permanent employer.
We returned to Portland for the first weekend of February to attend a Super Bowl party with friends. The following weekend, we stayed in Eugene to explore this foreign town and had a jam packed couple days. With a 3 days without work, we hiked Spencer Butte on Friday with a view to the north of the Willamette Valley. That evening, we drove beyond civilization to Sweet Cheeks winery to sample wine and cheese while listening to two young men strum some strings and sing a few words. On Sunday, we took advantage of the sunshine and hiked a few miles up Mt. Pisgah, the other well known hike in town. The remaining days in Eugene were filled with happily cooking meals in the first kitchen we've had all to ourselves in 15 months, a Ducks basketball game, racquetball, and disc golfing for Micah.
Our plan following Eugene was to travel two hours further south to visit friends in Coos Bay. Unfortunately plans changed when they both came down with the flu. We had booked a hotel near Redwoods National Park for Friday night, so we opted to spend an additional two nights in Northern CA to fully embrace the Redwoods. Two days were devoted to the southern parks, Redwood National Park and Praire Creek State Park. Our favorite part of the weekend was the 11 mile James Irvine Trail hike on Saturday through the enchanted, lush and thick forest that led us to the coast and then looped back through the forest to return to our starting point. Sunday, we hiked around Jedediah National Park in search of the "Titans", the largest grove of monstrous redwoods. We had minimal clues to find the grove, going off of a few hints we found online since the Park doesn't advertise where the trees are to minimize wear of the area. Micah ran down numerous side trails until we finally found a gigantic tree, with a downed log in front that had TITANS engraved into it. The searching was well worth it; the trees were breathtaking.
James Irvine Trail
Watching elk graze at Gold Bluffs Beach, halfway through our hike
The past three weeks in Portland have sped by us. Within five days of returning, I interviewed with a company in Show Low, AZ and accepted a job offer. The job offer officially came through a medical staffing company based out of NE, from a recruiter I have been speaking to since November. We were holding out for a position in Flagstaff, but quickly realized that the chances of that area needing a travel PT were minimal, since the area is saturated with PTs because of NAU's graduate program. Show Low is 2 hours from Flagstaff, roughly 3 hours from Phoenix and a short 60 miles from the NM border. The elevation of Show Low is 6000 ft, making the summers tolerable compared to the deserts of AZ and therefore, makes Show Low an ideal weekend getaway. It's a resort town with multiple lakes, a ski resort and golf courses galore. It didn't take much for me to sell Micah on the location!
I will be working at an out-patient orthopedic clinic that is attached to the local non-profit hospital. Three days per week, I'm under the impression that I will commute 50 miles away in the direction of Flagstaff to provide PT care in an underserved community. Initially, I was reminiscent of my nightmarish commute from my previous job, but for three reasons, I'm ok with it: I get to provide PT to a population that otherwise wouldn't get proper care, it's only 39 days total (3 days x 13 weeks), and they're providing me with a company car and gas card. Micah should be able to meet his golf and hiking quota with easier vehicle access, since I won't need my car.
The two weeks following the job acceptance were occupied with paperwork, physicals, drug tests, state law tests and apartment hunting. I passed all tests and we paid 3.5 months rent for a 2 bedroom vacation condo in Show Low. This prompted my parent's to purchase plane tickets for a visit, and other close friends are discussing a memorial weekend trip. Otherwise, we plan to make no new friends so we have no commitments in town allowing us to explore, camp, and hike every other weekend.
We enjoyed a week of socializing prior to leaving, including a Portland Trailblazer's basketball game as an early birthday present for Micah. And we partook in the traditional brunch and booze following the Shamrock Run (which we didn't run this year), in honor of Micah's birthday since the run and subsequent mimosa brunch always fall within a few days of his birthday.
On Monday we bid farewell to Portland and drove north to Kelso, to spend the evening with my parents. Tuesday morning we wedged the last suitcase in the car, placed a cat box on the floor behind the driver's seat, and coaxed my cat into coming along for the ride. We bid another farewell to Portland as we passed by, heading east through Eastern Oregon. We only made it to La Grande, 4 hours east of Portland. The interstate had just been closed in both directions due to a wrecked semi, followed by another wrecked semi that collided at full speed with the stopped vehicles at the previous crash site and spilled its entire cargo of hazardous chemicals. We had high hopes it would re-open quickly, as we had dinner plans in Boise with friends that evening, but realism quickly hit that we were bound to spend the majority of our day in La Grande. So we found a local diner although we weren't hungry, walked into antique stores full of self-recorded VHS tapes, and watched Zootopia in the theaters. We eventually made it to Boise just before midnight, 14 hours after we set out for our 7 hour drive. We were tired but in good spirits, and impressed that Mobi the cat sat contently in her cat bed for the entire 14 hours.
This morning (Wednesday), we visited with my friend in Boise for a few hours before hitting the road again. Today was shorter and less eventful; 8.5 hours of driving and we are currently in a Motel in Moab. For dinner we paid entirely too much for a basic meal, and looked at maps of Arches National Park. To take advantage of our stopover location, our plan is to drive a few miles tomorrow to the entrance of Arches and explore before we continue our drive south to Show Low.
The next few days will give us a chance to place all the items currently in the car into the condo, find our way around a new city, grocery shopping (which I'm very much looking forward to!), and celebrate Micah's real birthday on Friday. I begin work on Monday, and am mostly excited, only slightly nervous. We promise to be better bloggers, keeping you up to date on this new adventure.
