3 Days and 8 States Later...

After 3 days, 8 states, and 1,792 miles, I've made it to Arizona! Yippee!! I pulled into town early Friday evening, safe and sound with absolutely no problems whatsoever on the entire trip! Praise the Lord!

I've spent today, Saturday, getting settled into my apartment and hanging out with RONDA, a cousin who is also a kindred-spirit friend. What a blessing! I'll tell you more about that, and show you pictures of my apartment, but it'll have to wait for now...

First I want to tell you about "our" last day on the road trip!

I woke up in Albuquerque, and after finding a grocery store to get something healthy for breakfast, finally hit the road. One of my favorite things about Albuquerque is driving west out of it, as you go up a huge hill and can see the entire city in your mirrors. I especially recommend doing it at night, when you can see the city lights. It's pretty spectacular! (And this picture doesn't really do it justice.)

After leaving Albuquerque, I drove through the rest of New Mexico thinking "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it's all desert from here on out!" I was glad that I had seen so much greenery the day before!


After crossing into Arizona (nope, no video! I've crossed into this state many, many times before!) I remembered that there's a National Park not too far away, and that it's right off the interstate. Being that I'm a HUGE fan of our National Parks, I decided to stop!


Petrified Forest National Park is a park that has a visitors center one mile off I-40, and has 52,000 acres to explore. Since I was on a timeline, I only explored the one acre around the visitors center! Here's a little video to show you what "we" learned while we were there!


Petrified Forest National Park from Kari Swanson on Vimeo.

If you have the chance to visit a National Park (and EVERYONE should make use of these wonderful national resources!) I recommend picking up a National Park Passport. A friend of mine got me hooked a few years ago, and it's been pretty fun!


On the inside, you can see a listing of ALL the national parks, so no matter where you're traveling, you can see what's nearby. It's also gives inspiration for which park you might want to visit next. Then, like any good passport, you can get stamps to show where you've been! The book is divided into regions, so it was fun to turn the page again in the region I've spent quite a bit of time!


Another reason I didn't take the time to drive along this park's one road, is that the park ranger reminded me I would see much of the park from the interstate. She also explained that the national park was named Petrified Forest National Park, but that the geological term for what we can see is the Painted Desert. Here's the view of that painted desert.


After leaving that area, the rest of northern Arizona is on the slightly boring side, until you come close to a random town that has dinosaur fossils. To advertise, there are a few of these along the road:


Coming up towards Flagstaff, there's a little respite from the desert view, and there was still snow on Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona.


After stopping for gas in Flagstaff, I was able to turn south again. I chose to go on one of my favorite drives anywhere in the country, through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. It ends up being about the same distance versus taking the interstate, but I had forgotten that Friday afternoon traffic might be slow, and it was. But, with the beautiful scenery, it was COMPLETELY worth it!

Here we are heading towards Oak Creek Canyon. I really enjoy this road, surrounded by all the tall Ponderosa Pine. It's quite beautiful! I love tall pine trees! I opened my windows and breathed in that fresh pine smell.


You'll have to imagine a better picture, but here we are at the top of the canyon, and next we drove down to the very bottom where Oak Creek is located. The rest of that drive down is "two-hands-on-the-wheel"!


Here you can see Oak Creek. When I've gone on this drive numerous times in the past, it seems like the creek was more like a river. The water level must be down this spring so far, or my memory is fading...!


I saw quite a few of these trees, which looked like Albino trees to me! All of the bark is gone, and I'm wondering if anyone has an explanation for it?


At the end of the canyon drive, you pull into Sedona. Sedona is known world-wide for its red rock formations. There are actually many New Age beliefs as to what happened to form the rock formations, but we can just all know that God did a great job decorating this part of the country! Here's a small taste of what you can see. I'll head back to Sedona again sometime while I'm here, and give better explanations then.








After getting back on the interstate, it's time to start heading to lower elevation, into the Valley of the Sun (the nickname for the Phoenix metropolitan area). I love the different shades you can see from all the mountain tops!


Along that drive is also the first place you typically start seeing the Saguaro cactus in it's native spot. These plants are very slow-growing, and can take as long as 75 years just to grow one of their side-arms. They might live for twice that long. There are many transplanted to areas in Phoenix, but it's always fun to see them in their natural home.


Shortly after that "we" made it all the way into Phoenix, drove through evening rush hour traffic, but got to experience an entire new freeway since I moved away. I hope you enjoyed "our" last day on the trip!

I Made It!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I made it to Arizona okay, I'm staying at Forrest and Julie's in Chandler tonight. The drive went well today, and I'll post more pictures hopefully tomorrow after I get moved into my apartment. By the way, it was 83 degrees when I pulled into town, and the high tomorrow might reach 95. Wow! What a change!

Go West, Young Woman!

Hello from Albuquerque! I pulled into a Days Inn pretty late tonight, so I don't expect you to read this until tomorrow, but I wanted to show you what "we" did today! Enjoy the review!

I snapped this first picture so you could see how our day started as we left Wichita. It was raining lightly, and I was so glad it wasn't all the terrible weather that was happening just east of me! When I had The Weather Channel on as I was getting ready, I had to keep looking at the TV screen because I wasn't sure what counties in OK and TX I was going to be going through! Luckily the flooding, tornadoes and thunderstorms predicted for today weren't in areas that I was driving through.

South of Wichita, I was so excited to see GREEN! It really made it feel like spring, especially with the falling rain, the buds that were starting to bloom on the trees, and well... honestly... just the SMELL of spring in the air!

As I think I've mentioned, I've been blessed to be able to see 43 of the wonderful United States of America. That number of 43 has been the same number for many, many years. As I thought about it today, I couldn't actually remember the last time I went to a state that I haven't been to before. Since I grew up going on frequent family road trips, and then had 2-week-long band tours in high school, I was able to see many of our states during those times. I'm sure when I worked for Youth Ministries I got to a "new state", but I honestly can't remember the situation. So, knowing I would get to both Oklahoma and Texas today, both "new states" for me, I was pretty excited! I thought I'd share that excitement with you in a video. Granted, a little corny, but remember, it was an otherwise pretty uneventful drive!


Untitled from Kari Swanson on Vimeo.

I decided that the one thing I could take time for in Oklahoma was to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial. Wow! There are hardly words. I am SO glad I did this, even though it was hard to see. I can get choked up fairly easy (I like to call it being compassionate, not emotional...) and I didn't really prepare myself for what I was about to see. I also should have brought some Kleenex along and did not. The memorial is right on the site of the bombed building, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in downtown Oklahoma City.

I parked right on the street, across from this "gate" and then walked through and entered into the outside memorial.


Along the outside wall, there is still a chain link fence where people continue to leave things.


The reflecting pool, that has a gate at each end.


On one gate is 9:01 which represents when the world was still "normal".


The bombing happened at 9:02, so the other gate shows 9:03, when all the world was different.


The outdoor "Field of Chairs" which are individually dedicated to each person that died in the bombing, organized by where they were located in the building. Each chair has a name inscribed on it, and it was especially difficult to see the smaller-sized chairs that represented the children that died in the blast.


Amazingly, this tree survived the explosion, and is now called the Survivor's Tree. It's been around since the 1920's and though a little damaged during the bombing, with the right pruning it has flourished and has come to have a lot of significance for the people of Oklahoma City.


Looking out from the tree over the reflection pool and field of chairs.


A spray-painted sign on the building just next to the Murrah building, which now houses the indoor memorial and museum.


The Rescuers Area -trees planted in honor of all the people that immediately came to help.


The Children's Area, which was especially hard to see.


I also went around the indoor memorial area, without taking any pictures. It was really a good representation of what happened on April 19, 1995 and the days and months following the bombing. There was so much to see, that even though I spent longer than I planned (it's not something to do quick) I still wasn't able to read every word.

Back outside, there is this statue of Jesus with the memorial in the background, and at the base just two simple words, "Jesus Wept". Powerful.

If you are ever in Oklahoma City, I highly recommend going to the memorial, taking time for the inside as well as the outside. But, prepare your heart a little before you go, and put some tissues in your pocket. I think every American should see this at some point in their lives, as it was a great way to honor the people that died, and because it so clearly shows how in adversity, it really can be the best in people that comes out. The survivor and rescue stories were amazing.

After grabbing some lunch for the road, filling up the tank, and leaving Oklahoma City later than planned, I finally started heading west. The rest of Oklahoma was pretty flat and bare. The only excitement was seeing some more windmills, this time right along the road.


Since I took a video to show "us" crossing into Oklahoma, I thought one for Texas was appropriate as well!


Untitled from Kari Swanson on Vimeo.

Not too far into Texas, this huge cross was seen in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. I'd love to know what the specific story is about it, as it was so interesting.


I talked with my Aunt Barb for a while (it's her birthday today, Happy Birthday again!!), then finished driving all the way to Amarillo where I wanted to stop and pick up a spoon for my spoon collection. I know, some people might think that's a silly collection (who would think such a thing?), but I enjoy the fact that it can be a great way to get a souvenir from a location, and it won't take up much room. Except for the spoon rack on the wall, it's a relatively small way to show where you've been! While in Amarillo, I realized that I didn't have much to show that I had been in Texas, so I thought these Texas flags blowing in the wind would do nicely. It's also so my friend, Laura, can see a visual reminder of her home state!


As I got closer to New Mexico, the sky kept changing. As that was really the only thing going on, I snapped a few pictures. I love looking at cloud formations! It had been clear blue skies for a while, then I came up under this big dark cloud. It only rained a small amount though...


I love the contrast of the light and dark here.


I didn't take a video going into New Mexico since I've been here quite a few times in the past. In fact, I just remembered a night camping at a state park that was REALLY cold, and some people ended up finally sleeping in the car. I can't remember if I stuck it out in the tent or ended up in the car... Random memory...

Anyway, the only NM pictures are of the sunset I got to watch. It was pretty with the the clear sky seen behind the big fluffy clouds.






Overall, definitely a good day! It was fun to chat a bit on the phone (thanks for either calling me or being willing to chat when I called some of you!) and also listed to an audiobook. I started "Jane Eyre" yesterday, but with the bad rainstorms, I couldn't actually hear the words very well since the raindrops were so loud. Well, today was a pretty windy day all around, and again, I felt like I was missing stuff. So, I stopped Jane Eyre and went on to "The Greatest Generation". It's an excellent book! Tom Brokaw is the author, and also the reader. I've always enjoyed listening to him (he has such a deep, distinct voice) and his story-telling abilities are shining through in this book. It really is the Greatest Generation. It's a generation I've always admired (and secretly wished I had been a part of) and I bought the book for my dad when it came out. I wish I had known his dad, my Grandpa Swanson, who died the year before I was born (I was born on his birthday!). As a WWII veteran who served in France, he lived what this book is about. It's really a book to put on your list if you haven't read it already.

Well, that about sums up our day. I hope you enjoyed your trip! We'll leave Albuquerque in the morning, then have a shorter drive (only 480 miles, compared to today's 704) and arrive in Phoenix in time to see some fun people! I'm going to stay with my mom's cousin, Forrest and his wife Julie tomorrow night. Forrest is the pastor of the church I helped to start when I moved to Phoenix in 1999, and I'm excited to see them again! I'm sure I'll post fun updates of the changes/growth I see in the church since I moved away in 2001, but it's time for bed now!

One Day, Four States

I made it to Wichita!

I'm staying at a motel in Wichita tonight, and decided to call it a night and not go on all the way to Oklahoma City until morning. The fact that I was up until 3:30am last night had something to do with that decision!

Today I have been in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and now Kansas. I'm feeling pretty good about the amount of states for one day! When I'm on road trips, it's important to me to not just drive through a state, but get out and do something. If time is an issue, though, sometimes that means even just a quick stop, like filling up my car or grabbing a bite to eat. I would prefer to do more of an activity of some kind, but sometimes it's just not an option...

So, today in Minnesota I woke up, finished gathering all my stuff together and took off by mid-morning. Aimee called while I was still in Lakeville (only minutes down the road!), and we chatted all the way past Owatonna. Great way to pass the time!

In Iowa, I crossed the border and came upon these windmills to the east. You can see what a cloudy and gray day it was!

I made a quick stop for lunch in a little town named Story City and was wishing I could find out what their story was! I decided not to play the license plate game this trip, since all the cars I was seeing belonged to the state I was in, or was going to drive through next. Instead, I tried to pay attenion to vehicles that had words on the side, and where they were from. It turns out, there are a LOT of Iowa DNR cars -an unusually large amount of them between the MN-IA border and Des Moines. Maybe there was some meeting in the area? Obviously, you can tell how exciting my trip was!

When I got to Des Moines, the sky opened up, the sun came out, and I was reminded of how beautiful that area is! Our family used to go to Des Moines to visit my mom's aunt and uncle that lived there, and I've driven through a few other times, but it's been a few years. There are rolling hills and it's also where I noticed that the grass was green, no longer brown. With the sun shining down, it changed my whole drive!

I stopped for gas at the exit near Indianola, got back on the road, and a cousin who lives in Great Falls, MT called me. We chatted all the way to Cameron, Missouri, and had so much fun catching up! Thanks again for calling, Krista! You really brightened my whole day!

I got to Kansas City, MO right around evening rush hour, and knowing I would cross into Kansas meant I still wanted to DO something in Missouri. I decided to go with my dad's suggestion for a restaurant. He had eaten at Jess and Jim's before, which is this great steakhouse in Kansas City, and highly recommended it. He had specifically mentioned the steak soup, and since I didn't want a big meal, decided to give it a try. Well, the soup and salad I had was delicious, and filled me right up! If you're ever in Kansas City looking for a good meal, give Jess and Jim's a try! It doesn't look the most promising from the outside (in fact, I had to call and ask if this was really where he wanted his daughter to eat!) but it's warm and cozy inside, and is nationally recognized as one of the best steakhouses in America. I'd like to go back when I'm more hungry sometime!

After Jess and Jim's, I got back on the road, crossing into Kansas. About 90 miles after Kansas City I hit the toll road, and it was smooth sailing all the way to Wichita! At the motel I'm staying at, I'm parked next to a tree that has buds on it! I was so excited for the sign of spring! This picture is especially for my northern MN friends with too much snow -I thought you might like to see that spring really does exist!

I'm going to work on a few online computer classes I've been having problems with (not that the classes have been hard, but the host's server has been down and not letting me complete them...) then head to bed. I'll head to Oklahoma City in the morning and then turn west and stay in Albuquerque tomorrow night.

Thanks for all your prayers for a safe trip, keep it up!

On The Road Again...

I wonder if I've used that title before? Most likely, but I'm not going to take the time to go back and check. The truth is, when I used to take a LOT of road trips with Youth Ministries, there was one particular summer where Jeff, who is now a pastor in Florida, would have us sing that song every single time we got back into the car. That's right, every single time. Without fail. We also did the arm actions to "YMCA" out the windows. (You had to think about being the driver or passenger when it came to spelling out the letters.) I'm thinking especially of a trip to New Jersey with many cars caravaning together... Hmmmm... a walk down memory lane... To be honest, now anytime I'm on a road trip, I start humming "On the Road Again" (at least the first line or two) every time I get back into the car. Thanks, Jeff!

Well, I'll start singing that song tomorrow. As I said in my last blog, there are still so many things I'd like to post about, but I've wrapped up all my work for the night and I plan on waking up in just a few hours to take off, so I'm not going to take the time for blogging much tonight.

I want to ask you to pray for me as I'm driving to Arizona. Please pray for safety, good road conditions, and that my car runs smoothly.

I think it should be a pretty great drive, as I'm not squeezing in too many miles each day as is sometimes my habit. If all goes according to plan (and yes, I finally did come up with a plan -thanks to Danny!) I'll leave Burnsville in the morning and go as far as Wichita, KS, which is 620 miles. I usually drive more than that on a road trip day, so if I'm pretty wide awake when I get there I think I might keep going. On Thursday morning I'll head to Oklahoma City (if I'm not already there) and I'd like to see the memorial of the Oklahoma City bombing. Then I'll head west and stay in Albuquerque that night (a 704 or 543 mile day depending on where I stay). Then on Friday, it's only 480 miles to Mesa so I should arrive there without any problems. If everything runs smoothly, I'd like to take Oak Creek Canyon down from Flagstaff so I can enjoy one of my favorite drives in the country, and see the red rocks of Sedona along the way. We'll see what time allows...

I've gotten to see 43 of the 50 states, and Oklahoma and Texas are two that have eluded me. I'm SOOO excited to get to see them! I've always driven to Phoenix via Denver, and while that's a nice drive, I'm really looking forward to seeing a few new things! Mapquest suggested I take a very similar route to the one I'm taking, but it had me cut across the smallest little corner of Oklahoma. It didn't seem right to say "I've been to OK or TX" when it would be about an hour in OK and 1.5 hours in TX. So, I decided that going to Oklahoma City, getting out and doing something, and then driving across on I-40 sounds like a much better plan.

I'm assuming I'll have the internet at my hotels each night, so check back for updates to see how it's going! Or, better yet, give me a call while I'm driving! I'll have all day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday without much going on (except driving, of course!) so will have plenty of time to chat. My cell phone and headset are fully charged and if you've ever gotten an email from me, you'll see that number at the bottom. I'd love to hear from you!

Audiobook update: THANK YOU so much for your suggestions! I actually looked into each of them (except for Ted Dekker -those suggestions were after I made my purchase, but because I'm so intrigued now, I'll either be picking up those books or listening to them in 7 weeks on my way back!) but finally made my decision. A friend emailed me the suggestion of Jane Eyre and the interesting thing is, that's actually the classic book I was considering when I wrote last night's post! After her saying it was a book she could read and re-read, I knew it was an easy decision. It turns out that iTunes has the unabridged version for $50-60 so I decided to go with the abridged version. That's never my choice, but I couldn't justify the cost. Especially since I have the book here and have just never read it... Since it's a shorter version, I decided to follow Aunt Marilyn's suggestion and also bought "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw. That's a book I've been very interested in reading, so I'm now looking forward to both of my selections!

I really better get to bed, but thanks for praying for me as I'm driving!

To whet your appetite, I have really great pictures of David that I'm excited to show you. Maybe tomorrow night??

Book Suggestions?

It's 2:30 am and I need your help! I actually have lots of things to post about: last week in La Crosse, packing up, moving home, hanging out with friends, PLAYING WITH DAVID!!!, getting reorganized, shopping for new summer clothes, taking online classes for my next assignment, etc, etc, etc.... The last few days have been especially busy!

But, I'm trying to get to bed and the last thing to cross off the list for today just can't get done. I'm going to chalk it up to being tired, and I don't allow myself to make financial decisions when I'm tired. (Even if they're only $10.95 decisions, still... shouldn't be done!)

I need your help! I love listening to books on tape, and well, on Wednesday I leave for my 3-day road trip to Arizona. (I think I could do it in two long days, but why hurry if there could be fun things to see along the way? And, also, I don't really have it all planned out fully just yet. I might just hop in the car and go...) I just searched around iTunes for awhile to pick out my next audiobook, and, well.... I couldn't make a decision. The problem is that there are so many books on my list of "I've just got to read that someday" that I didn't know where to start. Any suggestions?

A few years ago a friend and I drove from CA to MN (and stopped in five National Parks along the way =GREAT trip!) and we listened to the great classic by Pearl S. Buck, "The Good Earth". It was a really interesting book that I'd recommend. Also a few years ago another friend was kind enough to be my own personal book on tape by reading two of James Patterson's softer novels aloud to me ("Sam's Letters to Jennifer" and "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" -also two great books). When we got to our destination for one of the trips and had a chapter or two left, we sat in the parking lot while she finished reading and I finished crying! If you've never had the chance to have a personal "book on tape", I highly recommend it!! The same summer as the CA-MN trip, I also drove to Seattle with a friend for a wedding, but came back alone (the friend stayed to visit family) and listened to a few of my old favorite standbys -anything by Janette Oke.

So, back to the current dilemma. What to 'read' for this trip? An old favorite like the Chronicles of Narnia series? Anything by Jane Austen? (All of hers are favorites!) Some standard classic that I haven't read but always wanted to? A random popular book that's the latest buzz? I love Christian novels but don't seem to find them easily on iTunes... Maybe I need to search differently... I enjoy C.S. Lewis and Max Lucado and Philip Yancey and Elizabeth Elliot and Lee Strobel and all that those authors have to offer. Francine Rivers, Lori Wick, and Janette Oke are my favorite novel authors, but I know there are other great authors out there to try.

What do you think? Any suggestions? I'd love to hear some of your favorite books, or books you think might be especially helpful for me to read during this trip, or books that are funny or uplifting and make you smile, or books you've listened to and don't mind the sound of the reader's voice. What are some of your favorite classics? Favorite non-fiction books? Favorite fiction books?

I'll make a decision by Tuesday evening (later today I guess...) so please comment-away! Thanks for your help!

Goodbye, Friends!

I'm in the middle of my last shift at Fransiscan-Skemp Hospital in La Crosse. I thought I'd take a quick break and tell you about how much I've enjoyed working here. It's started to feel like home! From the first moment I walked through the doors, I even noticed that it had a good "feeling" in the air. It was almost palpable, and very hard to explain. I came up my first Sunday afternoon in town to find the Pediatric unit so I'd know where I was supposed to go my first day. I walked up to the nurse's station, and I was greeted warmly immediately! I knew instantly I would like the people I would be working with!

Now that 13 weeks has gone by, I can say that I not only like them, but count them as friends! I'm so thankful that I got to have this great traveling experience at just the right time.

I've also appreciated being in a hospital that does a good job of CARING for their patients. I'm sure that each of you have had different hospital experiences here or there so you know what I mean. As a patient, you always want to feel like you are being cared for as a person, not just a disease in a room. It's absolutely up to the nurse to help that come across. I've also had enough experience to know that the entire hospital needs to have that mindset as well. If the hospital has the second mindset, from administration all the way down, then nurses with attitudes like mine just need to work extra hard to help the patient! And, that extra work is ALWAYS worth it! I will forever be grateful for the fact that I had great nursing modeled for me at Lake Region Hospital as I started out my nursing career (by the way, I still miss you guys and think of you almost daily!) and I feel like I've had a similar experience here at FSH.

Yesterday I had the chance to float down the hall for much of the shift. I hadn't floated anywhere yet and here I was at the very end of my rotation, but since it's the Family Birth Center, I sure didn't mind! They've been extra busy this week, so I was asked to go to the nursery and assess/rock/feed babies. Who could refuse that? I spent most of my time with one little babe that's been fussy, but once I helped her fall asleep, I was able to cuddle with a few others as well. This week I've been especially craving some good cuddle time with my nephew, so this was a good preview for the weekend. At one point, the other nurses went to do a few other things or take their dinner breaks, so I was left with five sleeping babes! Luckily, they only woke up one at a time so it was manageable! How do mothers of multiples handle it? :)

Tonight I'm back on my home unit, Pediatrics, so of course I'm glad to be here for my last shift. I'll head to my apartment in the morning and finish packing up. I actually have quite a bit left, so when you read this, please pray for diligence for me! I still haven't decided if I'm going to sleep for a few hours and then get up and finish packing and load up the car to head back to Burnsville, or if I'll just get it all done right away and then sleep once I get to my parents. I guess it'll just depend how I feel in a few hours!

To those of you reading this who have been my co-workers these last 13 weeks, thanks again for making my time here so great. Thanks for your friendships as well, and I'm looking forward to keeping in touch and coming back to visit sometime! And, let's make that a time when La Crosse has green grass and leaves on the trees! :)

Interesting Homes in La Crosse

I love architecture, and in fact, if I ever went back to school again (nope, no plans to do that!) it would be to become an architect. Ever since 7th and 8th grade Industrial Arts class in school where I surprisingly excelled at drafting, or jumping ahead to the summer I lived with Wally and Candis and spent hours pouring over Wally's house-plan books, or the many house plans I drew up in college when I didn't want to pay attention to the lectures (shhh.... don't tell anyone I did that!), or the countless times I almost get whiplash turning my head quickly while in a car to catch another glimpse of great architecture I just spotted, I really love looking at buildings and the lines that come together to make up their structure.

Well, as some of you may remember, when I first got to La Crosse, I didn't have the best first impression. The town seemed very industrial and all the buildings I found lacked any sort of character. It turns out that I live in north La Crosse, and there really isn't much character around this part of town. Luckily, I found out that other parts of La Crosse are different...

During the second week I was here in LaCrosse, I left work one morning and drove by a home that made me do a double-take (no whiplash, but...) I realized that there might actually be some character in some of the homes, and it motivated me to do a little more exploring around my new town. I found some really interesting homes on Cass, Main, and State Streets. I kept thinking that it would be fun to go back and take pictures sometime, but that I should do it early some morning when I get off work, so there was less of a chance that a homeowner would look out their window and find some random stranger taking pictures of their house! Well, sub-zero January and February turned into busy March, and here we are at my last week in La Crosse. With only two more mornings left in La Crosse, I decided that yesterday was the day for my photography hunt.

You'll see pictures of all sorts of interesting houses I found as I drove around. I love looking at homes. I sometimes look around at random real estate sites, even for parts of the county I have no intention to ever live in! I love looking at all different styles of homes, and appreciate little things about each of the different styles. I especially love the Craftsman style of home, but even as I type that I think "well, there are lots of other styles I really enjoy as well". I'm saying all this as a disclaimer so you'll know that the pictures I took aren't necessarily because I would want to specifically live in that home, they're just pictures of interesting homes and architecture I found. I think there are entire neighborhoods in La Crosse that would have completely different homes to look at, but unfortunately, my time here is up... I wish I would've looked for neighborhoods where every house looked like it was built in the 1930's and 1940's! I guess that will have to wait until I come back to visit sometime!

Going Away Party....

On Tuesday evening I was blessed by my friends at work with a fun Going Away Party! We met up at River Jack's, a restaurant that looked good from their menu selection in the "Restaurant Menu" section in the phone book. It happened to be close to my apartment.

It really has been such a blessing to work here. I've said this before, but it still holds true! Everyone has been so nice and really friendly. I'm leaving here realizing that I'm not just leaving this assignment location, but I'm leaving friends as well. How wonderful that that's been true, and how sad to go!

There were 10 of us all together that were able to come, but one missed the picture. (So no, I wasn't counting wrong!) These have been wonderful women to work with and I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with them. While of course I'm excited for Arizona, I'm sad to leave these friends!



I've been wanting some good chocolate these last few days, but wanted to be smart about my choices. I decided that I could order a great salad for dinner, and still enjoy a wonderful dessert, as long as I made healthy choices the rest of the day. Well, when this came out, I knew I was in for a treat!
It was so good that I was excited to not eat the whole thing so I could save a little for a 3am craving! That was really worth it as well! :)



After the get-together, I headed back to my apartment to pack. I had been noticing that the river finally opened up, but I hadn't walked back there yet. If you remember, this was a picture I posted back in January about my apartment complex.



Well, I'm happy to report that this is what it looked like yesterday! Yeah for signs of spring!!



Yes, that's a little bit of ice you see floating along, but for the most part it's pretty clear.



I really love being on the water, and was able to spend some good time with the Lord, just being silent with Him. It was an especially peaceful location, which is just what my heart needed.

Arizona Update

I know that I haven't had very many pictures on here for awhile, I guess for the most part I haven't been taking any lately... I need to be around that beautiful nephew of mine again soon, since I've been craving cuddling with him, and for the chance to take some fun pictures!

I found out today that the apartment I had first been told about in Arizona is, in fact, where I'll be living. Medical Express is just extending their lease with one apartment as another traveler is moving out.

I'll be living in the San Tropez Apartments on Hayden Road in Scottsdale. It's a little farther away from Banner Desert Children's Hospital (10 miles instead of the promised 5 miles or less commute) but because of the shorter contract there were fewer options. As I look around at the website, it seems like it'll be a fun place to live! There are quite a few amenities, so I'm hoping my Phoenix friends will have fun coming to visit and hang out at my place! I've really missed hosting people and have been craving doing that again.

I'll be in a one-bedroom that looks like it's got a good layout. I have to admit, one of the things I'm most excited about is having a full-size washer and dryer in the unit! After having my own home for six years, I had become so accustomed to it that when it hasn't worked that way, it's been a huge difference for me! The little things in life, right?....

Yes, that's a fireplace you see in the living room. Hmmmm.... with the temps getting to the mid 80's this week in Phoenix, I'm guessing I won't use it too often, but since I really love a good fire, I suppose I might turn it on just for fun.

I have three more nights to work here in La Crosse, then will move out on Friday. I'll be in the Cities for just a few days and then take off Wednesday morning for Arizona. I'm still figuring out the exact travel plan, but I'm hopeful to get to see a few new things on my drive. Since that's a drive I made a few times while living in Arizona before, it would be fun to explore someplace new.

I'm glad to have you "join" me on my next adventure!