Beach Yoga

How amazingly lucky am I? I worked all day with Jennifer, the other travel nurse, and we were so envious all day because there was not a cloud in sight outside, VERY rare for around here. It looked amazing, we wanted to be outside so bad. So after work we decide we are going to head down to the beach and do some beach yoga. It was so cool. A tad chilly so I had us do some warm-up exercises. Anyone heard of Zuzana? She has some great body only workouts. Then we did like and hour of yoga on the beach while watching the sunset. It was fantastic! Then I did this interval workout with her. It felt great and was so fun. Great to do a different kind of workout and have some company. Fantastic evening! God is amazing, I am so privileged for all he blesses me with.

Luck Over

View from top of these beautiful waterfalls right up from campsite

I am pretty lucky when I think about all that I do and how little I get injured. I have definately had my fair shair of scrapes and bruises, only had a sprained ankle in flag football and a broken pinkie in high school. This week my mountain biking luck finally wore off. I already have received a few scars on my legs due to little scrapes from the bike itself or nature, but this week was a little more significant. No worries though, just some scrapes, no broken bones! John and I decided to do this awesome trail that follows along the Mackenzie River southeast of here. Its a little east of Eugene, OR. The trail is 26 miles long and cross country. I was very excited because I heard and read great things about the trail, but a little nervous because someone told me it was an advanced trail. Before we even get on the trail we are riding down this gravel road, I am in the lead and approaching a corner, I slow down a bit, forgetting that I was on gravel. I head into the corner and my bike totally slides out and I fall and skid along the gravel for what seemed like at least 10 feet. John said he kind of saw the fall but got a little nervous he was going to slide off the road so didn't completely see the whole thing happen. Got up with the classic Lyndsey injury that my family and a few friends know all too well. Told my parents and Luke I did a classic Lyndsey injury and they knew right away that I had scraped up my knee. I have so many scars on my knees, what's another one, right. Got my arms and left fingers as well. Bike turned out just fine except for a little evidence in the left handlebar. Then, of course, neither of us really have any first aid stuff with us, so I just clean it up a little in the creek and call it good. This was difficult because it hurt so bad washing it off and didn't have much to wash it off with besides the water, so I did not get it cleaned out very well. So we head on into our ride, my arm and knee hurting a little, bleeding down my leg, and much more reserved riding than I would have been had I not hurt myself. Needless to say, the ride took a lot longer than it probably would have otherwise, but luckily John was patient and waiting on me.


The knee looks better because the bleeding finally stopped

Besides the crash, bleeding, and hoping the injuries don't get infected, the ride and trip turned out well. It was a great trail. Had some technical areas going over lava rock, but overall the trail was perfect! Not too long or steep of climbs, nothing way too technical and the distance went by fast it seemed. Part of it went along a gorgeous lake with the hills and the sisters peaks in the background. We got to the end and I experienced hitchhiking for the first time. We actually did the whole thumbs up hitchhiking thing for a while, which wasn't working out too well. So I am over at this little general store and this guy walks out of the store and heads over to his little, old jeep looking thing. Not sure if our bikes would fit in it anyway but I decide to go up to him and ask him where he was headed. He was headed where we needed to go and didn't know how far he was going so said he would give us a ride. He had a dog in the back and a cool rack on top, so we threw our bikes on top and scrunched into the back. Couldn't talk much to him riding up the 20 miles because it was loud in the vehicle, but he seemed like a cool guy. Much better than riding our bikes all the way back up. I should have taken a picture of my first hitchhiking experience!

Last night I got to go out the the beach with some friends from work. We had a big bonfire and we attempted to do some clamming. Unfortunately we didn't even see any potential places of clams. Did some digging, but nobody got anything. The experience was cool. It's actually very difficult to get the digging thing into the sand, but it's pretty fun. Hopefully I can go again sometime and actually get something. You have to get a license to do it just on the rare occasion you will get stopped and asked to see a license.

It's been interesting here at work. We have a lady that is 36 weeks pregnant with twins and the hospital is pretty much just all about the twins. The doctor wants two doctors here for the delivery, two on backup, two nurses, one on backup, the CRNA (anesthesiologist), a respiratory therapist and one on backup, etc. Its ridiculous. Part of the small hospital mindset I guess. But the only two warmers we have are already set up for them, one they had to dig out of storage who knows where. It is way overboard its driving me nuts! There are more people due to have babies before she is. Craziness. So we have this nurse call schedule we have to sign up shifts for when she comes in they need to call another nurse in. And the doctor wants to do a c-section if she doesn't deliver before 38 weeks. Why? I have absolutely no idea! It blows my mind. Anyway, a little small hospital outlook.

Triathlon

Post-triathlon


I have a new addiction...triathlons! I just got back from doing my sprint triathlon on June 12th with Clint and Kylee in Oklahoma City. We were so nervous before it and not really sure what we were doing or how we were going to do certain things. The day before we registered and received our info, bags, etc we needed for the race. Thought we were going to be able to ask questions this day (since we were very green at triathlons), but they turned out to be very unhelpful. After registering I had to go get the road bike I was renting. I got a sweet Cannondale. It was awesome. I am addicted to road biking now, but still love mountain biking more. I am wanting to find a nice, inexpensive road bike to buy because it is fun, plus I want to do more triathlons! I didn't get to ride this bike more than just a little practice to get used to it and for the race. Bummer since it was so nice, but we were too busy and only had it less than a day. The night before the race was really busy. Had to go back to Shawnee, get everything ready for the race, like make sure we all had our bikes, had the right pre-race food, figured out what we were wearing etc, etc. The figuring out what we were wearing part was a little complicated. Took us a while to decide, it was pretty entertaining and hilarious actually! We probably went to bed between 12 and 1 and got up at 0430. Really didn't feel too tired when I woke up. And didn't have that hard of a time going to sleep or sleeping. I have been much more nervous before races than I was for this one. We got all loaded and head to OKC, when we pull into the parking lot we see all these athletes unloading their bikes and getting ready. Clint and Kylee used their mountain bikes, which shouldn't have bothered other people at all since that gave them that extra advantage for them using the faster road bikes, but I guess people just like being judgmental. Going into the triathlon I was expecting to feel totally out of place, but figured there would be other people around that didn't really know what they were doing either, but this was not the case. Before the race, in getting ready and warmed up, we kind of got stuck up, bad vibes from people. But as time went on and during and after the race, it turned out to be a very friendly environment and encouraging. After the race this random girl even told me great job as I walked by her. It was great.

There were only around 225 or so people in the race. I was 199, Kylee 200, Clint 196. So we were at the end of the line. The swim was in a pool so they did what they call a wave start. So they start one person at a time, spacing them out 30s or so. One starts, reaches a certain point, then the next, etc. So we didn't start until more than an hour after the first person started. There were people done with the whole race by the time we even started. Crazy. Luckily it was a slightly cloudy day so it didn't ever seem too hot during the race, which I was worried about. Being a very inexperienced swimmer, I have absolutely no idea how to really pace myself swimming. I just tried very hard not to start out too fast, but also didn't want to go too slow. Ended up handling the swim very well, just had a burning head at the end. Probably from the cap, goggle, water pressure, etc. I don't know, but it eventually went away during the bike ride. After the swim I sprinted to the transition area, threw on my shirt, socks, shoes, and helmet and ran my bike out then mountain and took off. I was excited my transition was a between 1 and 2 min, which is faster than I thought it would be. I ended up swimming in my shorts so that helped a lot. The bike ride felt very good. It was fun. Did not seem like 14 miles, it went fast. At the end I put in a lot of energy trying to pass a few people so I was very winded starting my run. Which was an odd experience because unless I sprint, I never really get winded running, its usually a side ache or the fact that I am so dizzy and nauseous I just can't see straight and almost pass out. So I started running winded, so just with that I felt like I was going slow, then, of course, I get dizzy after only 5 min. of running. I felt very slow the whole way. Luckily I never got so dizzy that I was about to fall over, so I was able to keep running. At the end of the run everyone was so encouraging, saying I was almost there, cheering and clapping. It was great. And no one could leave until the race was completely over, so there were lots of people around. I felt terrible by the end, but also great for completing a triathlon! The run was definitely painful, but I enjoyed the bike and swim. Which is weird since its running that I have done so much more of. But I beat my goal run time, I couldn't believe it. I ran a lot faster than I felt. I beat my bike goal time as well but not the swim goal time. I had no idea what to really set my goal time for anyway, so know I have a base time to go from. After the race, they gave out some prizes and the medals. It was an awesome experience. Poor Kylee turned around too early, stupid people at the water station didn't help her out. So she got dq'd for not completing the run. And I had to be in the 25-29y/o category since I turn 25 before the end of the year. So I got 5th place in that category, but would have placed first in the 20-24 y/o category, darn! Now I am going to start shopping around for a bike and find the next triathlon I am going to do! Oh, and go to the Dr. and see if we can figure out what the heck this stupid vertigo thing is about.


Me waving hello as I pass Clint's sister, our only supporter!

The trip to OK turned out to be very fun, busy, and uplifting. Got to see my best friend, old co-workers, other friends, and have new experiences. Played frisbee golf with Kylee and Clint, did the triathlon, baby shower for college friend, rock climbing, Benedict Street, many other sports and activities with Kylee, met up for social time with old-coworkers, experienced Oklahoma flooding, saw damage from the Oklahoma hail storm, and much more. I am so thankful for all my friends I have and for them spending their time and energy to spend time with me. I wish I enjoyed the state of Oklahoma more so I could spend more time with all the great people there! Makes me sad to think about leaving Oregon now because of all the great relationships I have formed here and all the great things to do around here. But that is life and part of what happens beings a travel nurse.

Out with old co-coworkers:

Esther and Audrey


Esther and Wendy


Sharon and Esther

Before leaving for Oklahoma, I had to completely be moved out of the vacation rental I was in. I moved everything to my new place, the upstairs of the house of a supervisor here at the hospital. Her and her husband live downstairs and we share the kitchen upstairs. The upstairs has living room, bathroom, and two bedrooms. They were going to rent out both rooms, but I told them I would pay a little more to have the whole upstairs, a little more privacy. When I got back from OK I have been working everyday since so I was living without anything put anywhere, just all in boxes, not knowing where anything was. Finally today I had a little time to get a little more organized. I think it is going to good living there. They have an older cat and a kitten. The kitten is great. He will cuddle up and sleep next to you. Granted he wakes up at four in the morning being a rascal and keeping you up, but he is a good kitten. I think they are going to fulfill my cat desire enough that I don't think I will be getting my own cat right now. Just in the past few days I have felt like I have kids or something because the cats have caused me to get lack of sleep, but they are fun. I also got some horrible bug bites in Oklahoma that after a week are finally not itching anymore.

I guess May here had some of the rainiest days in history, now June is having tons of rain as well, but also some of the coldest days. Barely getting above 60. It's crazy. I am really hoping things turn around soon so I can have some nice days to enjoy all there is I still want to go do when I am around here. I have tons of stuff in mind that I want to do this summer, I am excited! Just planned some good hikes and bike rides with some co-workers today!

Unfortunately, I was a loser with my camera again this trip. I didn't take one picture. I even told Kylee I needed to make sure I took some pics. Darn me, I suck! I don't know why I did that. Sorry...

Family

Last weekend I was able to go to San Antonio for Luke's promotion to Captain. Turned into a big family reunion. My whole family was there, my cousin, aunt, and grandpa. Jackie's (sister in law) parents, aunt, and grandmother were there as well. It was awesome to get to see everyone, and especially spend some quality time with Luke. I hate not getting to see him but a few times a year. I miss him so much. We have so much fun when we are together. We played frisbee golf, racquetball, tennis, dragged me along on his morning pt run with his squadron, as well as kidnapped me one of his work days. It was fun going running with him and the guys. Luke hurt his ankle recently so he was not as fast as he would like to be, but he did good. I like how he knows he can just drag me along wherever and to whatever. Luke is such a positive and intelligent person. He is great to be around! Sometimes he gets so excited talking and getting to be with his family that he forgets to concentrate on what he is doing. One time after picking my parents up at the airport he went passed the exit he needed and didn't realize it for about 20 minutes after he was supposed to exit. He did the same thing picking me up from the airport this past weekend, only he realized it only after about 5 min. past the exit. He is funny. It was fun spending time with Jackie's family as well. Nice to talk with and socialize with. Her grandma cooked some very good Filipino food. Got one of the recipes so I will have to try it sometime!

During Luke's promotion ceremony, the colonel speaking about Luke did such an amazing history of his life that some of Luke's relatives may not even have known about him. It was cool. Then saturday night Luke and Jackie had a party at their house. Some squadron guys and their spouses came but it was mainly just family. Good thing we had lots of family there! They would have had tons of leftovers. I spent so much time with Luke that I felt like I didn't really get to see the rest of my family too much. Just saw them in intermittent spurts it seemed like. But I'm glad I got some quality brother/sister time!

It never gets too warm here in Oregon so I only have one pair of shorts here. And it's still been pretty chilly here, so when packing for TX I kind of spaced the fact that it was so warm there. It was HOT and I only had one pair of shorts! Man, it was so hot and humid. I don't like how we can go so many days without seeing the sun here, just wet and cloudy, but I would take this anyday over that hot and humid climate. I sweat so much and so fast that I just can't handle that. But after being back here a week and today was the first day I saw the sun, I started to change my mind, but decided I still like it here better. Because on days like today, when the sun comes out, temps in mid 60's, green all around you, it is AMAZING!!!

I had a difficult time being able to train when I was in TX, but luckily I was able to get a little training in every day. I got to swim with my dad, that was fun. He made me realize I should probably think about the start of the swim, didn't even think about the fact I may need to dive to begin the race. So I worked on diving a lot with him. It was fun! And then this week a co-worker let me borrow her road bike to get some practice in. I used to hate riding on the road, but after riding the road bike on the road, it may be a new addiction! It's so fun. Don't think I will ever like it more than mountain biking, but it is totally different and fun in its own way. Especially on pretty days like today, makes for a very enjoyable ride! I think I am going to have to look into finding a cheap road bike! Then after my training today I did yoga on the beach! It was awesome. It was a little chilly and windy yoga, but not too bad. Can't wait to do more of that this summer! This whole triathlon training thing is an experience. There is so much more to think about than I originally thought. And it's hard to train for something like this when I have no idea exactly how I should be training. I'm fine with the running, as long as I don't get dizzy. Its just the swimming and biking that I have no idea about. I like getting some good swimming in, I just hate smelling like chlorine all the time! Training is also difficult when I work night shift because no matter what, working night shift makes me never feel rested, no matter how much sleep I get (which usually isn't much at all and not effective sleep when I do), and I have a serious lack of motivation when I work nights. I hate it. When I am finally done travel nursing I am determined to not work night shifts. I am definitely not programmed to be a night person!

This week I have started moving some things over to the next place I will be living until my assignment in OR is finished. I am renting the upper part of the house of a nursing supervisor at work. She and her husband will be living there part time in the lower part, and the kitchen, bathroom, and living room are upstairs. It will be interesting. But I think it will be good. She has cats so I know I can definitely have a cat there, which I am going to hopefully get after I get back from my trip to OK next week. I leave next week for OK, and have to be all moved out before I leave. I get to spend a whole week in OK with friends and old co-workers. I am very excited! Less than a week of training left! Better not let my four days in a row of night shift give me lack of motivation to make me slack off. Got to take advantage of the last week!

Sorry, no new pics. Everyone else was taking so many pics at the promotion, so I took a break and didn't take any. May regret that decision.

Friends and family... I love you and miss you!

The Climb

Mt St Helens


God is truly amazing. The past two weekend have just been incredible. I am so thankful for all that he gives us and for the ability to enjoy it.

Mother's Day weekend I went to Mt St Helens. A lady from work invited me a long time ago to climb the mountain with her and a small group of people. I was pumped and of course said I would! Then as time went by and with more talking and researching this climb, I start getting a little nervous. I was thinking it would just be a little more intense than hiking a fourteener in CO, come to find out that it was going to be unlike anything I had ever done or thought I would ever do. Nancy, my co-worker planning the trip, started telling me how I was going to need to get an ice ax and crampons so I would be able to climb up in the ice and snow then glisade down. I was thinking to myself, what! I have no idea how to glisade! And, since I am travel nursing, I have very minimal gear. So I was thinking, ok, I only have my small camelback, I would just stuff it as full as it would get with gear. Nancy kept telling me that I would climb it a lot faster than any of them because they were all slow. I really thought I would be slow as well. A few reasons why I thought this: First time to ever do anything like this, they had all climbed this before (Nancy has done it multiple times and has some awesome stories), I was going to have to rent mountaineering boots (sketchy to know how my feet would do with these), and my vertigo problem. I did a small , steep hike the week before helens, pretty fast, and got severe vertigo on top of the mountain. So I feared I would freeze on the mountain with too little gear, get severe blisters, and pass out or throw up on top of the mountain. But God truly is amazing. Nancy is the sweetest person and she is a great boy (girl) scout. She has done stuff like this for a long time. She has a split board and has taken that up Mt. St. Helens. She even got lost coming down and didn't make it back to the trailhead until after dark. I would be so scared and cold if this happened, but she is very tough. She gave me the suggestion to hike up with my snowboard and ride down the mountain. She even let me use her backpack to carry it up. This was such a great idea. I wasn't sure at first if I should do it because it would be so much extra weight carrying the snowboard. And people had told me that it is a lot of work to carry it up. So already being nervous about the climb, I wasn't sure I wanted to add the extra weight, but I was also really nervous of having to glisade down. Would SOOO much rather board down than glisade. So my first blessing for this climb was having the idea I would board, and having Nancy's backpack so I could have more gear with me was great. I also felt completely comfortable climbing with this group of people. Very fun and easy to get along with, plus they had previous experience and I trusted them. My next blessing was having the most perfect weather you could ever ask for to do this climb. There was hardly a cloud in sight. The down side was the sun reflecting off the snow made the sun exposure just that much more. I put sunscreen on my face 3x, but not anywhere else. Ended up getting so hot I climbed in my shorts and tank top for a little while and ended up getting burned pretty bad. So now I have this very funky looking tan line on my leg, pretty interesting! haha. When I go to the gym I want to clarify the reason for this funky line to the people giving me weird looks. Nancy also had some great glacier glasses she let me use. Never thought I would need things like glacier glasses, mountaineering boots, ice ax, or crampons. Man was I nervous!

The night before we had this great meal that Nancy's husband made. The best chicken soup I have ever had! Tons of stuff in it, that they grew themselves. Great salad and chips and salsa. I was stuffed. Didn't get much sleep, of course. Too nervous and had to get up at 4am. I stayed with another girl at work that didn't do the climb. So they stayed up late, also making it difficult to get much sleep, but that's ok. The group didn't want to leave until the earliest 6, but I convinced them to leave at 4:30. Some people start this climb at 3am, thats crazy. Not really because of having to avoid storms like you think about in CO, but because you don't want to be climbing on too soft of snow, makes it more difficult. So woke up at 4, was ready to go at 4:30, but ended up waiting on everybody else and didn't leave the trailhead until a little after 6. It was freezing at the trailhead, but didn't take too long to warm up of course. Once I was able to take off my outer few layers, didn't need them again until the summit. We start hiking, and all I can think about is how heavy my pack is and worrying about how steep and snowy it was going to get and hoping I didn't get vertigo. We started off slow I thought because we all were staying together. One other girl hiking with us, Donna, was a little faster. She and I ended up taking off from the rest of the crew. She was very well prepared and had done it before as well. We stopped and waited on them a few times, which I wish we didn't because it made us take that much longer. But it probably didn't hurt because a few times we stopped I had started becoming a little dizzy. One time we stopped just before timberline and so I pee'd just to pee, not necessarily because I had to. Good think I did! From there on out it was just wide open white mountain top. Don't know what girls do if they have to pee up there because there was absolutely nowhere to go and be hidden! I know, random, weird thought to have, but I did think about this. Luckily, even with all the water I drank, I did not have to pee again until I got back to the trailhead.

Once we got out of treeline, we got to this amazing open area where many people were gathered taking a break. Oh, I failed to mention earlier that there is this tradition on mother's day tons of people hike wearing dresses over their gear. It is the last day to climb with no cap on the amount of climbers, so it was a pretty busy day. I think after mother's day it is limited to 100 permits a day or something like that. I am sure some people got some nasty sunburns with some of the dresses they were wearing! It didn't take long past treeline that the steepness began. It also didn't take long for my feet to start feeling the awkwardness of the mountaineering boots. It was difficult to have my foot tilted up having to climb up the steep slope. After a little ways, and feeling the hot spots beginning, Donna and I stop to duck tape our feet. Little trick for anyone wanting to know how to help prevent blisters. You take some duck tape and just tape your heel. I put a few layers on. I also put some on the pads of the front of my feet because I was feeling hot spots there as well. Wasn't too optimistic at first how well this would work, but instantly I felt a difference, it was great! At this point we had amazing views of the valley. Could see Mt Hood and Mt. Adams, it was beautiful! Unfortunately I cannot post any pictures of the actual climb yet because I brought my small camera and do not have the cord to plug my camera into my computer. Sad day. But I did get some amazing pictures!

There were many people hiking with skis, some with tele's and skins making their trip up much faster. Saw a few split boards, and a few other people with snowboards. But most everybody just had their packs. Most had ice axes, but there were some hiking with very small bags. One guy passed us and didn't even have a backpack or water and just one little sweater. CRAZY!! So here I am hiking up this steep mountain. My crampons are on, my feet are aching. I can only go about 10-20 steps and have to rest a sec, then continue this pattern. When Donna was in front, her pace was slower so we would just keep going without really resting. I tended to walk faster, and take little rests. We would get to flatter sections where people were breaking and Donna would just keep going right on past some of them. At times I just thought I really needed to stop and sit or something, but I tried to just stay right on with her. We were a good pair. She would get a little slower at times, but stay with me. I would really want a break sometimes, but she would keep going, keeping me going. She warned me that there was a false summit, so I tried to never really get my hopes up that we were almost there, didn't want to get let down, then have no energy left. I knew this climb was going to be steep, but man it was STEEP!! Not just really steep for a short while, but really steep for a long time. We had to take the winter climbing route, which starts at about 2700' and the peak is about 8300'. The round trip is approximately 12 miles. So you are climbing 5600' in 6 miles, the last 3000+ seeming very steep and like it was never going to end! We finally make it to 1000' left and the only thing keeping me going at that point was literally knowing I was going to get to snowboard down. I was so ecstatic, but also nervous to ride down. Finally 300' left, YES that is the true summit I see! I had to double check with a few people to make sure it was the summit so I didn't get let down. I find out it is truly the summit and I get a surge of energy. It was the most amazing feeling taking that last steep step and making it to the summit! There were a lot of people on top, one person had a cowbell ringing for someone else that just summitted. I imagined the cowbell ringing in celebration of my summit! Oh, my feet were hurting so bad, it was amazing to be at the top! My feet were definitely hurting more than I was tired. I probably could have gone farther but by the time I made it to the top I knew I probably couldn't have gone much more because I could not have stood much longer. It took us 6.5 hours to summit. We hung out at the top, relaxing, re-energizing, and taking pictures for about 1.5 hours. We had to layer up at the top but nothing too terrible. I never got really cold. It was such a gorgeous day! One reason we were up there for so long is because I wanted to kind of follow another snowboarder down because I didnt want to take a wrong line and end up in some ravine that would take me forever to hike out of. Found a guy to follow, we dropped into this amazing bowl. The snow was so perfect and soft, able to take all fresh lines. It was the perfect slush that didn't make you stick and wasn't icy. It was wide open snow, sky, and awesomeness! Was awkward at first riding in the mountaineering boots, but not too bad once I got used to it. It was the most amazing experience ever! As I was riding down I literally could not believe I had just climbed that steep and that far to give me the longest, most amazing ride down! It was such an amazing feeling. We get to the bottom of the most perfect bowl and he stops. I am ecstatic and pumped. He was as well. Then he says he was going back up to do it again. As amazing as that ride was my feet were not going to let me hike back up that. Would have been cool, but oh well, I don't think I would have made it very far. So off I go totally by myself riding down this huge mountain with the only people in sight are the hikers on the trail way off to my right. I was generally able to keep them in my sight so I knew where the trail was, this was good. I got to one point that I had to hike up a hill just a bit to make it back up to the trail. This is where the flatter section began so I wasn't sure how much farther I would be able to ride. People were walking by on their snowshoes. I strap back in and cruise on by everyone. I was enjoying myself so much that I think I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on the other side of a river ravine that I had to hike across to get back on the trail. I get back on the trail, I'm strapping in and this other boarder comes by and asks me if I just hiked across the ravine. haha, he knew what I did. He said this is only his second time and he did the exact same thing his first time! Made me feel a little better. At this point I am about to enter back into treeline, not sure if it would get too flat, but I keep riding and end up having the perfect speed to cruise for a while. Finally I get to where I have to unstrap, but there are still good sections of good snow with decent slope so I get on my butt on the snowboard and continue to cruise down! Ended up only having to actually hike down maybe 3/4 of a mile. It was great! The best way to come down the mountain. It is so steep I would not have wanted to hike down, and had no idea how to glisade, so carrying the extra weight of my board was no question totally worth it! It was the most surreal experience! And I was riding down alone most the way, it was great. Took me about 1.25 hours to come down, way fast especially with having to hike out a few times. Got back to the trailhead just a bit before 3. They say the winter route takes most climbers between 7 and 10 hours. I did it in 9, with the 1.5 hr break on top. So probably a little slow climbing up since I was able to go down so fast, but I was in no rush! My next mountain: Mt Hood!

That was definately a book, but a story worth going into detail about. And that was only Sunday. I went up on Fri afternoon, camped in Cougar, WA Fri night and on Saturday I hiked through this awesome cave. Had no light but ended up meeting this nice couple that had an extra flashlight they let me use. Tried to do a couple other hikes but they were still snowed out. So I ended up driving to the southeast side of the national park, not thinking I would find much in terms of a good biking trail, just figured I would get a nice drive in. Ended up discovering this amazing trail that follows the river up. It was gorgeous! And two amazing waterfalls as well. I rode up about 6 miles and realized I had a ways to go before I would get to another waterfall so I had to turn around. It was so fun! Then I stayed at a motel in cougar with the group. Had no cell service up here, so of course, the parentals were freaking out. Felt bad not really being able to talk to my mom on mother's day while I was doing this crazy climb. But called them as soon as I had service to let them know I was alive! haha. I left as soon as I got off the mountain because I had to return my gear to REI in Portland. Good thing because I don't think the rest of the group made it down until late. I would have been waiting a very long time!


My campsite, plain and simple for just little old me



Monkeying around. This was actual in this cool part of the cave we had to crawl to, complete pitch dark in here



The cave'e entrance


Washington landscape






This tree smelled so good, it was very strong



Last week I made it official that I am going back to OKC in June for a week to visit friends, old co-workers, and family as well as go to a friend's baby shower and do a triathlon! So I started training for it last week. I am excited. Not really sure how it will work and what exactly to wear. And I dont know what to do about a bike, since I am flying there, but I will figure it out. Kylee and I are doing it together, and maybe Clint if he doesn't have to work. So it will be fun!

I apologize for the length of this post, but I still have a whole other weekend to talk about filled with some more snowboarding action, mountain biking, camping, and hiking! Life is good! John and I figured out that we both had the same four days off in a row, so we decide to make a big camping trip out of it. Told him I planned on going boarding at Mt Hood, and we just decided to make a big trip out of it. So we packed in our bikes, my board and boots (he had to rent since he hasn't boarded in like 6 years), firewood, camping chairs, etc into his tiny little car. It was awesome!



On Friday we drove to Sandy, east of Portland and found this biking trail called Sandy Ridge. It was a four mile hard climb up to the top of the trail and a 3.5 mile amazing decent over burns, turns, rocks, streams, and trees. It was so fun. The climb up was enough for me to only do once, but John went up and did it again. Then we drove more east and found a great campsite. Weather was perfect! Taught John the fine art of cooking potatoes wrapped in foil in the fire. Yummy! haha.

This was the last weekend Mt Hood Meadows was open. I had heard the snow was still good, they recently got some fresh stuff. They were only open 9-2 because the snow got so soft and slushy in the afternoon. Saturday morning we went boarding and the snow was great. It wasn't powder, but it was soft and didn't get too slushy until about 1 where you definitely started sticking. It was hard like riding in powder, and tons of fun! Got some good jumps in as well. It was a last minute decision to bring my snowboard stuff and have gone three times now, very glad I brought it! I can even tackle whistler if I make a trip up there! After boarding we biked to the Ramona Falls trailhead then hiked to Ramona Falls. I guess this hike is a little longer than I was thinking it was, so John was a little worn out. It's 7.1 miles, I was thinking 3, whoops. But it was gorgeous, and worth it! Then another dry, beautiful night camping, so great!


Ramona Falls


Mt Hood, my next challenge! haha, we will see...heard it's tougher than Helens



Sunday we decided to drive up to Hood River to see what trails we could find up there. First we chilled around the campsite and down at the river for a while. We were very tired and hungry driving up to Hood River so we ate and relaxed for a little while. We thought a huge storm was going to roll in, ended up just teasing us with quick little rains. We biked part of this long complex network of trails in Post Canyon, the hit after work spot for locals. This trail has lots of man-made tricks you can hit riding up then what I like to call a mountain bike park at the top, like a snowboard park. I felt like when I first started learning to do tricks on my snowboard. It was the same feeling of having to find little things to hit first, then work up the courage to try bigger things. I did this one where the ramp starts narrow, widens going up then back down. Hit it first all by myself. Rode around and told John then hit it multiple times after. Then he made me do this one right after it that goes up then curves and slants around. It was awesome! Then we kept hitting this one section of lots of ramps and jumps and stuff. Fun stuff! Never thought I would do anything like that on a mountain bike!


My first mountain bike trick!



Leaving the trail we look up and see the most amazing sunset and rainbow. We pull over so I can take pics and end up next to a field with the most gorgeous and friendly horses. We ended up just chillin on the side of the road for like and hour and a half enjoying the sunset. I have never pulled over spontaneously like that and chilled for such a long time. It was great! We were going to camp one more night but after having such great weather we didn't want to deal with a last night of rain, so we drove back to the coast late Sunday night, very tired, stinky, and hungry! What a great weekend.









I feel like a normal person having a whole weekend off having fun then going back to a week of working and training. Not that it is totally normal since I work some day shifts this week and some night shifts this week. I have seriously been considering getting a cat, so today I went to the humane society and fell in love with a kitten and then a cat that is probably about a year old. It was suggested to me that since I work 12hr shifts and leave a lot for a few days at a time that a kitten probably would not be the best since they do not do as well being left alone for long periods of time. The cat I like immediately clung to me. Very friendly and affectionate. Already neutered so that is a plus. She is lighter black with shades of brown. Very pretty, just not the color I was looking for. She shed a lot on me, but right now is prime shedding season I guess for cats. I really like her. Filled out the adoption papers, just have to get the ok from my landlady. I might make a trip to another shelter on Friday just to see what's there if I can but I am pretty sure I am going to get this one. I am nervous to get a cat. Excited but also nervous just about cleaning up after her and her hair, the expense of the cat, and also being able to travel with her. But it will be great to have her to take care of and have the company!

Sorry this was a book, but thank you so much for sharing in the stories of my life! I miss all my friends and family and wish I could be sharing more experiences with you. Love you!

Adventure!

Crescent Beach


I have a couple interesting stories. I guess I will start with an encounter on one of my hikes. I had decided I was going to do this one hike that I had read about but for the life of me could not find the trail. I drove to this place called Hug Point that apparently a trail was supposed to start at. Well I looked everywhere and could not find the stinkin trail. So I just decided to go do this other trail I have done before. I drove into the parking area and look across and see a bunch of elk just chillin in the grass right next to where everyone parks. Not even caring about any people or cars around. It was cool. The elk here are much smaller it seems than they are in Colorado. Then I discovered a new trail that I didn't know existed that went down to a beach called Crescent beach. Not too long of a hike, but it was an awesome little hike to the beach. I started this at about 6:30, so probably good it wasn't that long. Didn't see one person on the hike or at the beach, so it was great. And the beach was gorgeous. A little waterfall going down the cliff, lots of rocks, and NO ONE ELSE there!! haha. I need to go down there on a nice day earlier in the day so I can spend some time down there. I was excited to find this trail. It was funny at the top because there is a sign that said the trail was very narrow and steep so experienced hikers only. Man, I feel sorry for those who decided not to go down just because of that sign. Sure it was steep and narrow, but only like 1 1/4 miles so it wasn't like you had a long way to go if something happened. When I got back to the parking area I put all my stuff in my car and got a little weirded out by this older hippie looking dude sitting in his car next to mine. But didn't think a whole lot about it when I went to go check out this little viewpoint area. As a was approaching the end of the path up to the viewpoint I see this guy standing there with his arms around someone else. Whenever he heard or saw me coming he pulled away really quickly and they were two guys. They looked all embarrassed. I just looked away, acting like I didn't see them. I walked up, said hello, then just went on my business looking around. Too bad I left my camera in the car so I could make myself look busy taking pictures. Can you say AWKWARD!!! Pretty view, hard to enjoy completely with the awkwardness of my embarrassing them. As I was walking back to the car I was thinking maybe I should have made a joke and said something like it was ok, they didn't have to mind me being there. But then I decided that may have made it worse and its not really like me to say something like that! Then as I was approaching my car the old hippie dude was walking back from behind my car to get back into his car. I wasn't sure where he was coming from so as he was driving away I memorized his license plate just in case my camera was not in my car anymore. My car was locked, sure, but there was no one else around, I got a little worried. No worries though, all was good.





I guess the hospital still had a lot of shifts they needed covered so they hired another travel nurse. She started last week. I was nervous at first for some reason just because I wasn't sure how we would get along. Not sure why I felt that way. It was a day shift we were working and the new traveler, Jennifer, actually got to "orient." So she was working with myself and one other nurse. Nice for her, when I started I just went right into nights, no orientation. That's ok though, it worked out. Anyway, I ended up being in charge of kind of showing Jennifer around and doing some orientation with her. Can get interesting having a traveler orient another traveler. But not long after I first met her I decided I really liked her. We hit it off right away! It was awesome. So this was a Thursday that she started and the next Saturday we hung out the whole day. I was wanting to go to a Farmers Market and invited her along. It was fun! I got a lettuce pot (should produce fresh lettuce for me for 5-6 weeks or more), some hummus, and a crab! I was very excited to finally make my own crab, I will tell about this experience next! Then I dragged Jennifer along with me to a Scentsy party at another co-workers house. It was tons of fun. I already have enough Scensty stuff right now so I didn't get anything else, but it was all people I work with at the party and it was great to get to hang out with them and socialize. Then Jennifer and I went to grab dinner and hang some more. It was a lot of fun. Her husband is getting his Phd so he has like three or four months off so this is their little vacation time while she works her three days a week. It's going to be great for them. They are excited to do all the stuff around here and just be here. They came all the way from Montreal! Oh, and I forgot to mention she lives right across from me. haha, she is living in the same apartment rentals I am. Crazy! Her place is a lot smaller and older appliances and furniture, but it's cute. I feel so weird living in the nicer, bigger place all by myself. It will be cool having someone else around to hang out with.

My contract here is supposed to be until June 12th, but I was thinking they were going to need to until the end of June, so had already kind of planned that. Come to find out today that they could use me throughout all of September, possibly until November because there is another nurse going on maternity leave in August. And there is a span of about two weeks in July that for some reason they wouldn't need me so that would just be like a two week vacation. It is so tempting for me just to say YES, I would love to stay. The people are so great here, I have lots of people to hang out with. There is so much to do in the area, the place I am living is awesome. The weather I have heard is amazing in August and September. Would have to deal with tons of people here in July and August, but I guess it would be worth it for the weather in September and a big beach volleyball tournament in August. Oh and I guess there is a cool run they do from east of Portland to Seaside in October I think. Anyway, there are lots of positives to staying here longer. But my purpose and goal of travel nursing is to get to go to many places, to see and explore different areas. I don't want to be a travel nurse forever. I eventually do want to settle down, haha. So as great as it is here and as much as I like it here and the people here, I really don't think I should stay. And it's a small hospital, which I think most assignments will be, but it would be nice to get back into a bigger hospital at some point for the experience. Anybody have any input? I am definitely going to stay the couple weeks longer through the end of June, but beyond that I just don't really know if I should stay or not. It will be hard saying bye to people I have met here. This is only my 2nd assignment. I am glad things are going so good so far, but I kind of hope I don't have to keep making decisions like this! haha. Better than absolutely hating it and being miserable I guess!

Ok, so my crab dinner! I have been wanting to make a crab while I was here, since its the only seafood I like. So at the farmers market they had some decent size ones. I got a pretty big one for only $9, a lot better than in a restaurant. Jennifer was looking at the crab and turned it right side up, the person selling them got all upset and said they HAVE to stay upside down, the wise all the flavor juices leak out. Good thing to learn. It was pre-cooked, I wanted a live one for the whole experience and I was worried that it wouldn't be as good pre-cooked. I also didn't have any clue how to re-heat it or how to clean it. I just decided to boil it again for a short time. So boiled it up, made some butter with lemon, and discovered I had no crackers to crack the legs with. Hmm, what to do. Decided to use the handles on my can opener! They worked ok, ended up using my hands for most of it though. The crab was so good! I was shocked at the flavor. Haven't had it any better in a restaurant. Pre-cooked is not a bad way to do it I guess. THen I had the problem of what to do about the center. I started with the legs because I knew I liked the legs, but had absolutely no clue what to do about the rest of the crab, I didn't even know meat was in the middle. But I couldn't not eat the center, I had to get in this whole experience! I got online and looked up how to do it. You turn the crab right side up and just peel apart the top from the bottom, comes apart very easily. Then you have to clean out all the innards and gills, GROSS!! This was so disgusting. The gills were cool, but gross. I think there is a part of the innards that people eat but it is "an acquired taste." Something I don't even want to attempt! After you clean it out you have to break it in half to get to the meat, this was fairly easy as well. I got that part all cleaned out and finally discovered where the meat was. I was very nervous about this meat. Even though I like crab, the whole time I am eating it I am always afraid I am going to get a gross, fishy bite. When this happens it gets regurgitated out of my mouth very quickly! My family have witnessed this disgusting event! I was very afraid this would happen with this center meat. I was surprised at how much meat I was able to get out of the center. Very glad I didn't just throw it away. I put some lemon butter on top and dug in. It was fantastic! No fishy taste at whatsoever. All in all, it was a fun, interesting, and enjoyable experience. A little disappointed not to get the full live crab cooking experience, but I think I am ok with it as well. I would have been scared cooking a live crab by myself probably. Talk about an adrenaline rush! It was scary putting it in the boiling water even though I knew it was already dead!

After I butchered it!

I have been having this problem with vertigo when I run outside for quite a while. Have not been able to relate it to anything. Don't think it is due to altitude, temperature, time of day, what I eat, what I drink. I cannot figure it out. It only happens when I run outside, never on the treadmill, and I never know when it will happen. Sometimes it happens after two miles, sometimes I can go six miles and it won't happen. But it makes me so mad because it is keeping me from getting to run outside. I wanted to do this awesome 10k at a lake last weekend and didn't because I was not able to get myself to get through my runs outside without it happening to me. It gets so bad that I can barely stand up straight and come very close to throwing up. Then I feel like crap for a while after I am done, it's terrible. It has only ever happened to me from running. The other day I was hiking Saddle Mountain, pretty steep hike, not too long though, 2.5 miles. I wanted to hike at a good pace because I am hiking Mt. st. helens this weekend. Got to get myself ready! When I was almost to the top, the vertigo hit me. But I knew I was almost there so figured I would be fine. Got to the top and had to sit for a while for it to pass. Drank tons of water. Then on the way down it was so bad I had to concentrate to not throw up. Had to stop a few times on the way down. It was terrible, and I couldn't figure out why it was happening to me when I was hiking downhill, so weird. If anyone has any ideas of why this might be happening I am very ready to listen! I have been really nervous about climbing st. helens, but this makes me even more nervous now. UGH!!!

My biking buddy, John decided to take me on this crazy challenging trail the other day. And I only have pics on my phone unfortunately because it was a different approach to an area I have hiked to before so didn't really think I would need any pics. Failure on my part, I need to ALWAYS have my camera with me. I really missed it. This trail was crazy! He warned me it would be a challenge. The trail started off pretty steep and right away there was a huge tree we had to scramble over. The trail had many tree trunk obstacles on it. Started off walking my bike a lot. I asked him if I would be walking my bike more than riding it because that was not going to be fun. I was dripping sweat after the first 30 min of the trail. Then he told me the trail was like 10miles long! Really, I was NOT going to enjoy doing that for 10miles! And with John, you really don't know what to expect. He doesn't really think too much about what he's doing, he just kind of does things! So you have to be ready for an adventure with him. We did tons of scrambling around tree, riding through mud, and walking up steep hills or crazy obstacles. I would say I only ended up walking the bike 1/4 of the entire time. Got to actually ride a lot. The first part of the trail was the worst. He was patient with me though. There were a few times I was trying to bail off my bike quickly, almost tangling myself up and falling, but usually I would save myself. One time I did hit a stump and got thrown forward. Another time I couldn't bail fast enough and did get tangled up and thrown to the side. No injuries from it all though, just really muddy and scrapes and bruised on the legs. John didn't see either of these incidents either so no embarrassment! Lots adrenaline when I was going down some of the crazy hills. The next day John asked me if I really did enjoy the bike ride, guess he realized I may not have enjoyed it as much as him since I had to walk the bike a lot more. But I actually did really like it. At first I was very worried as to what I was getting myself in to, but at the end, coming down the last hill, I truly loved my bike and loved the fact that I just accomplished that challenging ride! Probably will need a week or two to recover until I attempt another challenge like that though!

Man, didn't mean for this post to be so long. One more story and I am done, promise! John and I decided to go hiking yesterday. We were going to this mountain but found this other trail we wanted to explore where it went to. It was kind of cool, hiking through the forest and lots of mud. Ended up just dropping in right between these two houses in this little town of Arch Cape. I knew there was a trail to that town, but there is no sign anywhere showing how to get to the trail. Very strange. And then the trail just ends. So we went down to look at the beach. It was low tide so we wanted to go across this river to see what was on the other side of this cliff. We attempted to keep our feet dry doing this, and yeah, that didn't last long. So we just said whatever and waded through the river. Had to do a little rock climbing, which was fun. Then got to the other side and explored. John had the idea that we would be able to just go along the rocks on the coast back to where we started and then hike back up to his car. Well it was low tide, looked good to me too. We were right along the water, so no chance of making it if it was high tide! But I wasn't worried. Turned out to be tons of fun. Made our own interesting loop, had some adventure and rock climbing. It was fun! John gets so excited about things sometimes that he doesn't really take his time to compose himself and will almost trip or fall over silly little things, it cracks me up! haha, fun times!



The trees out here are so cool! Some of them are huge


So much for dry feet!


We discovered this awesome arch


Climbed up on top of this waterfall and it was so cool to see the river dropping off with ocean in the background


What we hiked along to get back to the car

No Stopping

So my two friends from Oklahoma, Clint and Danielle, came and visited last week. It was great to get to show them around and have some company. It's funny because I am a local, but a tourist at the same time. I can have the confidence of a local and still do the touristy things without being weird! haha, it's great. Having friends and family come visit can be weird because I want to be able to tell them things about the area and show them around, but I am still learning as well. I think I have learned a lot about what is around here and things to do. Sometimes I find I know a lot more than some locals, which is funny, because I get in the tourist mindset and want to learn and experience things.

So I know I can pull my family around and make them go places and they will just tell me when enough is enough. But it's different with friends. They try to go with the flow and just want to have fun. So I hope I didn't wear them out! I think they got more worn out by their plane rides and jet lag than by me. They got in at about 2 in the morning and then left my place at 2:30 in the morning a few days later. They just stayed awake that night instead of sleeping a few hours then having to travel. I'm sure they were very worn out the next day. Following their visit here I think I have done most of the hikes and seen most the touristy things in the area, now I get to travel to other areas to explore! Like climbing Mt St. Helens on Mother's Day, I am pretty excited about that!

I wish I took a picture of the car Danielle rented, not sure what kind it was, but the guy at the rental place decided to upgrade them to mid size car. It looks like a black dude's car, we were pimpin. We drove it everywhere. Danielle liked driving it I think! We had pretty good weather while they were here. Only one day of rain, which was good, haha. We did the good ol' sightseeing around the town, went to a few beaches. We hiked to Cape Falcon. I had not done this hike yet, so it was an experience for me as well. It was a little muddy. Danielle tried to prevent her shoes from getting too muddy, but then I think she gave up on it and decided she didn't care, it became a little difficult to avoid the mud! We found the beach that the surfers hang at. There were a bunch trying to catch a few waves. Just doesn't seem like fun to me, surfin in a full wetsuit in cold, rainy weather. Surfing should be done in warm, sunny weather! But, what do I know! Anyway, when we turned the corner and got to Cape Falcon, it took my breath away! It was so gorgeous. Being able to see the beaches, cliffs, and capes along the coastline. It was awesome! I was pretty sure I saw a shark in the water. I saw a fin and it looked the shape of a shark, but then when Clint went and looked he saw a sea lion, so who knows. I just don't think I have much desire to surf out here. We will see what I think when June rolls around and maybe some warmer weather.






One night we had a bonfire on the beach. We chose the best night for this. It was nice with the fire, a good temperature. And the sky was so clear. It was beautiful. The stars were bright and you could see some reflection off the water. It was so cool. Never had a beach fire before. Popular thing to do up here I think, probably because you don't do much swimming in the water.

The next day we went to Cape Disappointment in WA. WA is really pretty. Green of course and lots of pretty cliffs and trees. There are two lighthouses at Cape Disappointment State Park. One is Cape Disappointment (go figure), the other is North Head lighthouse. I was wishing I was with my family going here because my mom LOVES going to lighthouses and my brothers room is decorated in lighthouses and nautical stuff, which is ironic since he is in the air force! Sorry mom for not taking you there! At North Head lighthouse they decided to tell us we could look around and go up to the top if we wanted to but failed to mention that we have to pay for going up. We saw the sign for the fee but when they told us we could go to the top I thought maybe we just had to pay if we took the guided tour or something. Luckily Clint had some cash! That's the bad part about state parks, they charge you all kinds of little fees, its annoying. Then we went to Cape Disappointment lighthouse. We saw some sea lions playing around in the water, it was cool. Couldn't go in this lighthouse, bummer. Then we went to Fort Columbia. Clint really enjoyed seeing the forts, guns, and batteries. And Danielle, well, Danielle just cracks me up sometimes. I won't say a lot on here, I don't want to embarrass her, but lets just say, mud and hills did not get along well with her this trip. One of the things I love about this girl, is that she does not care one bit about what people think about her. She can do the most embarrassing thing and everyone see her do it and she does not care. She made the statement that she thinks one reason God put her on this earth is to give people a good laugh! I love her attitude. We went to my favorite beach, Indian beach, to have a picnic and Clint and I were down this hill at a picnic table and then here walks up Danielle with water all over her shirt! Some lady saw her fall and asked if she was ok, she just got up laughing. I don't think hills and her really get along! haha, it was great having them here!





Last week I went to Portland with my 40yr old biking buddy (John) to go climbing and biking. He hasn't climbed for like 10 yrs but used to climb a lot so he was a little rusty. I had to catch him up on some things. Well the guy that was there that day turned out to be kind of a jerk. He thought that John seemed a little unsure about his technique so he wouldn't let us climb, just boulder. I was so bummed. I have been wanting to climb for so long. I have never really bouldered, so it was cool to do something new, but I like climbing much more! So we got our upper body workout, then off to our lower body workout. We biked around the river in Portland. It was cool. Lots of people out biking, walking, and running. Its so cool how friendly Portland is to bicyclists. You don't have to constantly worry about a car hitting you. At one point we were at a stoplight and there was a line of 10 or more bicycles. How often do you see that in a city! Then we biked up this little mountain in the city, it was cool. We did it at dusk, so it was pretty going up and looking out over the lights in the city. It was fun! Unfortunately, no pics. Fun times!