New Adventures

Casey and I decided it would be fun to spend some time traveling this year. As an Occupational Therapist, Casey has a cool opportunity to do travel therapy. Basically, it involves 13 week contracts in different places (you really can’t beat getting paid to see different places). He ended up with a placement that went from May-August in Montana (perfect timing for MT) and in a work setting that he wanted more experience in which made it a match we couldn’t turn down. So, last week we arrive in small town Montana. It seems like the whole state is national forest, at least here on the west side. Seriously, everywhere we turn we see another one.

We were so excited to set our tripod up and take a picture of ourselves with this sign, but then we realized we left the attachment that hooks our camera to our tripod in Indiana! Oh well, for being one of the 2 things we have discovered we accidentally left so far that’s not too bad.

The last few weeks leading up to this new adventure have been completely crazy and left me with little time for blogging or other projects…

• 8 weeks ago:  I had one of my most bittersweet days/weeks as I finished my job as a renal dietitian so that we could embark on a new travel adventure.
• 7 weeks ago: Casey and I met my brother, Joseph, and his wife, Serena, in Europe and we all spent 2 weeks traveling through 4 different countries: Switzerland, France, Netherlands, and Ireland. Please note: I managed to do this with a small tote and 1 duffel. This was no easy task to limit my clothing (okay particularly shoe options) and I was rather proud of myself.
• 6 weeks ago: My biggest travel dream came true as we spent a week traveling through Ireland while staying at B&B’s along the way. It was everything I had imagined and… yes, I have watched too many chick flicks.
• 5 weeks ago: We just arrived home to Tennessee from Ireland and had just less than 2 weeks to pack up our entire apartment for our cross country move to Montana.
• 4 weeks ago: Nothing like a little motivation from the pressure of moving in 2 days…more packing.
• 3 weeks ago: We drove from Tennessee to Indiana where we spent some time unpacking most of our belongings and visiting with family and friends.
• 2 weeks ago: We drove across the US and spent some time exploring South Dakota including Badlands National Park.
• 1 week ago: We finally arrived in MT to unpack our things in the place we had originally found via the internet which ended up being nothing like described and so we unpacked for a 2nd time in a new place 5 days later.

Driving to Montana with just the necessities. Okay, so maybe I packed more than just necessities. But really, it is very difficult to reduce your personal items to what will fit in a compact SUV.

So now, I’m adjusting to a new routine during the work week in Montana. I have several projects and some studying I hope to get done this summer. On the weekends, we plan on hiking and exploring this beautiful state!