Sunday, April 10, 2011

Road Trips to remember


I wanted to break down my time in KC as most of it wasn't really spent in KC, but road-tripping. I love a good road-trip and most of my KC co-workers decided that I am a nut with all the driving I did while there.
First, I drove up to Minneapolis, MN to visit a fellow travel Nurse friend. Teresa and I met back in Seattle and were fortunate to work in the same city again in Elko, NV. Just before I headed off to Germany .

Although distance separates us most of the time, I consider her one of my very best friends. We had a relaxing and enjoyable extended weekend. Teresa and her daughter Heather showed me all around downtown Minneapolis and we had a great time together.

The next road trip was with another very good friend of mine to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Lisa and I have shared many Mardi Gras together and some great experiences that will not be shared here. This year was very different. First....it doesn't happen often, but if you ever plan to go to MG and it happens to be near Spring Break for Colleges...DONT GO.

It wasn't the MG that I was accoustomed to, it was a hyped up Spring Break experience and nothing like the TRUE MARDI GRAS. You may thnk to yourself that I was just overwhelmed with the 'party' atmosphere due to spring break....your wrong, very wrong. The mood was nothing like the many previous years that we attended. It was a bunch of broke young kids that didn't have a clue how MG 'works'. I guess you would have to have been there to understand.

So Lisa and I rented a great place to stay from Craigslist and totally got scammed! We lost the money that we had paid for the week in NOLA and with everything else booked or way too expensive, we parked in the garage on arrival and decided that we would get a few drinks and ask around to see if we could find a place to stay....

Four days later.....

We pulled out of the parking garage and decided not to come back for MG during Spring Break.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Cupcakes, Cabaret and Road Trips: Part I


I realized yesterday that it's been almost a full year since I started this new blog and I haven't put a single travel entry in. I am ashamed. Actually, not really. But I figure that it's time to start putting down my thoughts and experiences once again.

I've been caught up this year with feeling sorry for myself, having surgery (elective), more feeling sorry for myself, attempting to spend time with my family, and lots of planning.

Where to start? It's been a busy year, although not the busy that I would ultimately enjoy and really mostly lazy at times. Let's start where I last left off, Kansas City. KC wasn't as enjoyable as I had planned for it to be. Actually, nothing has been very enjoyable lately (see feeling sorry for myself) but it's mostly me.
North KC Hospital was a hard and busy place to work. Three months there flew by. I really didn't do much there as it was one of the worst winters I've had in a long time. Lots of snow and really cold tempuratures don't do much to entice me to get out of the house to explore. I'm sure that there is tons to do in KC, but I really can't comment on it.

There are a couple of things that stand out from my time in KC. First being my daughter, Trinity and her friends chose to come visit me in KC for their Jr year Spring Break. Can you imagine that? I would never have choosen KC for Spring Break, given a choice. Oh, well. It was a great time with three teen-age girls in the studio apartment of mine...imagine it....make-up, clothes, shoes, for 4 females scattered all over my tiny little place of solitude.

We enjoyed the week seeing the play Cabaret (which we all loved), playing around at the Crayon store in the local mall, and a night of comedy at a local Improv show.

Click here for Pictures

The other thing that stands out from my time in KC is the CUPCAKES!!! Yes, cupcakes! I your ever in KC, give 3GirlsCupcakes a call and ask for a drive-by, or better yet follow her on FB and do like I did the first time and see if you can chase her down somewhere in KC. These are the best cupcakes I've ever had. Tell her "hello, from the travel nurse on 8th". Maybe she will remember me, I was a very good customer during my sulky days in KC.

One more thing that stands out from my time in KC is that I didn't stick around KC a lot during my time there. I was on the move! I traveled a lot, now that I really look at it. In February I drove to Minneapolis to visit my friend, Teresa. Then the first week in March, Lisa and I took the most interesting trip to New Orleans I've ever had (this deserves it's own post so I'll fill you in on the details later). Then in March the Girls arrived for a week. Before I knew it, the contract was done and I was heading on a road trip back to New Orleans to meet my parents.

It went by so fast and looking back on it, I really did have a good time although I still can't tell you a thing about KC, other than if you get a chance you should give it a try. I think that there is a lot to see and do and maybe someday I'll go back and actually stay in town and explore.