GOOD MORNING BALTIMORE!

I've basically been singing the entire soundtrack to Hairspray since we got here, and I have to admit, I don't hate it. Ha! Ryan and I are really liking Baltimore. It's definitely not NYC, it's a little more boring and normal, but let me tell ya, I love it. I love everything about being in a normal city, like a 780 square foot apartment, a kitchen, a couch, driving, seeing normal people wearing normal clothes, and not having to worry about someone yelling at me if I'm walking to slow. I do miss my Mike's Bagels though. Ha!

We've actually done a lot since we've been here. I think we've hit all the major touristy things. Next week Ryan's mom comes into town and we'll hit up DC and Philadelphia to finish off our "bucket list". Yesterday we went hiking and saw the beautiful countryside of Maryland. It's so amazing how big our country is and how much it has to offer. Each coast is completely different from the other and they're both so beautiful in their own ways they're almost not comparable. I've loved being on the east coast where it's so lush and green. The east is also so rich in early American history which I absolutely love. I've genuinely enjoyed getting so see all of the battle sites, visiting the towns I read about in history class, and getting to walk where Pocahontas did!!

Sites of Baltimore

Edgar Allan Poe's house and grave

Mount Washington-our neighborhood

 
 Terapin Nature Park-dog beach

 
 Rock State Park

Sunflower fields-100 acres of 'em!

The picture of the Mount Washington restaurants give kind of an idea of what a lot of the housing looks like here. They're called row houses and they're typically two to three stories. They are all connected but each one is a little different. They have such character!

Sites of Richmond, VA

Honestly, my favorite part of Baltimore was going to Richmond. The whole reason we came down to Baltimore was to be close to Richmond for our friends' wedding and I'm so glad we had a few days to get to explore a little.  We got to see many sites from the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

Row style homes

Oakwood Cemetery-Over 17,000 Confederate soldiers were buried here.

 Tredegar Ironworks-They produced most of the guns supplied to the Confederacy

 The James River

This is a replica of one of the ships the settlers would have been brought over in.

The sailors would sleep in bunks like these, however, the settlers would live below deck and sleep in hammocks.

 GLORY, GOD, AND GOLD!

Ryan's apart of the Virginia Company

On a separate note, we've made a few good friends here and I love my unit. It seems like the nursing experience is different in each unit and I lucked out to be in a great unit where everyone is extremely nice and helpful. As it turns out I'm really on a floor unit that has IMC beds instead of the other way around (which is what I was told it was in my interview). I do miss my critical care kids and I'll be happy to be back in a PICU in November but for now I'm enjoying interacting with my patients and learning all kinds of new things that Johns Hopkins offers. It has been a very rewarding experience so far and I can already tell I'll miss it when we leave. Any of you travelers out there, this would be a great assignment if you're looking at the East Coast.

Well, I think that's all I got for now. My next post should include our NEXT ASSIGNMENT! Already?! Yep, I actually snagged it shortly after I accepted this one and I'm excited to fill y'all in!!