Where to Next!?

Howdy, howdy! We've finished up our time in Idaho Falls and made our way to Texas. We set up camp at our parents' house and here we've sat for the last 3 weeks, with one more week to go. So back in Idaho I mentioned we had two weeks left and still didn't have an assignment. Well, that didn't change until about 3 days ago. This has been the weirdest few weeks in the travel nurse universe. Apparently there's this lull in the PICU travel world. It's been hard for me and a lot of my friends to find their summer assignment. I don't know why it's happening or how long it'll last but I'm happy to report that it's finally over for me. I've accepted a night (😥) position at The Children's Hospital at TriStar Centennial in Nashville, Tennessee! I'm not super excited about the whole nights thing but we're ecstatic to be going back to beautiful Tennessee. We visited Nashville a few times while on assignment in Knoxville. Ryan loved it so much he researched houses to rent with dreams of settling down. Little did he know it would send me into an anxiety attack that ended with me sobbing until I fell asleep. Haha! This travel life is mine and I wasn't (still ain't) ready for it to be over! With no intentions to settle down, I'm still excited to get to see more of the Music City. Plus, we already have friends there (Hey Jess!! 🙋)

- - -

The last few weeks of our time in Idaho Falls was pretty emotional and stressful. However, there were definitely some fun times mixed in. I realized I never did post about Shoshone Falls so I'll just wrap up the rest of our Idaho adventures with photos.

Shoshone Falls

 - 

We spent the day with another couple and their kiddo driving ALL AROUND Idaho and ended up here. It's known as the Niagara Falls of the west and it's absolutely stunning. It's actually taller than Niagara Falls by about 45 feet.

 Looking South from the Falls

 - 

A lot of the rocks and formations around Idaho are actually lava! The hotspot that created the geothermal water features of Yellowstone has been "traveling" across Idaho as the North American tectonic plate moves across the earth. This means there were volcanoes everywhere over there!

Our friends - Erica and Clay and their little girl Kinsley

We ended that day at Balanced Rock - it's more of a hike than it looks to the top!

Outing at the Falls - More new friends! Johnna, Kody, and Peyton

The Tetons!

-

Grand Teton National Park is a quick, scenic two hour drive from Idaho Falls so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go. The park was still closed at the time but we were still able to drive on the outside highway and walk down one of the park roads (mostly) all by ourselves and the pups.

Ice Cream Social! I sure did love my coworkers at EIRMC! Also, Reed's Dairy...I love me some Reed's Dairy...mmmmmmmmmm

Visiting the Mormon Temple

-

Ryan and I lucked out that after the Temple had some restoration work done and before it was rededicated, the church hosted an open house. We got to learn a lot about the Mormon faith community and see amazing architecture.

Mesa Falls with Mama Jean(ette)!!

 - 

Obsessed with waterfalls and making new friends!

YELLOWSTONE!

-

Y'all, I know it's really easy to book that all inclusive resort in Mexico, but PLEASE do yourself a favor and spend that money on a trip to Yellowstone. This was truly the most amazing place I've been so far. It's so beautiful and unique, there's so much to see and learn. The landscape is breath taking and spotting wildlife I've never seen in person was so exciting!

Beautiful hot spring in Yellowstone 

-

 You know it's real hot when there are no colorful bacteria around the edges. We can guesstimate that this water was over 180 degrees!

Photographing the Milky Way in Yellowstone

-

Ryan started YouTubing night photography a couple weeks before we left so naturally we had to try it out. This photo was taken on my Sony DSLR with a 30 second shutter speed at FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. I was freaking out because we were out in the middle of Yellowstone in pitch black darkness - I'm so glad we didn't get eaten by anything.

Lamar Valley

-

Lamar Valley is where you go to see all the animals. Between the two of us we saw bears, a wolf, hundreds of bison and elk. Since we were in the park by 4am we got to Lamar Valley just in time for the sunrise.

Mammoth Hot Springs

-

Before I knew what the Mammoth Hot Springs were I was looking forward to getting in them and having a relaxing afternoon. Good thing I learned a thing or two before we went! There is definitely no swimming in Yellowstone hot springs. These springs were formed by hot water seeping up through limestone. The orange formations are still active, the white formations no longer have water in or flowing over them so they're dry. At any point water flow could change and they could get colorful again.

Big Springs

-

This spring is a lot different from those in Yellowstone-this one is cold! And it's the very beginning of the Snake River. We traveled all over southern and southeastern Idaho and it felt like the Snake River ran through every city we visited. It was very fitting that we wrapped up our time in Idaho Falls by making our way to the spring where it all started! This little spring (and snow melt), where you can see water bubbling up from underground, created the Snake River. So crazy!

 - - -

I was a little worried about living in Idaho Falls initially. It was pretty slow paced for us. But Idaho quickly grew on us and it was truly an experience that changed our travel game. Quite literally. We can't wait to start our new life in our RV. I'm looking forward to a lot more of the outdoors in our future.

Welp, thanks for sticking with me through this looooooooooong post. See ya next time in Nashville!