The Windy City

I'm wrapping up my 5th clinical rotation. I had the opportunity to come to Springfield Illinois and study orthopaedics for 6 weeks. One of the things I really wanted to do while I was here was travel 3 hours north to Chicago and see the Windy City. It most certainly lived up to its name and all its glory. The architecture is amazing and the city had a certain feel to it that made you feel like you a part of something magnificent. We planned out most of our day around where we wanted to eat. We stopped first thing and got donuts at the donut vault. It was a Pinterest find and was so worth it. We stood outside for 30 minutes waiting to see what was inside. Come to find out its this tiny little bar with a single guy running it. The donuts were delicious though. We then ventured to the Willis tower and rode the elevator 104 floors up one of the tallest buildings in the world. It was such a neat experience. 

One of the silly things that has been on my bucket list was to see the Chicago bean, so from Willis tower we hoofed it to millennium park to see the bean. From there we marched down the magnificent mile to Gino's east pizzeria for Chicago style deep dish. It was so good and I are way too much. 

I also wanted to see wrigley field, unfortunately when we drove by there was too much construction to really see much at all. 

Overall I had an amazing time and would definitely love to go back to explore more of the city. Don't mind my overload of pictures, I chose to blog them all rather than overgram :-)!

Some Nature Therapy

This last weekend I had the opportunity to float the Kootenai ("koo-tin-ee") River with some of the locals. Some of them fished but I just relaxed and enjoyed the smooth ride down stream.
Sunday I went for a Hike to a place called Ross Creek. There is a grove of really old Cedar trees that are 8+ feet in diameter and really tall. It was absolutely breath taking. I wish I could bottle and sell the smell there. After my hike I went to Bull Lake which was nearby, I sat down on the beach for a minute and woke up an hour later! Guess I needed the nap.
Overall my rotation here is going really well. I'm loving the people and the area. As much as I'm enjoying it, I'm really ready to be around people I know and who know me! I've already started counting down the days til I head to Cedar City (9 in case you were wondering)!
Here's some pictures from my weekend…

Blue Heron on the rock and taking flight. He followed us down river for quite a while 

Lost in the Woods

First week of rotations was amazing! I finally have that mental confirmation that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I love seeing the patients and working through any concerns that they have. Technically this is my OB/GYN rotation but most of what I'm seeing is family practice. Other than feeling like I have no idea what I'm doing, things are going great!
So far I'm loving Libby; it's teeny tiny but it's gorgeous! The trees and the green just go on as far as the eye can see. Here's a few pictures of some of the places I've been…

 Osprey and Libby Dam

 Lake Koocanusa

 Kootenai Falls 

 Loon Lake and a very territorial chipmunk

Ready or Not

It's been a while since I've blogged and it's mostly due to the fact that this past year has been more or less ground hogs day… Get up, go to class, come home, eat, study, sleep, and repeat. I figured I didn't want to write the same things over and over again just about as much as you didn't want to hear them. As of a week and half ago I officially finished my first year (didactic year) of PA school! I can't even express how incredibly excited I am to be done with that portion of my schooling… Now I'm on to the fun part; 8 clinical rotations each lasting 6 weeks and each in a different field of medicine. My first rotation starts tomorrow and is my OB/GYN rotation that takes place in a family practice clinic so I'll get to see a little bit of everything; the catch - It's in Libby, MT (aka Canada). Libby is a little town way up in the the northwest corner of Montana. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty bummed to be assigned a rotation so far from anything I'm familiar with, but now the initial shock has worn off I'm pretty excited! I'll try and keep the blog updated with my what-doings and pictures of the absolutely gorgeous place I get to spend six weeks…Here are some pictures of the drive up and the house I'm staying in.

 Summit Lake

  The view from their yard

The house

Out and About

So I'm terrible at upkeep on the blog but here are some pics of our most recent adventure. Colton, Walker, and I went sight seeing up the Boulder River. It was absolutely breathtaking and a much needed day out of the house/classroom....don't worry I took my books and studied on the way.

 He hates pictures...I take them anyways

 One of the stops we made was at "Natural bridge". The river eroded a hole in the rock and formed a rock bridge. This is where it disappears under the ground...

 My two favorite guys!

 And there's the river again 

This pond was absolutely perfect, had it not been raining I could have propped a chair right here and sat all day long.

 We weren't far from snow...Winter is coming too soon I fear

 We saw this beauty on our way back home.