Insane in Spokane

This weekend we decided to stay in town and explore!  Artfest just happened to be going on the same weekend!  It is a Gumtree-esque festival full of great food and awesome art. 

    Friday night we ate at this restaurant called the Steamplant Grill.  It is an actual old steamplant that they turned into a restaurant. 

This is the inside and outside view of the restaurant!  I had shrimp

and andouille sausage ravioli! Which was amazing!

We then went shopping at Forever 21with my supervisor.  She didn't want to go home after we left the mall so she took us to Applebee's to hang out afterwards!  She described Applebee's to us for about ten minutes before I realized that she didn't know we had those all over the south! 

Saturday we woke up early and headed to Artfest!  We spent the morning browsing through the vendors booths.  For lunch we had the most delicious Hawaiian chicken with rice and pineapple slaw and a salad.  For dessert we had homemade banana icecream!  It was amazing!  Don't tell Mama Dean, but it was just as good as her lemon icecream! 

Saturday afternoon we spent driving up and exploring Mount Spokane.  It is beautiful also, but paled in comparison to the scenery we saw last weekend!

View from the top!

welcome to the rainforest

      Memorial Day weekend was so much fun! We left Friday afternoon at 5:00 after a LONG week of work. We drove four hours to Tacoma to stay with Ashley and Katy Ann for the night. We had beautiful weather until about 1 hour out of Tacoma. Little did we know that was the last sunshine we would see all weekend, but it didn’t put a damper on anything. We woke up early and drove three more hours to Forks, WA. This post will be divided into two different sections! Part 1 is about Forks. Part 2 is about our rainforest trip!

My roadtrip buddies for the weekend!

Our view on the way to Tacoma!

I have never seen a wind farm before!

Cascade mountains

Don’t get me wrong. I love the Twilight books, and I was really looking forward to seeing Forks. This town has capitalized on Twilight to the fullest extent possible, considering that the movie wasn’t actually ever even filmed there! They have twilight tours, twilight beer, twilight menus at the restaurants, etc, etc. We got our picture by Bella’s truck, Forks’s Highschool, Carlisle’s hospital parking spot. We even stayed at the Bella cottage (it was the only place open on Memorial Day weekend!). Forks ended up being the perfect place to stay because of it’s vicinity to all of the sightseeing places we wanted to see. It was cheesy, but not many people can say they have been to Forks, WA!

Welcome to Port Angeles.  Home of Edward and Bella's first date!

Welcome to Forks

Bella's truck (not anything like the one in the movie)

Renesmee

Forks Highschool

This is a bulletin board where anyone can send notes to Bella, Edward, or Jacob!

     Bella’s cottage was…interesting. It is a mom and pop establishment that I believe they just renamed once the movie came out. There is one queen size bed with lace on the headboard. I could touch the ceiling with my fingers and that says something. There are many pictures to follow!

Bella's Cottage

Inside our "cozy" little cottage!

      On Saturday and Sunday we spent the days hiking through the rainforest and at the beach. We first went to La Push, where Jacob is from. We drove to First beach and got out and walked. I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever! The scenery was beautiful! We hung out and watched surfers on the beach. The water was COLD! Next, we went to Third Beach. We saw a lot of people walking on the trail to the beach with huge hiking backpacks, so we had to see what it was all about. We asked how long the trail was before we started. It was 1.4 miles one way, then you turn around and come back. I was so proud of us for what we accomplished! We were adventurous! I will be camping here on the beach at least one time this summer!

Beautiful scenery, even on a gloomy day

In the Pacific Ocean!  It was cold!

I loved this huge tree!

Wish all of you were here!

After our 1.4 mile hike in, we had to cross all of this driftwood to get to the beach!

I'm so proud of us!

the Sea stacks... the waves crash against them

      The Hoh rainforest was in a different area. We walked through the Hall of Mosses. We hiked through another trail to the Sol Duc Falls, which was so worth it! It was beautiful! The sad part is that the pictures do not do any of it justice! If it just looks like we saw a bunch of trees in the forest, it is not at all what we saw! I was amazed at God’s creation! Life was thriving all through the forest! Listening to the sounds of the rainforest was so peaceful. It sounds just like the noisemaker!

The trees look like Dr. Seuss trees

An old tree that was turned over

Erica and I

I could walk all the way under this tree

The only way to cross the huge mud puddle!

We saw two elk on the side of the road! They were just grazing! They are all over the rainforest!

Beautiful waterfalls!  This one was so powerful!

The view of where I was standing in the previous picture!

This man offered to take my picture with his wife's umbrella because of the beautiful pink against the green!

After a long weekend, we enjoyed some southern food at this restaurant that has

been featured on the food network.  They are famous for their strawberry lemonade with whipped cream!

You can tell I thoroughly enjoyed it!

On our way home!

      This weekend was an amazing trip that I will never forget, and I am so thankful I got to see this! I wish all of you were here with me to see this! I miss you all!

The beautiful double rainbow that was awaiting us when we got home!

Welcome to Idaho

      I officially survived my first week of fieldwork. It was LONG and TIRING. By the way, Washington had a small tornado about an hour East of us on Wednesday night. It only destroyed an old dilapidated barn, but you would have thought it was an F5 tornado! They interviewed this farmer from morning to night going over and over what he saw when the tornado came through! Very funny to me.

      I have also learned this week that I have been pronouncing Colorado and Nevada wrong all of my life. Everyone picks up immediately that we are not from here. Imagine that!

      Also this week, we decided to go to the movies to see Letters to Juliet. We didn’t quite make it to the movies because I locked the keys in the car… while it was running! We had to call a locksmith which was not fun! Hahaha

      On Saturday morning we decided to go explore so we left to visit a place called Coeur d’alene, Idaho! (Chuck, I am quickly adding to my 50 x 50 list!) It is about 40 minutes from Medical Lake. We left around 9:30 for a day trip! It was so beautiful! The weather is still trying to adjust to the summer season. It is about 50 degrees here and very windy. Coeur d’alene is a resort town. It is actually hosting the ironman triathlon competition on June 27, which our small group leaders from Jackson happen to be coming for! The town boasts a beautiful lake where we actually saw someone kite surfing! They have a beautiful park which offers live music on specific nights during the summer. There is also a strip of unique boutique shops. We walked up and down through the shops and found a few gifts for our families! They have this wonderful toy store called Figpickels! I found Jacob a super hero starter kit! Packed with a red cape, wrist bands, stickers, and how to come up with your own superhero name! The town or the state is known for the Huckleberries they have. There are all these huckleberry jams, pepper jellies, and everything huckleberry you can think of! They also have a lot of local wines made in the area, which is also very unique! The town is so charming! We will definitely be frequenting this place throughout the summer!

      Next week at work, I will pick my one to one patient that I will spend a lot of time with and write a huge report on for the summer. I will also go over some OT assessments in depth and learn how to document in a psych hospital!

     Next weekend for Memorial Day, Katie, Erica, and I will be traveling to Tacoma, WA on Friday night to visit with Katy Ann and Ashley (two of our classmates). Saturday morning we will all get up really early and drive to the Hoh rainforest! It is a total of 8 hours away from Medical Lake! On Saturday night we will drive to FORKS, WA and stay in “Bella’s Cabin” at this family-owned place! I am sure I will have PLENTY of pictures to share from this trip also!

I hope all is well at home! Love and miss you all!

P.S. I am so proud of Joseph, BQ, Brett and Jeremy for their triathlon performance! I wish I was there to cheer them on, but I know they did have plenty of support and love there!

I am still amazed at the beauty of the weather rolling in over the valley!

Me, Erica, and Katie celebrating our first Friday night!

Entering Idaho! The western border of Idaho is beautiful! I dunno about the rest of the state! 

Chuck, I am quickly adding to my 50 x 50!

Beautiful Lake Coeur d'alene.  It was windy and cold this day!

They offer jet ski rentals, water skiing, hiking, camping, etc. etc. 

This is also home to the ironman triathlon on June 26-28!

One of the many beautiful boats we saw!

We watched in awe as someone was kite surifng! they have their own beach inside their downtown center area!

The beautiful park! they have live music and picnic spots for the summer time.  Such a romantic city!

Local Wine Tasting room in the strip of shops!