It's My Life

I am not sure what year it was when I first visited Yellowstone National Park. I think I was between the ages of 12 and 15.  It was the only vacation my entire family ever took.  Maybe that is why it stands out in my memory. We were the Griswald's before there was the Griswald's. Mom, Dad, my brother, and our dog {No one would dog sit for us} in a beat up old station-wagon headed West to visit my uncle who lived in Cody, Wyoming. I have wanted to return for so many years. So when Doctor J and I decided we could drive through Montana the next logical step was Yellowstone National Park. The second day of our journey found us in Gardiner, Montana at about 1:00 in the afternoon. We stopped in at the Ranger Station and chatted with the Park Rangers, hit up a local grocery store for lunch and excitedly entered the park. Technically, we saw wild animals before we even hit the park's archway.  The animals do not recognize the same boundaries as we do. Several cow elk

She did it! Miss Medical Student is no longer a medical student. Nope. Instead, we can now refer to her as Doctor J! Doctor J is about to begin her next chapter, Residency in Emergency Medicine. She has to move from the West Coast to the Midwest. She opted to ignore the pomp and circumstance of formal graduation and instead spend the next month doing things she enjoys and seeing people she misses. She and I quickly made a plan to road trip from Portland to Denver. I left last Thursday and flew to Portland. I love flying Southwest Airlines. I was able to purchase two one-way flights that total cost under $250.00. The staff obviously love their jobs and just make the flight as fun as they can. We spend our last night having dinner with a friend of Dr. J's. After dinner we went back to her place and packed and cleaned. She managed to get everything the movers did  not take into the back of her truck. Even her new puppy! Our big road trip started about 6:30 Friday mo