Waterwalk

The weather was beautiful today and Charlotte needed excercise in the worst way possible so we combined the two and had a little fun.

Our first stop was the Dog park. Where we made a new
friend. This is Lola the great dane, they ran and ran and ran

Dog Parks in Louisville are run by a private group and you
have to get a key to get in and the paper work is a pain
but after seeing her sleep all evening it was well worth it.

We've had rain all week and so theres a lot of mud... and
thats where she laid when she got the chance.

The Ohio river creates the northern boarder of Kentucky.
Which means theres lots of waterfront to explore. 

Lets be honest I don't know why there
was so much fog on the river but it was
SO awesome and made for some great pictures.

Unlike home where there isn't enough water to float anything
the Ohio is a shipping waterway... can't swim here either.

Charlotte had a ball meeting lots of different people

Downtown Louisville... yes that is the KFC Yum Center... thats
what its called.. the yum center. :)



Because everyone in the south needs
a porch swing these are all along the
riverwalk... anyone want to come share
one with me.?

 



My GPS is trying to kill me

Don’t get me wrong. I love to travel. I love the feeling of being anonymous in a new city. I love discovering the little family restaurants and the parks tucked away in areas of town. However there are days I HATE the driving.

Now it might have something to do with the fact that I had driven 11 hours by myself with only a dog and the radio to keep me sane. But Friday when we got to Louisville I struggled… A LOT. All I wanted was dinner.

If only it were that simple

Normally I would say that a GPS is one of the greatest inventions ever. However Simon (the GPS) has been trying to kill me since we got to Louisville. When I plugged in the address to the restaurant I immediately noticed an unusual route appeared. Instead of taking me down the street and turning left across traffic at a light and directly to the restaurant. Simon had me touring the side streets. But what do I know? Maybe you can’t turn there and maybe the restaurant is tucked away somewhere…  

It’s not.

After I finally made my turn onto the side street I got the feeling something was wrong… I was literally going in a circle and the only thing around me were car dealerships. But what do I know I’d never been to the restaurant before so I kept going only to find myself in the wrong lane with no hope of getting into the correct one. So instead of causing trouble I turned right onto the main road figuring it would be easy enough to turn around at a light.

If only it were that simple.

The problem is that this area of town has four lanes of bumper to bumper traffic on a Friday night. After finally maneuvering my way in to the left lane (2 miles later) I turned at a light into the Olive Garden parking lot and turning around I promptly got stuck. It would have been easy if I had just needed to get back on the road in the right lane… but I didn’t.  I needed in the middle. Because the only option from the right lane was to get back interstate 64 heading toward Kansas. 

Long LONG story short… I blocked the intersection. Witnessed a few ‘what is this idiot doing’ looks and after sitting in a long line of cars, in the middle of the intersection, at the LONGEST RED LIGHT EVER finally got to pull forward and 10 minutes later into the restaurant.

Welcome to Louisville.

On a lighter note, if you ever find yourself in Louisville at US 64 and Hurstborne Parkway craving really good Indian Food, check out Shalimar…   

Goodbyes

I know... this is long overdue. Somehow that stress of getting ready for the move got to me. So much to catch up on! Lots has happened in the last 3 weeks.

First I had to say goodbye. And after 5 years in Wichita there were A LOT of goodbyes. And I think that I cried every single time.

December 27th was my last day at Wesley. After 5 years at the hospital and 3 1/2 in the Peds ER it was definitally bittersweet. If you know me at all you know it was time for a change and I am so excited about the new opportunities in traveling nursing. However you never think about the emotional cost of change. And I find that you also tend to greatly underestimate how deeply you grow to care about people. These are just a few of my favorite people from work. They're amazing...

For my going away celebration Misty (who doesn't cook) made
this amazing mix of white chocolate and honeycombs.



What you can't see is that instead of coating it and laying
it out on wax paper to dry she poured it all into the bowl....
 

So we let Shelly break it apart... with a pie server.

It helped... kind of. :)


 

And if I thought it was hard to say good bye to my work family, it was really hard to say good bye to my family and friends. However I'm seriously thinking that I need to leave more often, its amazing how loved you feel when so many people you care about come to hang out with you and the drop of a hat.

Bright and early Thursday morning (ok it was closer to afternoon) after a breakfast date with two my favorite people in the world we hit the road... thankfully it was an uneventful trip. For those of you concerned Charlotte did great in the car and in the hotel... she only woke me up once during the night (at 5am!). We made it in to Louisville around 3pm eastern time on Friday without any major problems.

Ask Jori or I about the ham servings
in a breakfast at the Beacon.

Of course I hit traffic the instant I
pulled out of riverside. Dumb Geese

Snow and Trees in Illinois... two
things we don't have a lot of in Kansas

Charlotte in her TINY space in the car

It seemed like a horrible waste
to leave my basil plant to die
in my house... but then I left it in the
car over night and killed it anyway

Welcome to Kentucky

Welcome to Louisville! (this is literally 20
seconds after you cross the bridge)

Of course that's not where the story ends... I've only been here for 3 days and there's plenty to tell.. but more on that later.