Running Late as Usual!

Love Them!!!!!

Going out with our boots on

At the concert

So every trip we've been on out here in California, we have made it to our destination with like 5 minutes to spare. So with our Rascal Flatts concert and Alcatraz trip last weekend, we decided to we should eave extra early to avoid being late anxiety.  However, being on time is such a relative term for us. We decided that we would sleep a few hours, wake up, pack and leave for San Jose; then shower and get ready for the concert at the hotel.  We finally left Modesto around 215 pm, still leaving in plenty of time. Traffic was moving along great, but I got hungry so, we got off the interstate for lunch at arby's. By the time we got back on the highway, Friday afternoon rush hour  had begun.  UGH!!!  So after 3.5 hours (half of that being terrible traffic), we finally  made it to the hotel to check in. We got warm chocolate chip cookies at check-in, they were delish. So much for being on time for the concert. We didn't leave the hotel until around 645 and the concert started at 715. By the time we got to the amphitheater, parked, stood in line and made it to our seats, we watched Justin Moore (one of the opening acts) sing ONE song. Oh well, at least we saw him! Next up was Sara Evans, and she was GREAT!  I've loved her since jr. high, so I was excited to to see her! Finally, Rascal Flatts to the stage! They were AMAZING, and sounded just as good in person as they do on the radio! I can now die a happy girl ;) After the concert, it took us, and I'm not exaggerating, an entire hour to get out of the parking lot!  Worst concert traffic I have EVER seen! Of course we were hungry once we got back to the hotel, and of course there were no fast food places around. We found a Denny's and so we had our midnight meal. I finally got cheese grits, which I have been wanting since our assignment started! After dinner we headed back to the hotel, got ready for bed and watch something stupid on MTV till we fell asleep.

Listening to our audio tour

A cell, very tiny

Check-out wasn't until noon, and our Alcatraz tour was at 250, so we figured that would give us plenty of time to make the tour. Of course we were WRONG!!  We slept until 1130 (didn't go to bed till 4), so of course we were slightly stressed try to get ready in one bathroom in 30 min! Missed checkout by 5 minutes, but I doubt they noticed. Some thing we didn't anticipate was both of our cameras going dead the night before! On our way to San Francisco, we stopped by a walmart to buy and charger, but it ended up not fitting either of our cameras, so that was a wasted trip. Still we figured we'd get to the ferry in plenty of time, and might be able to find a camera store in Fisherman's Warf before the ferry left. Wrong again! Didn't know we were going to run into College football traffic at the Giant's Stadium! So with 20 minutes to spare, we finally made it to the correct peir, but parking was terrible to find. Finally found a parking garage, but you had to pay before we left the car and there was a line, so Hayley jumped out and went to reserve a spot in line while I paid and followed quickly behind. Talk about anxiety, we thought we were going to miss this tour, the one we've been wanting to do since we got to California. We made it to the line with 4 minutes to spare, Whew! Since we didn't have time to find a camera store, my iPod was our camera for the day. The picture are a little grainy, but at least we have some :) While on the ferry, I thought it would be cool to stand at the front of the ferry to see the bay (even though it said "Splash Area"). I thought surely we'd be fine. Oh, that's right, WRONG a third time. We got some mist and that was fine, but the huge wave that hit us both in the face wasn't cool (actually was very cold) and we moved right on inside. Once we got to Alcatraz, we were given audio guides and did a self tour. It was a very neat experience and I would definitely recommend it. There is so much history to read! That night for dinner we ate at Bubba Gump's! Very delish! So our final trip to San Francisco before we leave this state was another one to remember!

~Hayley and Elizabeth~

And then "Rocky Mountain Climbing" (continuation of previous post)

Our home if we got lost in the forest

B

Okay, so it's been a few weeks since the last post and my best friend, Hope, was quick to let me know :) So let me just tell y'all about our amazing trip to Yosemite!  I honestly think it was the most beautiful place we've been so far. So our trip started off like every other trip we've taken while in California, NO SLEEP! We both worked the night before, came home and got about 4 hours of sleep. Then showered, packed and headed on the road. We arrived to Yosemite around 6, so we knew we only had about 2 hours of daylight so we went to the closest part of the park to do a short hike, and that happened to the the Great Sequoia Forest. It was so cool! I've never seen trees that big before in my life!We even were able to walk straight through some. At the beginning of the trip, we saw several people, but as we progressed, we saw less and less, and soon we were the only people on the trail! I thought for sure we were going to get lost, but Hayley had faith that we were going the right way, and we continued on! Along the way we saw a cute little fat squirrel, some deer and of course, God's amazing creation. One part of the trail was so narrow surround by plants and bushes, I was sure something, or somebody was going to pop out and get us, but we made it, WHEW! Well it was starting to get darker and we started getting nervous that we weren't going to make it back to the parking lot by dark. Or maybe that was my pessimism. But Hayley kept positive, we just kept following the trail along the road. Finally right at dusk, HEADLIGHTS! We made it!!! So now after our 2 hour hike, we were STARVING! In the small town outside of the south entrance, where we were staying, I think there were maybe 3 restaurants to choose from, so we decided on the Sweetwater Steak House. It was actually pretty good, but our server wasn't. She told us she was from Georgia, but obviously she lost all Southern charm/hospitality in her move to California. Oh well! So then we went to hotel in Oakhurst, CA and crashed!

Breathtaking view of Wasburn Point

The map of our hike.

The next morning, we woke up went to breakfast across the street (of course no grits!) and then headed back to Yosemite. This time we drove west instead of east, and made our way to Glacier point. On our way we stopped at Washburn Point to take some pictures. We found a sweet older couple to exchange us taking pictures for them, and them taking picture for us! Finally someone who can actually take pictures! (picture to the top-right). So then we continued on until we made it to Glacier Point. I was told by a guy at work that this was one of the best hikes with the best views, so of course we wanted to do that, bad idea! It turned out to be a DISASTER! We got mixed up, and ended up going on the strenuous hike, instead of the gradual hike! Oh my goodness I haven't been that out of breath in a long time, but he was right, the views were amazing! How anybody can't believe in God after looking at some like this is beyond me! Never-the-less we were excited to start our hike (at least thought we were...lol). The map said it was a 4 mile hike, so we thought 2 miles down, and 2 miles up. Surely we can do that. It acually meant, 4 miles to the bottom and 4 miles back up, STRAIGHT up! We had a our water, snacks, and were ready for this hike!!! Starting out it wasn't too bad, but then as we kept going straight down hill we realized eventually we are going to have to do this going straight up, but we were determined! Along the way, we passed some guys who told us to be on the lookout for a bear they had just seen. It was eating a pinecone on the trail, but they scared off Yogi! We started to get excited, because we had been wanting to see a bear the whole time! No Yogi, but we did find the evidence those guys told us, so we then knew they didn't lie. We kept a lookout the whole hike but never saw him :( So we made it halfway to a lookout point and that's when we realized it was 4 milies up and 4 down, not round trip. Then and there we decided to head back up, STRAIGHT up. During this time, I realized how out of shape a truly am!  GEEZ!!!!! We had to like every 10 minutes! Along the way back up I found a stick! Didn't really help me much, but I felt like a true hiker :)

Just call me Mountain Lizzy!

Bridalveil Falls

So we finally made it all the way back to the top and were completely exhausted! But we had fun doing it! We went to a few lookout points at the top of Glacier point and then headed back to the car. We decided that since we didn't hike the bottom of the mountain, we would drive there. along the way we passed Bridalveil Falls. Its called that because of the way the wind blows, it makes the mist look like a bridal veil, clever right :) We were excited to see so many waterfalls, since we had been told most of them were dried up by this time of the year. We finally made it to the bottom, went to a gift shop and bought some magnets, and then began the drive home! This was an awesome trip and we had a blast!!

Until next time,

~Hayley and Elizabeth~

"We went skydiving" you know the Tim McGraw song :)

Breakfast fit for Champions

Loosening up before the big jump!!

We have been so busy this weekend working, I completely forgot to blog about our amazing skydiving adventure!!!  It was sooooo incredible! But, I shall start from the beginning. I worked Thursday night (Hayley didn't sleep much either), so when I got off, we decided to first head to eat a breakfast for champions (since we were about to conquer the sky and all). We headed to Black Bear Diner where we both had a new york strip, breakfast potatoes, fresh fruit and a HUGE biscuit! Exactly what I was wanting! All that was missing was some cheese grits! Oh well, on to Skydiving.

Hayley and Rafeal

Me and R2

Me Free Falling

Hayley Free Falling

We plugged the address into the GPS, and of course, got lost heading there. I ended up calling the place and his first words were: "take the gps, roll down your window, and throw it out." Geez, what a comedian. We finally made it, only took about 45 minutes, and paid for our skydiving adventure. No turning back now. We met our tandem instructors (our lives were in their hands). Mine was R2, guess he's a star wars fan, and Hayley's was Rafeal, from Brazil. Actually he never told us his name, but it could have been Rafeal, right? Anyway, we met them, got suited up, and headed to wait for the plane. Oh yeah during the meet and greet part, we also signed our life away. So we piled into the plane, a true "crop duster" as Hayley would say, and headed up to 13,000 ft above sea level! It got cold up there! Of course R2 and I were the first to jump, so the two of us and my camera guy headed to the edge to look out. If I was afraid of heights, I might have passed out!  Then 1-2-3 JUMP! We were out and completely free falling to our doom. It was the most amazing feeling I have ever felt!  After about a minute, the parachute came out and we just floated to the ground.  I even to got steer a little!  The landing was even fun. Landed straight on my bum. I can't say for sure what Hayley thought, but since we both couldn't stop talking about it the whole way home, I'd say she loved it just as much as I did!
Can't wait for our next adventure to Yosemite!!!

Hayley and Elizabeth

The San Francisco Treat

A little background of beginning of the week:

Us and the Golden Gate
Bridge!!!!!!

Sorry, but gonna be a long one, San Fran was AWESOME!!!!  So all week long Hayley and I had been planning our San Francisco trip! Wednesday afternoon we booked our trip and were planning to leave around 11:30 am yesterday morning.  We were both off Monday, so we went shopping to find some sweaters, or just something new in general to wear, but no winter clothes were out yet. At H&M I found a jacket I really liked, but unfortunately I decided against giving it (bad idea). While in Macy's I accidentally bumped into one of the workers, said excuse me and went on my way. She then followed me a little to close and I bumped into her again, and she told me to let her finish doing her job and then I could try on scarfs and hats, and that she didn't care if we bought anything or not.  Excuse me? Yeah Hayley was soo upset (so wish i had a camera), and we told her boss that she needed to take some customer service classes. Any who, I ended up buying a scarf, we ate dinner at BJ's (very good) and then home. I worked Tuesday-Thursday, then off for San Fran on Friday.  Well Thursday night at work, I got an email saying our tour had been canceled!  WHAT??!!  We had no clue what we were going to do. Hayley was at home so she researched Alcatraz, but everything was booked. We decided we would just head to Fisherman's Warf and try to find a tour day of.

Friday Morning:

First Picture off the train

Okay so I get home around 7:45 (my first busy night at work, made the night go by fast though!) and Hayley was finally asleep ( we text till like 5) and I tried to sleep.  I looked at my phone around 9:30 and was still wide awake. About 10:40 I got up (maybe got about 45 min of sleep) got ready and we were off to San Fran! We stopped back at the mall so I could get the jacket I had been thinking about all week (yup, the one from H&M)! Yes, I know I'm a dork, but it was soooo cute!  Anyway, we plugged in the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transportation) station into Kieren, and headed on to San Fran!  Once we got to the Pleasanton BART we had to figure out where to catch the train.  After walking in circles about 10 min we figured it out. Then to buy our ticket we had to ask an attendant bc it kept making us get a $20 ticket (should have been $11). So we got that straight and headed to on. Once in the train, we encountered a few strange people.  One older man with his looked like he belonged with George Washington (you know the white hair and ponytail), then there was another dude with his bike (Monkey dude). Apparently he thought is was hot stuff, bc he didn't have a shirt on and started doing pull ups on the railing and hanging on by one hand while we were moving. We just thought he was dumb and totally wish we had gotten a picture. I mean who does that?? So once we finally made it into San Francisco, we had to figure out how to get to Fisherman's Warf!

Friday Afternoon:

Such a tense game!

I typed in Fisherman's Warf on my GPS and we started our 1.6 mile hike! (literally a hike up and down hills). We headed through Chinatown. In our opinion, this was just a big cluster! A million people, one Chinese restaurant after another and then in between those, store that were selling pure junk!  The only cool part was a park where people were gathered playing Chinese checkers.  People were crowded around 2 or 3 that were playing.  Everyone was concentrating very hard, and there were tons of spectators watching it all (like us).

Alamo Square and the Pretty Ladies

Finally we made it to Fisherman's Warf and found the same tour agency that had canceled our first tour (it still went so I guess it was just overbooked). We were able to get a 2 hour tour of San Fran that went to the Golden Gate Bridge, so we were happy! So glad we didn't have to wing it, bc we probably wouldn't have seen ANYTHING! Our tour guide Danny from Honduras was great!  He was very informative and funny!  We were able to see many of the famous landmarks: Lombard St,  Union Square, Alamo Square and the Pretty Ladies, Golden Gate Park, and of course the Golden Gate Bridge! Along the way from Pier 39 to the Golden Gate Bridge, I think temperature dropped about 20 degree and the wind gusts increased about 15 mph! We were glad to get back to Pier 39 (even though only 64 degrees it was sooo much warmer :)!! We went to a souvenir shop and picked up a few things, went and saw the sea lions on the Pier 39 planks and headed to dinner!

Friday Evening:

Our drinks and appetizer

We were told that the F Line cable cars would take us right to Pier 1 1/2 where the restaurant La Mar was. We waited about 30 minutes while talking to our moms (we love our mama's). A cable car came, but didn't pick anyone up. The looked like sardines packed in there (about like our car on the way from AZ to CA). We heard someone say the next one would be there for 20 min so we decided just to walk. It was only 0.6 miles. OMG, I think my feet died few times by the time we finally made it to La Mar. Although our feet were killing us, we did walk through some pretty neighborhoods and along the bay.  We saw the double decker bay bridge up close and it was so cool to see cars driving on it!  We made it to La Mar and I new I wanted to try a Pisco Sour.  All my Peruvian friends have told me its so good so I just had to see for myself!  They were right :) Hayley got a Pisco Punch, and it was very good too! Our appetizer was homemade potato chips, sweet potato chips, and some other kind of potato with 3 different sauces. Very good!  For dinner I had a sampler of empanadas (chicken, steak, corn, and mushrooms). Hayley had skirt steak skewers,  some kind of potato and some corn. Both entrees were delish! A couple next to us informed us on how to get back the BART station. As we were leaving the restaurant, we passed a roller blade gang! Not kidding, they had two people with speakers in a baby stroller and they were jammin' out as they skated along the sidewalk!  I have NEVER seen anything like it!  One of them even told us to try it one Friday night as she passed by. The things you'll see in San Francisco, hahaha. Anyway, we made it back to the station, rode the train back to Pleasanton, found the car and finally made it back home! We both crashed and didn't wake up until this afternoon! We had soo much fun!  I can't wait til' our next adventure!

Cheers to an AWESOME day!

~Hayley and Elizabeth~

Well this week has been full of work. I actually worked Mon-Fri 12 hour shifts, and Hayley has worked Mon-tonight, with only Fri off, also 12 hour shifts. Monday was a full day of hospital orientation.  We arrived at 730am to the hospital lobby and left about 615pm. The whole day was nothing but a unorganized blunder.  The first half of the day we filled out paperwork (that we had already previously finished) and had a respiratory fit test (TB mask). I think we did about 15 min of actual work. Then we had a computer class in which none of the computers actually worked. We had several people come and speak to us (boring!), and then ended the day getting our computer and pyxis (medication distribution system) passwords. We actually left orientation more confused than when we arrived. It was like there was absolutely no communication between the teachers.  Great way to run a hospital, right?! Anyway, the next two days, Hayley and I both had floor orientation. The floors were run about the same as other hospitals as far as assessments, and medication distribution times, but the computer system was ancient. It reminds me of the DOS computers we had in elementary school with the green typing, playing organ trail. Totally not user friendly, but I think we are finally getting the hang of it.  Friday, I was floated to Hayley's floor, but unfortunately she was not working that night :( So, as y'all can see, it has been a pretty boring week of working. Tonight I have been looking up fun stuff to do around Modesto/San Fran. I also decided to try something new, and dye my hair brown. It came out kinda dark, but maybe it will fade! I also watched True Grit earlier, which was a pretty good movie, but make sure you have the volume turned up when you watch it because they talk "western." A little bit hard to understand. Tomorrow is 1 of 2 of our only days off together until Aug 24, so we are going to do what we do best, SHOP! Well hope this week is awesome for everyone! Till, next time,

Hayley and Elizabeth

Crazy trip to Modesto, CA

packed in like sardines

We start a new assignment on Aug 1 (tomorrow), as a new chapter in our blog! So, our trip to Modesto, CA started out like any other trip.  We arrived at the MGM airport about 7:45, checked our luggage, said our goodbyes to the parentals, and boarded the plane.  Luckily we sat together on this "crop duster", as Hayley calls it (she doesn't like flying, unlike me!). Once we got to ATL, we had just enough time to use the facilities, grab a deli to go, and board the plane.  We both brought a movie to watch on our laptops, so the time passed pretty fast.  I watched "The Wrestler" and Hayley watched "Hallpass."  Both were good!  Once we landed back in Phoenix, our friend Corinne (who so amazingly kept my car) was there to pick us up.  Once we got back to her house, we gave her Conecuh sausage that we promised to bring, and she made us SWEET TEA!  We visited for a while, then stuffed our luggage into the car and were on our way!

Bumper to Bumper traffic on
the I-10 in California

We started out smooth sailing, able to go 80mph (speed limit 75 mph).  Soon we made it to Sunny California! We passed a border patrol, and we were really hoping the weren't going to ask what all was in the car, because we honestly couldn't remember with all that crap packed up.  So there we were going down the I-10 and then all of a sudden, bumper to bumper traffic for 3 hours, yes I said 3 HOURS!  We went a total of 6 miles in 3 hours.  While we were creeping along, we saw several people jump out of their cars and urinate along the interstate median behind bushes.  These weren't Alabama full, with lots of leaves, bushes, these are California see-through, bare bushes!  I guess if you gotta go, you gotta go (3 hours in traffic and drinking coke could do it I guess).  Anyway, finally we were forced exit the interstate into the middle of Nowhere, CA, with no gas station in site!  So, I called my mom so she could see where we were, and we figured out we were at least 75-90 miles from the nearest gas station!  Good thing we still had half a tank of gas!  We drove through nothing for about 1.5 hours until finally getting to a down called 29 palms, got gas, some water and snacks, and got back on the road.  Mom told us there was a decent size town with hotels about another 1.5 hours away, so we decided that would be where we stopped.  We found a Comfort Inn (with free breakfast!) and decided to stay there.  By the time we settled in it was midnight pacific time, so we had been up almost 24 hours!

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast (grabbed some fruit for the road) and headed out!  Another 6 hour day of driving ahead for us!  Along the way we drove passed the second largest Windmill farm in the world, with over 5000 Windmills in Mojave, CA.  It was pretty cool! Finally we made it to Modesto around 4 pm (after a 14-ish hour car ride instead of 10-ish hour), found our apt and found it 86 degrees, with the air conditioner not working!!!!!!!!!! We decided maybe it need to be left on a little bit, so we unloaded the car, unpacked our stuff, took showers, and still no AIR!  Still 84 degrees!  I called our apt manager, then the maintenance guy (and left a message), and we decided to go get a few things from Big Lots (fan for Hayley) and get some dinner!  We ate at Uno Chicago Grill. Once we got home, still no answer from maintenance man, so Hayley called and left a message this time.  We opened all the windows in the apt (had cooled off to about 65 degrees outside) hoping it would cool off!  I remember waking up sometime in the wee early morning, to me no sweating anymore!  Whew, at least it cooled off some!

Today, we woke up and went driving around.  We made it downtown (a little nicer than Montgomery) and found a sports bar to eat lunch (Hayley got to watch the end of the NASCAR race).  Then went to Walmart and decided to NEVER go there on a Sunday afternoon again.  Everyone in the entire city was there!!!!  The maintenance man never called back, so we called once again, this time getting him!  When he got here he let us know it was frozen, and for us to turn it off, wait 3 hours to turn it back on, and to call the office in the morning!  AAARRRGGG!!!!!  So now we are sitting around sweating in our new 80 degrees apt!  I really hope they fix it tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!  Tomorrow, we go to our 12 hour orientation and then hopefully start on the floor in the next couple of days at Memorial Medical Center!  Catch y'all later

Hayley and Elizabeth

Handcuffs and Cops

Okay, so we have yet to blog about our actual patient care (work), just the awesome places we have visited (our vacay).  Apparently some people think we are out here only on vacay, so let me tell you about one wild night at work.:)

My friend Edwin told me my blogs are too long and boring, so I will make this one short and sweet!  About two weeks ago, our night started out pretty normal: we had our  night "huddle", got report and got started. Having prisoners is a very common occurrence at this hospital. Well one particular prisoner was very unhappy with his care for the day, and decided he was going to "go off the deep end." Susan, our charge nurse, was kicked out of his room and "fired" from being his nurse, after he used a few thousand f-bombs on her, so his amazing self got passed on to Hayley.  Hayley didn't even set both feet in the door before she got cussed and kicked out. Each prisoner has 2 guards at the bedside at all times, has shackles to both feet and hands, as well as a chain around his waste hooked to the hand shackles. How this prisoner managed to get out of his handcuffs, I'm not sure, but the guard pulled his gun!  Talk about craziness!!  The Goodyear police department was called, and no lie, I think about 8-10 cops showed up (Hayley I think fell in love a couple of times, haha just kidding).  Was that really necessary?  I think not.  One of the cops even had an AK-47 (okay not really sure what kind of gun it was, but it was HUGE!)  It's not like this lunatic had any kind of weapon or anything. So eventually they calmed the guy down, and sent him to isolation.  Oh yeah, I forgot, our director got scared and decided to lock himself in his office.  Geez what a night!  So, that is one of our more crazy nights.

~Hayley and Elizabeth