Back to the South!!

After leaving New Hampshire, my next assignment was in Pensacola, FL at Baptist Hospital. My friend Jessica, that I worked with at Ocean Springs Hospital, had just taken a travel assignment at Baptist and she told me that there was another open position there. I really wanted to head back down south, so this was perfect for me!!! Again, I met awesome people!! My manager was fabulous and my co-workers felt like family. Baptist is a trauma center, so I was constantly seeing huge trauma surgery cases. And for those of you who don't know, trauma also brings drama so there was never really a dull moment on this assignment. I had a super awesome schedule and only worked Monday-Thursday every week. So living on the beach, only being 1.5 hrs from home, and having 3 days off every weekend, I had hit the jackpot!!!

My friend Ebbonnie left New Hampshire and went to D.C. for her next assignment. So, on one of my free weekends, I went to visit her!! I had never been to D.C. before, so it was a blast. Of course we did a lot of touristy things, and a whole LOT of walking!!! It was super fun!

My fabulous Baptist Hospital co-workers!! 

Pics from the D.C. trip:

Moving On...

So after being so far away from home, I decided that I wanted to be a little closer with my next assignment. On September 12, 2011, I started working at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, LA. I stayed there until mid March, 2012. I learned and experienced sooooo much in the operating room at this hospital. I did surgeries that I had never even heard of before. I believe that this assignment made me a more skilled nurse. At the time, there were tons of travelers (nurses and techs). I met a lot of new people and made a lot of lasting friendships!! A lot of my friends from home came to visit too because it was so close! I was able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at home with my family. A group of travel nurses that I met on this assignment decided that we would all go to Boston, MA for our next assignment. One ended up staying in NO and my MA license was not issued in time for me to start on schedule, but 3 of them (Jen, Jackie and Alicia) actually went to Boston and I ended up going to Lebanon, New Hampshire where another travel nurse, Ebbonnie, from NO was planning to go.

New Hampshire. yes. You heard me correctly. That was for sure a place that I never thought I would travel to. I ended up living in White River Junction, Vermont and working in NH. It was only about a 10min drive to and from work. I was also able to visit Jen and Alicia in Boston pretty regularly because it was only 2 hrs away. Jackie was living in Salem so she was able to meet us and we visited her too and went to the Salem Witch Museum. Although I hated the hospital I worked at, I did have a lot of fun in the northeast! Another travel nurse, Shannon was living in VT too. We met at orientation. She is  from Louisiana so we southerners got along great and she hung out with Ebbonie and me. Just a little fun fact: VT has more beer breweries per capita than any other state in the U.S., so we stopped in a few of those frequently :) We visited the Ben and Jerrry's Factory. We went to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. FYI- it's not a vineyard...We took a ferry to Martha's Vineyard.  We visited the Mayflower in Plymouth, MA. I flew home and surprised my Mom in Orange Beach, AL for Mother's Day!! We kayaked the Connecticut River. We went to the Quechee, VT hot air balloon festival. I took a bus to New York City to visit my friend Carol from high school. Our nurse friend from Ochsner, Kristen, came to visit us and we took her to Portland, Maine to eat lobster and look at all the lighthouses. We also showed her a bunch of covered bridges in Vermont. She had a great time. Even though I didn't really care for NH very much, Vermont was such a beautiful place!!

Pics from the NYC trip: