Much to my Twilight-obsessed friends' delight and DBH's embarrassment, I can honestly say that I have now been to Forks, WA.
Let me preface THAT story with this: No, I did not book plane tickets and rent a car JUST to go to Forks out of vampire/werewolf devotion.
That said, several of my classmates and I went to Seattle a few weeks ago for the annual American Association of Nurse Anesthetists national meeting. We learned a great deal about clinical updates and different issues facing CRNAs across the US and met some really incredible people. And let me say this: It is incredibly difficult to NOT be excited about entering this profession when you hear people as passionate about it as our President and Board members. The big news that got everyone all riled up is the recent research showing that no harm was suffered by patients under the care of a CRNA without supervision of an MDA.
This. Is. HUGE. for our profession!
It means that CRNAs provide the same level of quality care as anesthesiologists; that CRNAs do not need MDA supervision to safely provide anesthesia to patients! GREAT news- and it will be interesting to see where this takes us in the future...
Besides update meetings and student break-out sessions (awesome job, btw, of making the students feel included and welcomed), we also painted up to cheer on Brittany in the College Bowl (Anesthesia Jeopardy):
Partied with a Purpose (for a local charity) and at the Banquet:
ate some fantastic food like fish n' chips at incredible restaurants with views like this:
took in a Mariner's game:
(Neville Longbottom threw out the first pitch, btw:
Also, we apparently missed "Twilight night" when an Edward-look-a-like threw out the first pitch to an Alice-look-a-like.)
and took a day trip to Bainbridge Island:
nn addition to seeing the usual Seattle sites:
(and drinking COPIOUS amounts of Starbucks)
even if out of a plane window:
THEN, on our last day, my friends Sara and (Stacey) Pepper and I rented a car
(yes, that's a Dodge Charger... and it was AWESOME...)
took it across the bay on a ferry
(the Garmin was REALLY confused)
and road-tripped, stopping momentarily in Port Angeles
and again at the insanely gorgeous Lake Crescent
before reaching...
We drove around and took in everything the town placed just for Twilight tourists, like Bella's truck
the Cullen's house
(a volunteered bed-and-breakfast where Esme leaves a note for tourists everyday- they were out looking at colleges when we stopped by)
the Swan's house
(a volunteered residential home... poor saps...)
Dr. Cullen's office door and parking space at the hospital
Chief Swan's cruiser
and the Treaty line
and also just goofed around with some cardboard cut-outs of the characters:
(you should see the one my friend Chuck altered to make my eyes red... --face-palm--)
Oh, and we joined Team Cullen:
While Forks was an awesome stop and it was really neat to see how this town has completely bought into the whole thing, I have to say my favorite part of the day was going to La Push. The beach was so beautiful- not Gulf-beautiful, just... well, here:
See? Gorgeous, right? I loved it.
AND I snagged the perfect twilight shot on our way back to the ferry:
There you have it- Seattle, Forks, and La Push. Definitely worth driving across the Pacific NW!
In closing, I leave you with Rock 'n Roll
Keys, Lead, and Animal right before we made our own concert video for "I Love Rock 'n Roll" at the Seattle Experience Music Project.
Overall, #42-at-the-expense-of-missing-#28 on my 101 list... Epic W.
No comments:
Post a Comment