Our Celebratory Road Trip

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 morning when we locked her door in Portland for the last time. We made a quick stop for coffee and we were on our way!

The Barista at the coffee shop in Portland put some love into our morning latte. I took that as a good sign for safe travels!

In four days we covered nearly 1700 miles, traveled through six states, slept in three hotels, stayed in a cute mountain town, ate a super cheesy hamburger, drank lots of coffee (some good and some not so good), and explored two national parks.

Our first stop was Seattle, Washington. A town I have never been to before.

Our next big stop was Yellowstone National Park. We spent approximately two days exploring a place both Doctor J and I had both been here before. Decades ago for both of us.We gawked at all that had remained the same and stood in awe at the things that had changed since our last visit.

After Yellowstone, we drove through the Grand Tetons and spent the night in Jackson, Wyoming. I wish we had spent more time in Jackson. It was such a cute mountain town. I left a piece of my hear there. I shall return to collect it someday soon.

For better or worse, every road trip has to have those moments that stand out. I look forward to sharing those with you this week as I blog about this grand road trip taken to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of one medical student. Who is now a doctor!

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