A week ago today we woke up at 3:45am and began our journey to Kansas City. It was about a 14 hour drive and Cooper is a road trippin boy! He did great for the first 11 hours, then he started to have a little bit of a break down, I can't blame him, I was feelin it too! We pulled over and let him just play in the car for about 10 minutes. Then we forced him back into his seat and about 5 minutes later he calmed down and we made it the rest of the way okay. Not too bad!
We got to Kansas City and stayed with our friends Scooter and Jessica for a couple of days. We always have a great time with them and they introduced us to Sheridan's Frozen Custard. It is absolutely delicious, maybe the best ice cream ever! I loved the raspberry cement, so thick and creamy when you dump the cup upside down nothing spills. Mmmmmmmm.....
On Saturday we left Kansas City and drove a little over 7 hours to get to Rochester. It is gorgeous here. The trees are thick and lush and there are little ponds and small lakes everywhere. About 40 minutes outside Rochester is a Spam Mmmmmuseum. We are definitely hitting that! As we drove near our Hotel I was pretty excited to see a Trader Joe's just kiddie corner from our hotel. I have never been to Trader Joe's but I got some delicious food suggestions went, loaded up on yummy snacks and microwaveable meals and was stoked to discover they accept Texas EBT!!! Trader Joe you and I are going to be best friends!!!
Anyways back to Saturdays arrival, we headed straight to the clinic to check it out. Downtown Rochester reminds me of a smaller Salt Lake. Super tall buildings, crammed together, but very clean and not intimidating at all. We ate at a Jimmy Johns and then strolled around. The Mayo Clinic is amazing, gorgeous on the outside. I got a good picture of Kev and Coop by the Mayo brothers statue, but I can't find my camera right now. It turns out Cooper is really afraid of statues! We walked around for a while, the weather was beautiful but I am embarrassed to say that in the 72 degrees I kind of wanted a jacket! Around 8:00 we headed to the hotel. It is located about 2.5 miles from the hospital but Kevin wanted to maybe find something a little closer so he could just walk. However once I got in the hotel I decided I did not want to change. There is a big water park that we will have tons of fun at, our room is huge and clean and there is a separate room with a mini fridge, microwave, and closet that is perfect for Cooper. Then Sunday morning when we went to the continental breakfast I was further convinced that this was the place for us, every morning they have the typical oatmeal, cereal, fruit and pastries along with some sort of breakfast potato, meat, eggs and a make your own waffles station. It is delicious!
Sunday church was nice and we went to a park near our hotel, Soldiers Field and Memorial is a beautiful park and we discovered two great playgrounds there. Cooper is in heaven running around in the grass and playing outside. Also Sunday we went to burger king and talked to a true Minnesotan, she kept saying Okey dokes and you betchya with the best accent, good thing it was a drive thru because I was all grins and giggles!
Kevin had orientation yesterday and of course loved it. This is going to be an excellent learning opportunity and at the end of the rotation he has a formal interview which is super awesome because it will be his first residency interview and he won't have to fly back up here in the winter to do it! This is going to be a great few weeks. I already have a list of things to do, going apple picking, going to the Amish Village, hitting up the mall of America, I sure am excited!
5 years ago
7 comments:
Sounds like you are having a great time!!!! Enjoy being away from the heat, it is absolutely miserable here!!! Miss you guys, but glad you are having fun!
What a fun adventure. I bet the weather is just heaven! Good thing you are falling in love with it in August instead of the middle of January! I hope you guys have a great rotation there.
So glad you are enjoying it. I always giggle too when we talk to Mark's famiily in Minnesota. I feel like I'm in an episode of Bobby's World!
We're lonely here without you!
love this and the post about the altima.. i miss that car too! i feel like i have so many memories in it, and definitely some with teh heat warmers burning me up! love you! i went to vegas in that car too once I believe!
Linds it was fun talking to you the other day. I miss you. I hope that your time in Minnesota is super fun. That pool in your hotel looks awesome. Let me know if you need any other TJ's recommendations. I am going through withdrawals.
Okay, Cooper is SOO cute, seriously, look at that boy, he is just so handsome. I'm glad your liking MN, and I'm impresed that you guys drove 14 hours in one day, Cooper is a Trooper,(no more rhymes and I mean it...anybody want a peanut, okay now I am rambling.) I'm glad you are enjoying 4th year, keep us updated!
I am so glad you guys were able to do an away rotation at Mayo. We have some good friends there and they really like it! What did Kevin end up going into? Well, I don't know where you have applied for residency, but I feel like I'd be doing a disservice if I don't tell you about Grand Rapids! We had a couple of people tell us about the city/program and we are so glad they did. We had never heard of it and I don't know if we would have found it otherwise. I don't know much about any program outside of EM, but I know the city is awesome. I would imagine most of the programs are good because the hospital/health system they work at is fantastic. It is actually one of the top ten health systems in the nation, as is Mayo . . . http://www.100tophospitals.com/top-health-systems/). The city is a very religious area . . . lots of dutch reformed christians, very family oriented city, and with 1.5 million people in the metro area, there is a TON to do. You should check out experiencegr.com to see about the city. The program has "club med" activities where they pay for monthly date nights, family activities, and resident spouse activities. There are several big millionaires in the area that give a ton of money to the hospital and in turn they have great benefits for the residents. Our wards are great (but also mega spread out), people in the city are very friendly, and we love it here. Obviously it has only been a few months (and we haven't experienced winter . . . which I hear is really rough) but TJ has had an enjoyable 3 months (which isn't a word many people can use to describe residency) and we absolutely love it here. I think you should at least check it out :) Good luck with this crazy time!
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