Block 3 2023: Traveling Out West

 Block 3: Traveling Out West

Hi! Sarah Grace here. It's day 5 of being in Wyoming, so now that I am all settled in, I will give a run-down on my trip out here. Luckily, block 3 follows a week long "summer break", so my high school friend and I made a whole cross-country road trip out of my week off (shout out Sydney for keeping me company). Here is how our trip went:

  • Saturday, 7/22: Spanish Fort, AL --> Hot Springs, AR
    • Trip Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    • Peak: driving over the Mississippi River
    • Pit: getting a speeding ticket in Lake Village, AR
    • What we did: spent Sunday on Lake Hamilton
  • Monday, 7/24: Hot Springs, AR --> Kansas City, MO
    • Trip Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • Peak: we stayed at a really cool hotel downtown! 
    • Pit: not seeing Patrick Mahomes 
    • What we did: we were only in KC for ~12 hours, so we grabbed dinner, drinks, and rode Bird scooters around town! 
  • Tuesday, 7/25: Kansas City, MO --> Denver, CO
    • Trip Rating: 1 out of 5 stars (horribly boring, same interstate for 9 hours)
    • Peak: seeing so many windmills was pretty neat
    • Pit: I got so bored and so sleepy. 
    • What we did: Shopped around Boulder, saw Noah Kahan and Briston Maroney at Red Rocks Amphitheater, ate at some yummy dives. Sydney flew out on Thursday, but I stayed another night to grab dinner with a Mobile HCOP grad who is currently doing residency in Denver.
  • Friday, 7/28: Denver, CO --> Fort Washakie, WY
    • Trip Rating: 6 out of 5 stars (iconic, beautiful, amazing, wow)
    • Peak: Lander Bar! Local brews + delicious food + friendly people
    • Pit: being told not to pet the local dogs; allegedly they are wild, aggressive, and rabid? Seem cute to me, will update. 
    • What I did: settled in at student housing, got a car wash (so many bugs!), ate lunch at Lander Bar, and took a much needed nap until it was time to pick up Rebekah from the airport at 10:40 pm! The next day, Rebekah and I cleaned the house, stocked up on groceries, visited Sacajawea's burial site, and attempted a hike at Popo Agie. We hope to become better nature girlies, but 5 min into the hike we saw a rattlesnake and ran back to the car :") 

So far, Wyoming is gorgeous, friendly, and feeling like home! Our next post will be an update for our first week of work in Ethete! Now it is time to share words we mispronounced this week, in the hopes that you don't look as silly as us when you come out here :) 

Words We Mispronounced This Week
Fort Washakie is "WAH-shuh-key", not "wuh-sha-key"
Ethete is "e-the-tee", not "eh-theet"
Popo Agie is "puh-POE-zha", not "po-po-agg-ee"


Location: Fort Washakie, WY, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2 - Johnny & Jackson Hole

Image
Week 2 Hello again, When we first got to town Tom and I passed an interesting looking trail that was called Johnny Behind the Rocks. Last Sunday we were able to go out there for the first time. We decided to hike up Red Ridge and try to make it to Johnny Falls, then hiked back on Dry Well Road (despite the name you are still climbing up a massive hill). Also, the Egyptian Time Machine sounds cool, but there’s no pyramids or hieroglyphics to look at so, wouldn’t recommend. Round trip it was going to be about an 8-mile hike. This is a trail that I would say is definitely worth it, the snow made it more difficult for us of course but the views it had were amazing. Just be sure you do it with plenty of daylight and are prepared to climb up about 650 ft. if you take the same paths that we did.       We spent week 2 at the Riverton clinic and met the staff over there. Everyone was very nice and had great recommendations on things to do in the area and Jackson. We spent t...
Read more

Exploring the Tetons

Image
It’s Mackenzie again! Madison has been on here talking about the important things, like our rotation site and our housing, so I get to tell you about the fun things we’ve done! After finding out that I was coming to this rotation, one of the main things I heard about was visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. These parks are expansive with so many things to see, so you certainly have to be intentional with your time there! As a quick side note: you do have to pay an entrance fee to both parks, and the closest entrance to Yellowstone from Ft. Washakie is only accessible through Grand Teton National Park. The most cost-efficient option is the Annual Interagency Pass. It is $80 and gets you unlimited access into all national parks (for reference, a day pass to each park is $20-30 so the annual pass pays for itself with just two visits to Yellowstone). The easiest way to get this pass is actually by purchasing it at the park entrance!  Our first weekend here in Wyoming we ...
Read more

Traveling to Wyoming: Block 3

Image
  Greetings from Wyoming! My name is Mackenzie, and I have the unique opportunity to spend my 3rd APPE block in Ethete, Wyoming at an IHS clinic on the Wind River Reservation. My classmate, Madison, and I found out that we would be on this rotation together around 6 months in advance, giving us plenty of time to prepare and brainstorm all the things we wanted to see. One of the main things we discussed was the travel plans and how we planned to commute around the area (spoiler: my husband (Levi) and I drove up so that we could have my vehicle). The next step was to figure out when  I could arrive. After a quick email to our preceptor, it was determined that I could move in the Friday before our rotation started. This was a blessing because not only did it give me enough time to get everything unpacked, but it also gave Levi and me a chance to explore the surrounding area and have our own adventures before he flew home that following Monday.  Levi's grandparents we got to ...
Read more