Road Trip

Skyline Drive

Posted on November 12, 2015 by theowenscrew

The 150 mile Skyline Drive atop the Blue Ridge Mountains through Shenandoah National Park was a beautiful way to spend our day today. At 35 mph it was a whole day drive. We also enjoyed the view in the valley as we made our way back to Charlotteville. If we didn’t have so much family keeping our hearts in Oregon. Virginia’d beauty would be giving Oregon a run for it’s money.

  C un. I yyyyyubj j j

Categories: Fulltime, National Park, Road Trip, Virginia | Leave a comment

A Week Without Cell Service

Posted on August 2, 2015 by theowenscrew

We are so dependant on our mobile devices that it was a welcome change of pace to not be able to get into FaceBook or answer text messages. We did head out of camp and into town three different times throughout the week long enough for me to upload some pictures and check FaceBook while we enjoyed an Italian soda in Chester. Now we will see if I can get a few photos up to share over this next week.

Categories: California, Family Time, Fulltime, Road Trip | Tags: California, camping, Extended Family, Family | Leave a comment

John Day Fossil Beds National Monent

Posted on July 25, 2015 by theowenscrew

We are headed to family camp! Maybe we should be more organized and have our meals planned but we like to celebrate small victories and not stress about the rest so we are celebrating getting on the road! The first leg of our journey is a coming together. Chad, me and the kids with Stephanie and Cyrus and Suzanne, Jeremy and their kids. We had decided on a meeting place of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument with a plan to head south from there. The GPS said 4 hours 20 minutes. We were up at 6:30AM taking showers, getting dressed and loading the car took a little while and some motivating YouTube Tetris music. Finally deciding we would have to leave the kayaks behind seeing no way to fit everything. Stephanie and I had seen a few blow up “kayak”s that hold two people and were on sale at Fred Meyers so she went and got two of them as well as a quick breakfast that the kids could eat at the shop while we hooked up the trailer. We left the house at 8:30 thinking that was pretty good time. We had a few hiccups hooking up the trailer and were still feeling like we were making good time leaving Salem at 9:30. I put in our destination to google maps giving us a 2:30 ETA. With lunch and traffic we were not making the kind of time we wanted to. Heading first after following a sign to the painted hills section of the park we backtracked and were relieved to finally make it to the paleontology center at 4:00PM. Stephanie and Jayson met us in the parking lot as Jayson headed back home to hold down the fort. We also got to see a few faces from our past! George and Jerry Lunsford (high school teacher and youth pastor from our past lives in Cambridge Idaho) now they may regret making a special stop at the national monument, but we sure did enjoy catching up with them.

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is know for its vast range of fossils of both plants and animals as well as number of fossils that are still being found there. All this is fun and interesting making me eager to learn the real truth behind the Grand Canyon, the continental drift, and now 15,000 feet of fossil layers in the middle of eastern Oregon. I am guessing that the answer to many of my questions will have to wait until the other side of the pearly gates as I do not buy into evolution and millions of years. After the main visitor center we enjoyed the farm house for a little while before heading to John Day.

  We took up three whole booths at dinner.



I was blown away how breath takingingly gorgeous the drive was! We made it about half way to family camp whoo hoo!! California here we come!

Categories: Family Time, Fulltime, Homeschool, National Park, Oregon, Road Trip | Tags: Extended Family, Fun, Oregon, Travel, Trip | Leave a comment

First Night Shift, Bay Front and Dinner at Mundos!

Posted on July 19, 2015 by theowenscrew

It has been a while since I have had to stay up all night. No big deal right!? Not so I was having to fight pretty hard to keep my eyes open between 5 and 6 AM. All in all my second shift at Samaritan Pacific Comunity Hospital went well it may take me a few nights to get the whole night shift routine down pat. The thing about the nurse that I worked with last night even though it was slow (we did have patients) she used the time she worked, the whole time, on things that bettered the unit and the hospital. After our routine checks and restocking we ran over test scenarios of how to admit the patients and paperwork/ epic/obix admissions. Then we scrubbed the couches and she worked on continuing education. I have worked quite a few places now and often when you are on a unit who has a lot of down time there is a lot of FaceBook and YouTube going on. I love how she continued to find ways to use the time she was getting paid for to do good for her employer.

Chad took the kids to Yaquina Bay lighthouse while I took a three hour nap this morning. They loved it and came away with the history lesson of: in 1870s kids were not to talk at all during meals and to eat everything on their plate. This light house was in use a very short time since it ended up being a poorly visible area. The Yaquina Head lighthouse replaced it in a better location and is still in use today. The kids checked that out earlier this week when we were here. After a bologna sandwich and the first watermelon from my dad’s garden for lunch (So delicious by the way! Thanks dad!) we headed out to walk the bay front shops.

There was a family with kids ages 8-13ish who had crab pots in the bay just off of the pier. Hannah and Eve were quite curious the kid explained the whole process and showed them their catch so far. We stayed and watched for a while. We loved watching them pull up the pots and throw the crabs that were too little back. Eve acted as if she was just part of their family getting in and helping touching the crab ropes and pot. It was great!The thermostat said that it was 77 degrees but it felt hotter than that the sun beat down and Myra panted away. After the bay front we met Grandma and Grandpa Owens at a park and walked to the beach to cool off in the breeze coming off of the water. I was still tired and enjoyed a beach nap in the soft cool sand with the cool beach wind. Caleb made his own kite and Hannah tried for a bit to fly a kite we had just bought from one of the bay front shops it was just too windy for kites today.

   At dinner time we packed up and walked along some of the shops near the beach until we found a unique little restaurant that looked like a good place to eat dinner.




Dinner was great! Myra and I took a walk out on the bay bridge and now it is time to get a little rest before these next three days of day shift.

Good night!

Categories: Family Time, Fulltime, Homeschool, Oregon, Road Trip, Travel Nursing | Tags: Family, Oregon, Outings, Sarah, Trip | Leave a comment

Epic Refresher

Posted on July 15, 2015 by theowenscrew

Today was a scheduled Epic refresher in Albany. It made for a very short day thank goodness. We had some tears, stress related over housing this morning. Even though we know it will all work out it is not coming very easy and as of today it looks like we will be going with the most expensive route (hotels every night) just because no door we have knocked on has opened yet. I did get to visit Silverton FBC again this evening at change of shift and at the end of a staff meeting which means I got to see a lot of the nursing team not just who was on for one shift. Of course they all asked me how traveling is going and over all it is good since we are doing what we set out to do although there are so many tough aspects. Some one said, “you have to be really smart to do that!” Lol not really just willing to look like a fool.

Categories: Oregon, Road Trip | Tags: Friends, Fun, Oregon, Sarah | Leave a comment

First Day Samaritan Pacific Community Hospital 2015

Posted on July 14, 2015 by theowenscrew

This time the I’m nervous feeling didn’t start until we were in Newport about 12 hours out of time to start my first shift. Even at that it wasn’t too bad until the last 45 minutes. It is in these first days that I have to frequently remind myself that it is good to be outside of my comfort zone. And that in the long run the positive consequences of hard work way out weigh the ease of laziness. (This is an internal battle that I am always fighting and don’t always win.) Ariving 40 minutes early I waited in the car 10 minutes then headed in to try to find my way to L&D. A small hospital can still be quite disorienting, but I made it upstairs and to my new unit. The nurse that I will be covering for maternity leave was on, it was fun to meet her and get some idea of what my schedule will look like. We chatted for a little while as day shift arived. Everyone was friendly. We got most of the first day stuff done, name badge, door access, computer access, med system access, unit tour, scavenger hunt, first admission and delivery giving me some familiarity with the paperwork, process and a few of the providers. That is what everyone hopes their first day is like. You don’t want to go too long with out an admission or a delivery because you don’t get very many orientation days as a traveler and you have to know how to do those things (charting systems and some processes are all a little different at every hospital). I love it when people tell me it’s ok to ask questions…fair warning now I ask a LOT of questions. There is no way to learn everything in two days of orientation. 1915 came quick enough, I was definitely ready for the shift to be over. A headache was starting to creep up on me and I was eager to catch up with Chad as he had been working all day on our housing situation.

Chad picked me up out front bearing gifts from The Gluten Free Place, a delicious pineapple upside down cake.

Admitting that we may just be spending too much money there this assignment because they had tasted a few things that were all delicious and it wasn’t too far from the hospital. I have been given a huge gift in Chad as my husband, he is beyond supportive always thinking of ways to make me feel loved by doing something special for me. So, good news with an awesome GF place in town, but bad news as far as housing goes. There are a lot of private campgrounds with long term residents, but they (all the ones he drove by, talked to, called) were full. We could see empty spots on a few that we drove by Sunday but when he called they said they have no monthly spaces available. There was one (the most expensive one at $700 a month) on a paved lot with no grass say that they probably could do it, but we would have to shuffle around and move sites every week because they also were booked. We don’t want to pay that much to be in a paved lot and move around every week so, we will continue to look. We will be checking on a few more places today, as well as our next options.

With computer training in Albany on the schedule next we headed home to Salem.

Categories: Oregon, Road Trip, Travel Nursing | Tags: Friends, Fun, Oregon, Sarah, Trip | Leave a comment

Newport Bound

Posted on July 13, 2015 by theowenscrew

I think we might have a plan now, I’m not sure if it is plan G or plan J but it is far from plan A or plan C. We packed quickly this morning. Less planning is needed when your only going two hours drive away, but still there were a few things we could not afford to forget. Attending church at our own church was amazing as always. Getting to see Aunt Bonnie and Great Grandma Brown was a special treat as well as trying out a new Sunday school class since our old newlywed and young couple class that we attended for 14 years has morphed into a much different class in the last year and a half. We attened a new class with our old classmates that is currently on a parenting series. I hope we will be able to attend enough to follow the current study. We sat in our “normal” (if you can call it that anymore) spot in hopes that we would get to sit by Dr. Dan and Robyn so I was super excited when Roby came up from behind us and slid into the chair next to me!!! Yay! It was so good to see them (our Sunday school teachers since the day after we got engaged in 2001, they came up to us at church and said, “We are starting a young married’s class. We would love to have you join us.” We have hundreds of fond memories made together.) A few hugs, and minutes to catch up is all we had before service started. We had time to make temporary dinner plans for next week I can’t wait to catch up for real. After church we rushed off to our lunch date with Grandma and Grandpa Owens and Red Robin. Their current coloring pages are the United States we counted up that we have visited 22 states so far on our “trip”

looks like at the end of this assignment we need to head south then East as we have not yet seen most of the south east states. After lunch Caleb headed out with Grandpa to get a card for a party they were headed to. A little one on one time while Grandma works the off to camp in the morning.

I love that he has so many strong godly and manly mentors in his life. In the last week alone he has had the oportunity to work beside my dad one on one and now quality time with Chad’s dad. I couldn’t have dreamed that we would be so blessed, I hope there is a day when Caleb recognizes just how blessed he is.

The rest of us buckled in and headed west.

She is just so darn cute. We made it to Newport, checked into our hotel and then headed out to drive around. Plan G like we talked about earlier is us borrowing a trailer from Chuck and Donna (Chad’s parents) and finding a campground that allows long term campers with a monthly rate. We will still need a lot of things to fall into place but right now that is where we are at.

It is so beautiful here! We can’t wait to get settled. Now for a little sleep, ready or not we start tomorrow. 😬

Categories: Family Time, Oregon, Road Trip | Tags: Extended Family, Family, Friends, Fun, Grandma, Oregon, Outings | Leave a comment

Newport Housing

Posted on July 2, 2015 by theowenscrew

I have no idea why housing on the Oregon beach has been such a bear! Using Craigslist for our main resource we have put out emails, texts and phone calls with very few responses. Those that have responded have said, ”We don’t want to consider anything less than a six month lease.” It is hard not to get frustrated… We maybe thinking outside the box a bit on this one. Maybe tent it for a while and a hotel when we can’t get site, I’m not sure I’m ready for that unsettled of a lifestyle. I think I’m doing a fairly good job not stressing out since our next assignment starts in < two weeks we would love this all to resolve soon. We know the right thing will come along, and would love your prayers on this matter.

Categories: Countdown, Oregon, Road Trip, Travel Nursing | Tags: Family, Oregon, Sarah, Travel, Trip | Leave a comment

Feeling the Pressure

Posted on July 1, 2015 by theowenscrew

It is so good to be home in our own house and in the last couple of days we have visited with couples from our Sunday school class and family’s from our homeschool group. My agency has been sending me things that have to be done for the next assignment and I feel the pressure of all that mounting. As glad as we are to take a few weeks off it doesn’t feel like it will be enough.

Categories: Family Time, Oregon, Road Trip, Travel Nursing | Tags: Family, Friends, Fun, Oregon, Sarah, Travel, Trip | Leave a comment

Lincoln City Kite Festival

Posted on June 29, 2015 by theowenscrew

I don’t know if we have been going to the kite festival for 11 years or 7 years but, every year since Hannah’s first birthday and maybe a few before she was born we have spent the last weekend of June at the kite festival. (Last year I was in New Mexico but the rest of the family still went with out me.) It just so happens to be always Hannah’s birthday weekend, Suzanne’s too with only two days between them, so we have made it a family tradition to celebrate at the kite festival. Most of this post will be pictures. We had great weather and a beautiful fun weekend.

There was too much of a breeze to get the candles to stay lit so eventually we just had Hannah pretend to blow out the candles.

There was not enough wind to get the kites up until around 2:00pm but it was so beautiful ,and the temperature and sun were just right!

Myra is having her Starbucks (water).

We headed back to camp around 4:15-4:30 just in time to enjoy roasting up some hot dogs for dinner. Eve took a pre-dinner nap. The guys played a board game, and the rest of the kids ran and ran and ran until nearly dark playing in the central field in our campground loop.

My mommy must love me…we have some good chocolate to go with our marshmallows. Elijah was showing off his muscles playing with this ball that was bigger than him.

We shared a fun camping dessert we learned with Michael and Kristen Sherman last fall when we visited Indiana, cresant roll wrapped around your marshmallow then roasted. We even added some chocolate to the inside and it was a hit. We are thinking it needs just the tiniest pinch of kosher salt and it would be perfect.

For two nights in a row I got to snuggle this little bug. It did this aunties heart good since I have missed so much of his life so far, experiencing it through FaceBook and facetime isn’t quite the same.

A thunderstorm and sprinkles ushered in the day. It was transient and light for the most part allowing us to get everything packed up with out getting too soaked.