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We have to take advantage of the long breaks from work to see the things in our area (6-8 hour radius) that are the farthest away. We had been planning on taking a trip over the UP and down through Michigan into Indiana for our first long break. A patient had recommended two stops one being the Peshtigo Fire Museum, the other Mackinac Island. We just so happened to be driving through Peshtigo so we made that our first stop. Peshtigo was the sight of histories deadliest recorded fire with the estimated death toll of 1,200 to 2,500 (Wikipedia numbers). Here is an excerpt from the museum brochure, “Fiery hell descended on Peshtigo the night of October 8, 1872, mutilating northern Wisconsin with a livid scar of death and destruction still unequaled in the tragic annals of the world’s great fires.
Within a few short hours the lives of 800 persons (this is the number of towns people who were killed it doesn’t count farmers and out of town folk or the big boatload of lumber workers who had just come in to work in the lumber mill that day. There is no way to know the exact number.) were snuffed out in an inferno of flame and terror. A flourishing saw mill town was leveled to a desert of smoking ashes, its streets strewn with the blackened bodies of men, women and children. Miles of rich farm and wood lands were scorched into desolation and littered with the seared corpses of burned victims.
And yet, for decades, the horrors of the Peshtigo fire remained forgotten in history, obscured by the more widely known holocaust that devoured a part of Chicago that very same night in one of fate’s grim coincidences. Chicago reckoned its toll only in the number of its homeless survivors and it’s gutted buildings, while Peshtigo measured it’s losses in stark figures of dead and injured, and total destruction.

The museum was in an old church, one of the first buildings to be rebuilt after the fire.

The volunteers were very helpful in filling us in on the history and events of the fire and showed us a few of the everyday items that survived the fire. The people who survived were those who heard the church bell (fire alarm) and lived close enough to make it to the river. They stood in the river all night with the smoke clearing and heat cooling enough for them to come out late in the morning of the next day.

the museum was filled with era specific clothing, household items and furniture. There was a side room with a kitchen set up and a back room with boats and lumber equipment is that day and time. The kids favorite part however was the basement which was filled with tools, butter churns, ovens, old (very) wash boards wash machines and vacuum cleaners. So fun to see.

I thought I took more pictures of the inside of the museum although I always feel weird about doing that, but it turns out I did not. So here is a picture from the brochure.

the cemetery was also of interest. There are buried those lost in the fire. With a large number of them unidentifiable they made a mass grave.

The day after the fire a man was found looting the dead bodies for their valuables and was sentenced to be hanged on the spot but after searching through the rubble and ash no rope was found uncharred, the man begged for mercy and it was given to him.

in 1620, a tiny ship battled the waves. It was the Mayflower. One ship that had huge historical significance. The Mayflower was a very small ship, that was crammed with pilgrims, most of which were wet and/or seasick. As they were sailing on October 1st a cry went up, “Man overboard! Man overboard!” everyone rushed to get on deck. There, hanging from a rope he had grabbed on the way down, was John Howland, “Help!” He cried. Suddenly he felt something snag at his clothes, and was hoisted up into the ship by a long boat hook. We get this historical account from one of the pilgrim’s journals. One of the historians decided to figure out which Mayflower was the Mayflower that carried the pilgrims across the Atlantic, and figured that it was the Mayflower owned by Christopher Jones. It is 102′ long and 25′ wide at its widest point. On top was the deck. Lower down was the gun deck, where the pilgrims lived while crossing the Atlantic. Below that was the cargo hold. There was 102 pilgrims aboard in 1620 when they left Plymouth England, and one of the hardest decisions for the pilgrims to make was to choose which one should be the leader. The one they chose was William Brewster. The pilgrims actually had two ships, the other being the speedwell, but it sprang a leak and had to turn back. Finally they set foot on land. It was bitterly cold and there was already snow on ground. It was surprising they survived their first two winters. They were not the first to settle in North America, so why do they dominate history?
-by Caleb

Five shifts in a row isn’t too bad, and some how I ended up with the best assignments pretty much every night. And one of the nights (an extra one) I was sent home after five hours. Slept all night and was able to spend all the next day with my family before going back to work. This is what I love about nursing and 12 hour shifts. The amount of time you have to spend with your family. I had my first Spanish speaking patient since leaving Oregon and my first trips to the NICU. Now for a long stretch off from work….the best reward to those long stretches on.

Hannah drew these pictures unprompted. I though they were pretty great so I’m going to share them with you.
The first two are
1. Eve floating in the amniotic fluid in my belly/ Eve being born. (I’m always surprised by what the kids remember)

2. Eve in the sink as Aunt Stephanie gives her her first bath.

3. Hannah holding her new baby sister/ Eve learning to crawl in her crib

4. Big four year old Eve

Today after a the lightest assignment I have been given since starting, I got to participate in a my-weekend-crew tradition of going out to breakfast at Third Street Diner after work Monday Mornings. The veggie omelet and hashbrowns were good but the best part was the chance to get to know the girls I work with even better. Laughing and joking as they share funny stories about their children and work is not only good end of the shift decompression it is important to love and learn from other people and this group of ladies has been so welcoming. I have enjoyed to opportunity to learn from them, and work beside them, and now getting to spend time with them outside of work.

I was contacted a week or two ago about writing a blurb about myself, travel nursing, and my recruiter and agency and that they in turn would be writing a little blurb about themselves and what they do and it would be posted on the travel nurse Facebook group page titled “Travelers and Recruiters Unite.” To spotlight the roles of each, company/recruiter/nurse, individually. It was fun to get the notification that it was up today and read what they had to say.

Genesis Medical:
“Genesis Medical Staffing has a home office located in Omaha, NE. We are definitely a small company but we staff in all 50 states and we work with nurses, surgical techs, and allied health professionals –Diagnostic Imaging, Radiation Oncology, Rehab Therapy, Pharmacy and more. Genesis is a Faith Based Company–very unique in this industry.

We take a Christ-like approach to staffing and treat everyone as individuals with their own motivating factors. We tend to have a more family feel to treating others as they wish to be treated.

Genesis medical is a small company that focuses on service over sales. We staff nationwide and as a whole have over 40 years experience in the staffing world.”

This is a spotlight posted on a Facebook travel nurse group yesterday spotlighting my recruiter Erin Bluml:
“I have worked for Genesis Medical for 1 year and have a total of 6 years in Healthcare Staffing. My title is Client Representative; handling both Nurses and Clients.

I’m originally from Omaha, NE but my home is Denver, CO. I enjoy anything outdoors – hiking, biking or just hanging out at the many parks or patios (Mmm, Beer!) we have here in Denver! I’m passionate about my own personal travels – I love to experience different cultures, people and take in the overwhelming beauty of the world. So helping others get to experience these things is very important to me.

As I mentioned, helping others travel and have new personal and professional experiences is one of the most rewarding/enjoyable parts of my job. I also enjoy educating new possible travelers on the industry to help lead them to the right decision.

Sarah Sherman Owens(L/D RN) is a current traveler of mine. Sarah just gets it – she is relatively new to traveling, but I appreciate her urgency/promptness and overall communication skills. She’s passionate about constantly learning more of her profession as well as a commited Mother and Wife. Sarah travels with her husband and 3 children, educating them by experiences through their travels. I love to read their blog to keep up with everything that is happening on the road. I truly admire Sarah’s commitment to her career and Family as well as appreciate her giving me the opportunity to be a part of it all!”

Then the spotlight on me as the nurse:
“Hi my name is Sarah Owens I have been a Labor and delivery nurse for almost nine years now. I became a L&D nurse after the profoundly empowering experience of the supported natural labor and birth of my first child. I wanted other women to come away from their births feeling just as loved, supported, and empowered as a mother.

Just in this last year (April) I dove into the world of traveling as a nurse. I have loved the new challenges it has presented me with as well as the daily opportunities to grow as a person. I travel with my family: my husband Chad, a nine year old son, seven and four year old daughters, and our puppy/teddy bear a three year old Newfoundland.

We are on our second assignment, the first was in New Mexico the land of enchantment, now we are in Americas dairy land, Wisconsin. We live in such a beautiful country and as travel nurses we get to see it all and it’s not just some short week long vacation.

I work for Genesis whom I met at the travel nurse conference, my recruiter is Erin Bluml. She is very personable, I like the clear communication. I don’t have to wonder if I’m going to have a place to stay when I get to my assignment. I got my first months schedule several weeks before the end of my previous assignment. Erin knows I prefer to be contacted via texts and she has completely respected that and I don’t know that she has ever said, “Hey, I just wanted to call and reach out to you.” I love (insert sarcasm) getting those calls when I’m trying to catch some sleep between night shifts. Although I plan to work with the recommended handful of travel companies if I can continue to find the jobs that fit me in the areas we have not yet explored I would like to stay with Genesis and Erin.

We also have our blog that has a lot on it about travel nursing, traveling as a family, homeschooling, national parks.We are taking tours of all of the Capitol buildings of all the states we have been through. It is… owensendeavors.com”

I have learned more about my company and recruiter through all of this and thought that I would pass it on because it might help answer some questions for others who are unsure how this travel nurse thing works.

We have heard a lot about The Dells and the Ducks. So today we went to Wisconsin Dells to ride the Ducks. Wisconsin Dells is an area that was made famous by a photographer when photography as an art form was in its infancy. People around the world were charmed by the photos and dreamed of one day seeing the beautiful river and landscape for themselves. As the adventure seekers and tourists arrived there was need of hotels to house them, and restaurants to feed them. Boats gave tours of the beautiful river, as more and more people came more attractions were added to the tourism based settlement until it became what it is today. The Ducks are amphibious vehicles that were designed for military use in WWII.

We were pretty excited to ride on one and learn something about their history and WWII in the process.
The Dells is nearly two hours drive from our apartment and the route suggested by the GPS was complicated with major construction so we ended up driving through a lot of back country roads. These kind of interruptions are often annoying at first but so far almost every time they have lead to some fun discoveries. This time as we started passing buggies and wagons and cute kids and old men dressed in black and white with full bushy beards we realized we had wondered into Amish country!
I didn’t get any good pictures and I didn’t want to be too obvious although they are probably used to it. Their farms were all beautiful.
When we emerged from the back roads we found ourselves just outside of the main drag in Dells.

We got into town just about lunch time so we parked our car, bought our tour tickets, and picked one of the recommended restaurants for a pre tour lunch. We window shopped on our way there and back it is similar to Durango CO, and Lincoln City OR in the small cute little shops department.
After Lunch we took the “bus” to the Original Ducks Tours.

Eve chose the back seat and was so excited for this ride with no car seat.
The tour was full and the guide was funny.

The wind going through our hair and the spray of water as we dove in and out of the river and lake were fun. The corny jokes were ok but they kind of detracted from the amazing ness of the hunk of engineering we were sitting on and the beautiful scenery that surrounded us.
We did some more walking around after the tour. Caleb and Hannah decided that we needed a Duck for our next vehicle they were ok with it’s top speed of 55 MPH or 11 knots but I think the exhaust fumes and loud engine may get old.
We drove through town, roller coaster row, and checked out all of the water parks and amusement parks that made up the town. There were so many in one place! The we headed home.
We made it back with some daylight to spare. Myra and I got out for a sunset stroll that was just gorgeous.

We had a short budget meeting, Dave Ramsey would be proud. And crashed early.

Well, orientation at Theda care was nothing like my first assignment. It was scheduled from 9:00-10:00am. I didn’t really believe it would only take an hour to do all of the human resources stuff since it took 9 hrs in New Mexico. I found the parking and the office easy enough. Someone greeted me right away and pointed me in the direction of getting my picture taken for a name badge. There were eight of us lined up and one right after the other got pictures taken then were shown to a room where we would receive a packet of procedures and protocols. We went over the no tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol, HIPAA, and harassment in the work place. Signed that we received the policies got our name badge and then were dismissed. Wow. Now what to do with the rest of my day… two days actually since my schedule for this week is Wednesday and Thursday Day shift, Friday night shift.
We decided we had time we should go explore door county, the little tiny thumb peninsula off the east side of the state out into Lake Michigan.

We drove first to Green Bay then up the coast (you can call the shore that on a big lake right?) that took us right past the Packer’s stadium.

We tried to get a good look at Bailey’s light house but it is on private land so we could only see the top and didn’t get any kind of picture. We then stopped at the Cana light house but they charged a steep admission price so we didn’t end up doing that either. The next stop was Renards Cheese’s famous cheese curds.

We finally got a good look at the lake. It is hard to see because there is sooo much vegetation and greenery and few public access points.

Chad got a handful of lake water and splashed us. It was just a turnaround not really a good place for the kids to get out. We did all get out at Sister Bay city park. The kids had a ball playing on the play ground and in the sand. Eve decided to go swimming which made me quite glad I had grabbed some extra clothes on the way out the door for her.

I took some flower pictures just for Jill but they are so pretty I will share them here too.

Chad picked up some dessert for after dinner.

We liked the decorated goats all around town.

We noticed Egg Harbor had the same kind of thing with decorated eggs all over town.
We stopped in Fish Creek (or was it cove) for dinner in a cute second story restaurant.

Then we checked out the market down stairs and found these Wisconsin made Root Beers. We had seen so many Wisconsin brews of the alcoholic kind we had been keeping our eyes open for a Wisconsin Root Beer and although it did contain corn syrup was quite good and a fun way to experience Wisconsin.

Then we enjoyed the scenic ride home and the beautiful sun set.

Not at all what I thought we would be doing today but we sure did enjoy our drive and that won’t be the last time we visit Door County.