Pactola Lake, South Dakota
Near Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota
Somewhere in South Dakota
Devil’s Tower, Wyoming
Yellowstone, Wyoming
Yellowstone, Wyoming
Yellowstone, Wyoming
2,978 km. 3 days, 2 nights. 4 hotel room beers. Countless potato chips.
The stuff of road trips.
The landscape evolved from the cloudy prison that is Waterloo, to the massive, sprawling freeways south of Chicago. The roads whittled down once more, and we swayed our way through the shire-like hills of Iowa, trees already in full bloom. Nebraska took me to my home – the (Canadian) prairies – where nothing but flat farm land stretched ahead. Some call it boring, but I know it’s all about the sky. We slipped through a quixotic dream of windmills, transporting us to an alien land, a place altogether extraterrestrial. Then, came Wyoming. I’d been there before, a year ago, on a trip with my guy. The familiar ground had me nostalgic for our time together. This time, the winds whipped about, gusts jerking at my attempts to navigate the highways, begging for me to leave the road. I fought hard. Come Utah, the mountains shrugged their shoulders around us in indifferent greeting. The twists, the mist, the rev of the engine told me I was somewhere new. I partly felt like I was on an amusement ride, I partly felt like I was in a storybook.
My future, just like the highway, is unfolding.
And here it is: announcement number one for 2016. I have moved to Salt Lake City, Utah for the summer! I will be here until August for a clinical rotation in ocular disease. I am beyond thrilled to move on to this next chapter. In fact, it all feels like a dream, like I will wake up sweating in my Waterloo bed, with five impending exams. I can scarcely believe that I get to live this life that’s coming my way this year. The word incredible seems overused and cliche in the way I want to describe my feelings, but the word, broken down, is perfect. In-credible: impossible to believe.
Here I am, and here I’ll be. The next announcement will come later… maybe once some flights are booked. But I will say this: malaria meds and updated vaccines, check and check.
____________________________________________________________________
And now, to get used to thinking in miles and Fahrenheit. Those 2,978 km? Well, that’s 1,850 miles for you, my American friends. As for temperature, all I know is 80 degrees F is a hot day. And 100, even hotter.
Find me on Facebook, twitter and Instagram. You definitely want to follow my adventures this year!
