Nurse Journey: Wandering in the PNW

Hi friends!

We’re Megan and Ty, two travel nurses who are finishing up our latest assignment in Washington. We started travel nursing together in January, and we’ve already created some incredible memories. We kicked off our journey in New Mexico, the “Land of Enchantment”. One of our favorite places in New Mexico is White Sands National Monument. Imagine miles and miles of white gypsum sand with the mountains of Las Cruces as the backdrop. It’s absolutely incredible. And, for those backpacking adventure nurses, they offer campgrounds as well. A few other places we would recommend checking out are the Bisti Badlands, the Sandia Mountains, Taos, and Bandelier National Monument.

We have spent the past three months in Washington and have really enjoyed the lush green forests and snow covered mountains it has to offer. Some of our must-see spots in Washington are Colchuck Lake, Blanca Lake, Olympic National Park, and the North Cascades (pictures below!). If you like the outdoors and hiking the Pacific Northwest is the place for you!

Some of our best and most unexpected adventures have been in the journey to a new location.

One of our favorite memories was when we were traveling from New Mexico to Washington. We were driving through Teton National Park. It was about 10 p.m. when we were arriving and we saw a sign warning us about animals on the roadway. It wasn’t even five minutes after passing that sign that we came across two large moose in the roadway. Ty managed to sneak past, but one of the moose had other plans for me. Each time I tried to pass him, he would look at me with his big, beady eyes and put himself right in the way of my escape path. At one point, he even bluffed charged my car!

After a panicked phone call to Ty, I could see his truck’s headlights racing back my way, and the flicker of his high beams as he got closer to the moose in an effort to scare him off. Now the full attention of the moose was on Ty as he started a charge towards this new threat, and then the car horn started blasting. The moose was caught completely off guard by this loud burst of sound because he quickly stopped his charge and darted off into the darkness—never to be seen again. Ty pulled up next to me with his window rolled down and we both just laughed at the situation that had just unfolded.

Our favorite thing about traveling is that it’s unpredictable and you never know what you might experience! It reminds us to be open to new experiences and to roll with whatever is thrown our way.

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