Sixteen days on the road...! And here's how it's going down. :-)
Stop One:
This is definitely the low part of our trip (we really don't enjoy LA that much...), but we're gonna try to make the best of it. :) Matt spends two full days interviewing first at Children's Hospital of LA, and then at UCLA. I'll spend two full days wandering Los Angeles with Seth. Can we say the Getty?
Stop Two—The Highlight of the Trip!:
Humboldt County is the most amazing, most beautiful, most fabulous, most wonderful, most..., most..., most superlatively lovely spot in the world. Ahhhhhh.... My mind feels clear and fresh just thinking about it. (No, that's not the pot talking. ;-)) It's really unbelievably gorgeous—you have to see it to believe it's even possible. Whole forests of 300-ft, 2000-year-old trees? Amazing.
(The Sequoias further south are "larger" because they're bigger around, but they're a lot shorter. The coastal Redwoods in Humboldt County are skinnier—though lots are pretty huge, still!—and incredibly tall. And on the coast. And ancient-er. Everyone needs to see the Avenue of the Giants sometime in their life! IN...credible....)
Stop Three:
Portland is our #2 if we ever have to leave San Diego! It's lovely! Plus, Amy rocks. And we're spending practically a whole week together. YES!!! Matt interviews at OHSU this week (prettiest hospital he's ever seen...).
Stop Four:
I may have misspoke up there calling LA the low part of the trip, because we actually aren't excited at all to go to Seattle. Only a few years ago, Seattle was on our short-list of places to live—we were just sure we'd LOVE it. Then we went there.... I've never seen a place so dead and grey in my LIFE. Does that shock anyone? Do you picture Seattle how we had? Green, green, green? It's not. Too bad...! (Guess what is green, green, green, and not very far away? Portland! Portland is totally the sort of pretty we had always pictured Seattle would be.... But Seattle was downright depressing.) Anyway.... Matt will spend a full day interviewing at UW's Children's Hospital (which is actually a really cool place!), and I'll wander around with Seth trying to find some evergreens or something without freezing to death. :)
We're that good, too. Haha!
Stop Six:
Ahhhhhhhh......... Need I say more? (Matt will spend a day interviewing at UCSF. He has an interview day at Stanford, too, but we totally got unlucky with scheduling that one and he'll have to fly back next month....)
Stops 7 through ?
Then we'll make our way back down the coast via lots and lots of this:
And then it's back home to our Number One! Ahhhhh.... San Diego, we adore you. :)
Should be a fun trip! We're really looking forward to the little change in pace for a while. Satisfy the travel itch for a couple weeks...! :)
P.S. For anyone who doesn't know, the interviews are for Matt's fellowship. In June 2011 he'll finish his Pediatrics Residency, at which point he could go get a real job as a pediatrician. Except that he wants to specialize instead. So July 2011 he'll start another three years of training in Pediatric Cardiology, the interview period for which is right now. Long road.... Good thing he enjoys it!
