Half Way Already?

Like they always say...

Time flies when you are having fun!

We can not even believe that our time in Monterey is half way over.  It has gone by so fast!  We have been very busy but having lots of fun.  Work is going so well.  I absolutely love home health and have already asked to continue with that setting in our next placement.  I don't know if it is just the clinic we are at here, but it is so nice to see only around 5 patients per day versus the 14 we were seeing back at home in the outpatient setting!  Work has just become so much more relaxing and has really given us some time to enjoy life which was kind of the point of this whole traveling experiment anyway!

We found a great gym here and Jason has been busy playing lots and lots and lots of racquetball, of course:)  Its not that interesting to go to the gym everyday, but one day I saw this guy as I was walking in and thought to myself "only in Carmel..."

He was gone by the time I left, otherwise I might just taken him home as a new friend for Dwight and Stanley!

DeeDee (Jason's mother) got married to Jim on August 28th in a beautiful wedding at the Moreda's dairy in Petaluma.

She looked absolutely amazing...

And the weather was perfect... (we needed some sun with all the summer gloom in Monterey)

And the view was amazing as well...

Congratulations Jim and DeeDee!

On our car trips back home for one reason or another we have been stopping a lot in Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world.  They have over 100 outlet stores there (including the Forever21 outlet), and for food, its not garlic we stop for... it is Sonic Drive In!!  We had fun ordering and getting our food from a server on skates!

The food was just ok, but it was the ambiance that kept bringing us back!

We did a little bit of sightseeing and went to Cannery Row in Monterey.  It reminded us of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco but with a nicer beach in the background.

I have had some interesting changes as well...

My hair!! No, its not the end of the world that I am a brunette now;)  I went to a super fancy hair salon in Carmel to get my highlights done, and I guess super fancy does not always correlate with super talented because somehow my hair got turned orange!  Not a good look with my coloring...  Well, I decided to just keep it easy, and with all the other changes going on I might as well use some... ready for it???  Box Dye!! Sorry Heidi!!  I dont think it looks too bad though, I think I will keep it for awhile!

BTW, look at the "interesting" painting that is on the wall in our bathroom.  We continually question the decor in this place.  A little creepy, don't you think?

All in all Monterey (really, I should say Carmel) has been good to us.  We have not had time to do much more sightseeing (we have not even seen Big Sur yet!) but are planning to do all that fun stuff once we have visitors later this month!  The countdown to our next move is now on!

Ill close with a few more pictures to brag about our living situation...

The gates at Carmel Valley Ranch...  The people who work the gates are so nice, every time we drive through, without fail, we get a smile, a wave and a cheery "welcome back!"  It's pretty nice to be welcomed home every time!  I'm sure where ever we move next something is just going to be missing...:)

The golf greens and club house...  Too bad we really can't use it because its private!!  But it is a beautiful view anyway...  Our house is just off to the right of the picture

We have not found out where we are going next but are hearing whispers of the Lone Star State.  Im going to get out my cowboy boots, teasing comb and red lipstick!  Pictures to come!

Current Location:

Carmel Valley, CA

First Week Down!

Things are finally starting to settle down after the first week here in Monterey.  We completed our first week of work which is going really well.  Our supervisors are so nice and it is a wonderful area to do home health physical therapy in... Think, patients in Pebble Beach and Big Sur with ocean views!  It's a great way to spend the day!

More importantly, we finally got to move in to our new "home" which is BEAUTIFUL!!!!  The only location the company could find us was a vacation home in a gated golf community in Carmel Valley and we are so excited!  Spending a couple days in a hotel was completely worth this payoff!  The house is bigger than the one we left in Novato and the four of us (Jason, Dwight, Stanley and I) are consistently losing each other in the 2 story home!  This is definitely something we could get used to!  We also finally got a chance to take Stanley to the beach, he was a little uncomfortable with the waves but hopefully will learn to love it as much as we do!

 Home Sweet Home, for now!

A view of the inside... (yes, we like the country decor ;) )

and our view from the kitchen and patio!  Notice the pond with the golf greens in the background!

Going to the beach in Carmel, it was Stanley's first time seeing the ocean and even the sand took him by surprise!  He ate a little too much of it and got sick the next day, poor puppy... he learned his lesson though!

 He was interested in the waves...

 But was running away from them each time!

We think Monterey is going to be great...  Talk about taking a "working vacation!"

Next stop, we have got to go see the aquarium!

Current Location:

Carmel Valley, CA

Moving to Monterey

Ready, set, go!!!  We just spent the past week saying goodbye to friends and family, packing up our home in Novato and moving to our first stop of Monterey, CA.  We had some hiccups along the way with finding the right housing and are now temporarily in a beautiful hotel in Carmel Valley.  Really, we can't complain!!  The area is beautiful and we celebrated with lunch and dessert in Carmel-By-the-Sea.  Stanley and Dwight are just getting settled but they seem to be handling it just ok!  We should hopefully be in our "permanent" house by Tuesday, but at this point we will see...  No worries, as of right now the beach is beautiful, the food is amazing and the animals are happy.  We will worry about the rest later!!  Work starts Monday!

After a long week of packing up and putting finishing touches on our house

Dwight is ready to go too

Our new (very temporary) home until our housing gets worked out.  I guess its very hard to find a rental in Monterey for only 3 months, which is understandable but very stressful at the same time.

Dwight settles in right away...

Carmel-by-the-sea... did you know there are no addresses in Carmel?  Your house is known by "3rd from the corner" or something like that.  We couldn't believe it!

But with a view like this, who cares?

We had an amazing lunch and sat outside where the air was what could only be described as "refreshing"

Then of course, finished off with some yummy fudge.  We voted, and salted caramel won for best tasting, which we thought was appropriate!

I probably gained a pound just today, oh well...

Everyone worked hard this week and deserves some rest and relaxation!!

I love you!

Current location:

Carmel Valley, CA

Our Plan...

As a Physical Therapist myself, I never thought there would be any other perks to marrying another physical therapist other than the fact that we understand when the other has a tough day with "all low back stenotic patients." I was wrong. It was one day in June that my husband Jason and I decided that we were going to take advantage of our both being physical therapists. We realized what a unique situation we were in and that we could use it to our advantage. We decided to embark on a journey of traveling the country through the medium of " traveling physical therapy" where we will work for 3 months at a time in different places throughout the United States. We have no idea where we will be in a year, even 6 months! What we do know is that we will experience some amazing places throughout the United States of America that we most likely would never have the opportunity to see. Our goal is to document our journey through this blog to not only allow our friends and family to keep track of us during our travels, but also so we can look back and see where we have been and remind ourselves of the amazing sights we have seen. Stay tuned... first stop is Monterey, California where the beach is calling our names (let's be honest, the golf courses are calling Jason's name!!)

Who's all going:

Jason and Janey

 Stanley the Manly

Dwight K. Schrute


Current Location:
Novato, CA