We Made It

Sorry I have not completed a blog and a few nights as we have been busy unpacking and getting settled in our new home. We left Cincinnati Ohio at about 7 AM hoping for an early arrival in Roanoke Virginia. There are three routes we can take and we chose one. Likely it was the most beautiful drive we had this far. It was along the Appalachian Trail. It was kind of fun to see this Mountain range as not very many people lived here. Dr Croshaw had me read a book on the Appalachian Trail as he said I would be getting a lot of weird people from this area. We got to go through Charlottesville West Virginia and it was a gorgeous town with a beautiful river and lots of bridges. We might have to go back to this town as it is only about two and half hours away. We got to see Virginia Tech that is only about 45 minutes out of Roanoke. It was a nice-looking school and look like a fun school to go to. Finally, we arrived in Roanoke Virginia at 35 Cambell Ave. apartment number 417. We were so excited to find out it truly was in the heart of downtown. We met our apartment manager outside the front doors his name is Jake. Jake had done so much for us I truly believed he didn't know if we existed. He took us up to our apartment and we were so excited as we loved it right away. Jake had the movers organize all the boxes by what room they were marked at and had them pile them high in the center of each room. This was helpful in the unpacking process. We signed paperwork and got right into unpacking everything. We also had to go pick up our parking pass down the street. We get to park in the Martin Luther King parking garage that is only a bridge away. It is skyrocketing $11 per month. That night we stayed up late putting the bed together and unpacking the kitchen. We got up nice and early the next morning to get everything unpacked and were completed by about 7 PM that night just in time to clean before bed. It was fun to FaceTime my family and show them our new pad. Our bed faces the downtown and it is fun to see all the city lights right. There are no windows in the living room or kitchen but we don't notice the light from the windows in the bedroom shine through. All in all we love our new loft. Pictures to follow. 

Thursday evening we had a chance to go grocery shopping. I told to check out Kroger's as it is just like Fred Meyer's on the West Coast. This was packed with people. It was interesting to see how much more expensive groceries are over here. But it was very fun to buy milk and a glass bottle. Felt like we are in the olden days again. We also had some meat cut from the deli. Never had the white meat for sandwiches. The lady thought I was hilarious when asked if I had to buy the whole thing of meat. You get to pick your thickness one through 10 we chose five. Ask the lady was the best thickness. I was not sold on this grocery store but I also think I am pretty picky being a Trader Joe's fans. The nearest Trader Joe's is 90 miles away. So this won't be a stop we go every time for grocery shopping. That night we had our first dinner in our loft! Nothing better than spaghetti. 

Friday was my first day at Carilion Clinic. It was only a two hour day as a lady drove me around town making multiple stops to fill out paperwork get my blood drawn and take pictures etc. I was so impressed that I got to have a professional photo shoot for marketing. Maybe could've done my hair a little bit better that day. The lady was very very nice and very helpful she even dropped me back off at the loft on her way home. 

We are so impressed about how nice everybody has been here and how helpful everybody has been.  people are so polite always opening doors, saying good morning and thank you. Friday night Mat, Miley and I went on a run down the railroad track's hoping to connect with the Greenway. The Greenway is a running trail that goes around Roanoke. Long story short we ended up in a very bad neighborhood with multiple needles lying around and couldn't run any faster to get out of there. this railroad does not connect with the Greenway. 

Saturday morning we walked downtown about two blocks and went to the Saturday market. This market happens every day during the week but the most popular days are thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We bought some bacon from a local butcher. Also bought a blueberry pineapple Apple cake from a nice man from Georgia. He was very fun to talk to. He could not believe where all the way from Washington state and it was only our second day here. He asked," have you had your culture shock yet." Roanoke has a large African-American community unlike Spokane. Some may even say we are a minority here. After the market I got to go have a pedicure downtown. It is so weird to walk two blocks to have a pedicure. This is a nice spa and will be a frequent stop for me I am sure.  You make all your appointments online. They are so technologically inclined. Saturday evening we went on a much better run the right way towards the Greenway. This is a nice run through an old neighborhood. We made it downtown just in time to get a few things before the stores closed.

Sunday we got to climb to the top of New mountain. This was a 4 mile round-trip hike. It was a beautiful day as it was 63° out. This is a very fun hike. This is a hike to the biggest man-made star in the world. Pictures to follow. We found out that Roenoke is Virginia City of trails. We decided we better go on a new hike every weekend to explore the hills of Roanoke. They called the mountains but we call them hills. We got invited to the penthouse in our building for a  Super Bowl party. It was fun to meet all the people in our building as they are all about our same age. The penthouse was gorgeous. Much bigger than our apartment and the outdoor deck was just as large as our apartment. 

All and all we have been adjusting well here in Roanoke. :-) Miley is getting used to not to growling and barking every time someone walks by our door. Now she just cowers down as we have been spraying it with the spray bottle. We are getting used to taking her outside on a schedule to use the bathroom. She knows her way to cross the road and go potty. Mat has been quizzing me on which streets run run which way and how to get home from multiple directions. He learns the stuff way faster than I do. 

Today Mat has been vigorously applying for jobs. I had a few homework assignments to complete before tomorrow. Tuesday is my first day. Today we rode the trolley to see the route to work I will take on the trolley each morning. Turns out it will take me about 10 minutes to arrive at the Carilion clinic.

I will keep you updated this week of my first week at Carilion. I know is I just have another photo shoot tomorrow. Cracks me up. Enjoy a few of our pictures. Wish you were all here...