Continuing THE LIST

So, let's just jump right back in to 2014:

Ajax, Ontario—Ahhhh, my first Canadian trip. It was super snowy and the pharmacy was kind of a disaster. I also remember the food—it was disgusting. (And I wrote this post. It's titled "Fun Times In Canada". Oh, I was so naive.)

Buffalo, NY—I went to Niagara Falls in the middle of winter and froze my fingers off. Also, I never ate real Buffalo wings and I think I went to bed around 8:00pm each night. I was lame.

Strathmore, Alberta—It was FREEZING. I hated traveling to Canada. I mean, I promise, Canadian border patrol, I do NOT want to move here and steal one measly job from your population. You didn't have to interrogate me like I was a criminal every time I went through customs. (The WORST!)

Revelstoke, British Columbia—Probably my most favorite trip I took with this job (even though it was in—GASP—Canada). Check it out here.

Perryton, TX—This one was Red’s Pharmacy, and the owner was a straight up ginger, which I thought was kind of funny and clever. Nice folks.

Bethany, OK—These guys were super fun. The staff was young and joked around a lot. They also tried to get me to drink beer with them at lunch on the first day, because they were all so hungover from the night before. (I did not partake, but I appreciated the gesture.)

Keller, TX/Livingston, TX—These two Texas trips were CVS pharmacies outside of Dallas and Houston, back to back; a solid 12 days of living out of a suitcase in Texas. This was about the time I had breakdowns to a handful of people back home (yes, multiple breakdowns, while I sat in my car with the air conditioner on, because Lord Have Mercy it was like 400 degrees outside) and I almost emailed my boss my resignation letter from the CVS parking lot.

Lethbridge, Alberta—This place had a really long bridge the city was named after. I went and saw it and was underwhelmed. Also, I had a minor case of food poisoning after stopping at McD’s on the long-ass drive out there. That was fun. Thank God there was a scary little gas station along the way, or who knows what would have happened.

Yarmouth, ME/Topsham, ME—These two Maine trips were back to back, and they were for a chain pharmacy called Hannaford's. People were nice and Maine is gorgeous! I wrote about it here.

Brampton, Ontario— This one was literally in the middle of nowhere, Alberta. Like, rolling fields of yellow canola forever and ever. And the people were weird. It was Canada. We know how I feel about this.

Broadview, Saskatoon—The pharmacy manager named the robot Pippin (wtf?), and I had a migraine almost the entire time. There was nowhere to eat, and I had to eat A&W three nights in a row (vom). This may have been the cause of the ongoing migraine.

Damariscotta, ME—Another of the Hannaford's. People were super nice and I ate lots of lobstah.

Sunnyside, WA—I got a freaking huge speeding ticket and I’m fairly sure the state of Washington never cashed the check I sent in the mail to pay it, so it is entirely possible that there is a warrant out for my arrest in Washington state.

Ada, OK—People were nice. The land the pharmacy was on was part of an Indian tribe's property, so technically it had different laws than normal...? (I didn't really get the deets on this. Clearly.)  The pharmacy sold Michael Kors purses and Vera Bradley stuff, which is nice I guess, but I remember thinking it was also kind of odd.

Soldotna, AK—So this trip was when I decided that this job had slightly ruined my will to travel. Alaska was GORGEOUS. I mean, who gets to go to freaking Alaska?? And I took maybe three pictures total, because I was tired, I had rented a Tahoe and I knew I was going to get in trouble for going over the rental car budget, and my cell hardly worked. And I decided that if I got a free trip to Alaska and I was so grumpy that I didn't go do anything or at the very least, take touristy pics of the park I drove through, then it was probs time for me to find a new job.

Pine Falls, Manitoba—This one was a disaster. I had to stay at a casino over an hour away and halfway through the first session of training, the pharmacy manager came in and told me he was (and I quote, because it’s so dramatic) “shutting this down” until some issues had been resolved. It was a cluster, and I had to stay in the area for two more days, “just in case” everything got worked out. It didn't. I came home and they sent someone else out there a week later.

Santee, CA—Another CVS, but a California CVS in October is much more manageable than my previous CVS nightmares in Texas. A couple other trainers were also working at CVS's in Cali, so we met up for sush one night.

Taos, NM—Another of my favs, because I got to travel with my bestie Brad (or BAMER). I wrote about it last fall.

Reno, NV—Never even saw a casino…also an Indian Health Site, so that was interesting. I was so over everything at this point. I was also traveling with another trainer, and we ate at Whole Foods every day for lunch AND dinner at his bequest.

Denver, CO—This was my first VA Hospital, and I really had no business being there. The products I was supposed to “support”, I had not learned yet. It was the week of Christmas. It was super cold and snowy. I was hating life. Good times.

Which rolls us right into 2015 (are you still with me? Almost done!):

Orlando, FL—A VA Hospital site that had bought a ton of our expensive equipment, yet refused to use it in the way it was intended. At the very least, I was in Florida in January, and Ben was with me. However, it wasn't really a productive trip, since they didn't listen to any of our training.

Murfreesboro, TN—A VA Hospital, where half of our equipment didn't work correctly and I got yelled at on several occasions. Had a breakdown in the Detroit airport on my way home, where I declared “I WAS DONE FOREVER” (and then I went to Nashville the next week).

Nashville, TN—Sister site (another VA) of Murfreesboro…same issues, and to add insult to injury, I didn't even make it down Music Row because I was tired, I was mad, and it was cold. (Jeez...early 2015 was pretty bleak for me, professionally.)

Somerset, PA—Super nice pharmacy manager. The staff were…interesting. Let’s just say there was a 31 year old pharmacy tech who had a 16 year old daughter and was SUPER proud of that. Yeeeeah.

Ronceverte, WV—I took Kayla, a new trainer, on this trip, and she was sweet and fun to travel with. Highlights of the trip included us literally sprinting through the airport to make a connection (after I had bragged about never having to run to catch a flight) and then driving down windy roads straight out of “The Hills Have Eyes” territory in backwoods, West Virginia. (I think we bonded over the terror of the experience.)

Bremerton, WA—Okay, so this was my last site I traveled to, and I knew it at the time, so I didn't have such a hellish time as I would have if I knew I wasn't quitting. This was a Naval hospital on Fort Bremerton, and the Commander in charge was pretty intense. Like, wasn’t happy with anything and wouldn’t sign off on anything until it was fixed, intense. Luckily, that was not my issue (this trip required multiple people on site from SP) and I just got to chat with the Navy cadets, who were quite interesting. Lt. Awa was the NICEST guy I've ever met, and he gave me a Commander’s Coin, which is a big deal in the Navy. I guess you give it to someone who you respect, and he told me that the whole pharmacy appreciated the work I had done with them.  In hindsight, I suppose this was not a bad trip to go out on.

And I'm DONE! I gotta admit, it’s kind of cool to have all of these places documented and to look back on where I've gotten to visit. While there were plenty of things I disliked about the job, I did meet a lot of interesting and cool people. But now, on to the next adventure of actually staying in town for more than a week at a time. I think it's going to be a solid summer. And who knows? Maybe I'll start blogging on the regular again. I gotta get my snarky comments out somewhere.