With all this craziness of COVID going on, it opened up a lot of crisis assignments. Crisis assignments are usually less than 13 weeks and offer higher pay. Since we were in Lake Havasu during the first and second waves of COVID we were not able to take any crisis assignments. A few were still available when our contract in Havasu ended, so we thought why not make a little extra money! The only downfall was that Aaron has to work in Modesto and I in Manteca. Each hospital only had one position open so we had to go our separate ways. Thankfully the hospitals are about 20-25 minutes from each other so we could still live together.
We had a very difficult time finding housing and thankfully we found a place, but it wasn't available until October 1st. In the meantime, they found us a place to stay until then. We arrived to this beautiful home located in Patterson, California and it was surrounded by farmland.
The home owners lived in the main house and are originally from Mexico. They have multiple apartments on the property and some of their family members were living in trailers out back. They had chickens, roosters, dogs, and cats everywhere!
They were all strays so they did not like being picked up, but they were adorable! Our first night at the house they invited us to sit outside for some home made tacos. It was delicious and so nice of them. One of them raises roosters to bring to Mexico to fight! I never knew that was a real thing...
Unfortunately, the place we were living in did not have wifi, laundry, or a kitchen. Aaron and I found ourselves eating out and taking frozen meals to work which is not our favorite thing to do, but it worked for the week and a half we needed it to. Whenever we start a travel assignment, we always take a trip to work to see how long it takes and to become a little more familiar with what the hospital and parking looks like. On our way we stopped at My Garden Cafe located in Modesto where Aaron's hospital is.
I had their pacific melt and Aaron tried the crab sandwich. Both were very good and filling.
One day we went to Blues Café for breakfast. We both tried their breakfast sandwiches and I had one of their chai lattes as well.
After our first shifts were over, we wanted to go do some sightseeing since this was both of our first times in northern California. I saw a Buddhist temple in Stockton and we decided to go check it out. The Wat Dhammararam Buddhist Temple is located in a random area just off the highway. There was hardly anyone there and half the gate was closed so we thought it wasn't open. We saw people walking around so we decided to go in anyway. It was a little different than what we thought it would be...
Aaron is too smart and noticed one temple with both sharks and alligators in the same body of water, which is not accurate.
Before COVID, they have monks available to take you on a tour. Now there are only self guided tours. We spent maybe 10 minutes there and we headed out. We also found out that Stockton is one of the most unsafe places in America...a 1 in 19 chance of you being a victim of either a property or violent crime.
We left and do not plan to go back to Stockton.
On one of our last nights in Patterson, we checked out Almond Wood Artisan BBQ for dinner. It was absolutely delicious! The power bowl was awesome and so was the mac n cheese. They have tons of beers on tap as well. Be ready to wait for a table, similar to anywhere in this state, since there is limited or no indoor seating.
We both have thought about going back to Patterson just to eat there.
We enjoyed where we were living, but we both were ready for a shorter commute to work and a place with wifi, laundry, and kitchen!
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