The City of Roses

I won’t bore you again with how I fell into the medical field but it’s time to tell you how I fell into the AAMA.

A few years after I graduated from medical assistant school, I took the certification exam to become a certified medical assistant. About that time is when I learned all about the American Association of Medical Assistants and their affiliate, the Wisconsin Society of Medical Assistants.

(Yes, I know. Boring! But bear with me.)

It didn’t take long for me to become entrenched in the state society, even to the point of running (on opposed) for president in 2004. The road to any presidency involves a few things. In this particular instance, it meant traveling to Chicago for a board meeting, followed by a trip to Portland, Oregon, for the national convention.

Ok, finally, you are thinking – the non-family trip she has promised us.

Portland is a beautiful city. We had a fantastic view of Mount Hood outside of our hotel window. And speaking of mountains, we took one day off, rented a mini-van and a group of us drove up to Mount St. Helens, a mere 50 miles away. Even though it had erupted nearly 25 years prior to my visit, the crater still resembled a moonscape, grey and barren. Outlying areas stilled showed evidence of the eruption which killed 57 people in May of 1980.

On the flip side, Portland is known as the City of Roses, so another day I took a bus tour to the beautiful International Rose Test Garden. Also included was a stop at the Pittock Mansion. By now you must be aware of my fascination with old houses, of any size, but the big fancy ones have to be the most fascinating.

Honestly, I did attend the required AAMA convention events (speakers and business sessions and receptions), but it hardly seems worth flying across country to a whole new city without seeing as much as you can. The one thing I missed was Powell’s Bookstore, known as the largest independent bookstore in the country, perhaps the world. It contains one million books and takes up an entire city block. I must get back there some day.

And I must admit, my head hanging, that these pictures are off the internet. I just didn’t want to take the time to scan my pictures and then tweak them to bring them up to the high standards you expect from my blog.