About Me

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Thank you for visiting SmallTownReview.com

My name is Danielle.  I grew up in a small rural town in southwestern Michigan with one brother, one sister,  2 parents, 3 cats and two dogs.

My brother, myself, grandfather, sister and grandmother in about 1997

Following high school I pursued a master’s degree in physical therapy, graduating in 1996.

I immediately headed south to escape the Michigan winters. I landed in the small town of Punta Gorda, FL and took a job in a hospital. After about 2 years, I switched to working in an outpatient facility.

From 2004-2011, I owned a small private practice outpatient clinic in North Fort Myers, FL.

From 2005-2011, my clinic was voted “Best Physical Therapy” in the area.

I am convinced that my strong emphasis on superior customer service won me these accolades, more so than the skills of myself and my staff.

Don’t get me wrong, all of my staff were very skilled and they were chosen due to these skills. They were also trained by me to deliver care the way I do. But the first step in providing great care is to listen to the patient’s needs or what is otherwise known as good customer service.

In 2012, I closed my therapy practice for personal reasons and decided to become a travelling therapist. I guess I was feeling cramp from being tied to an office 24/7 for 7 years straight.

So in my insanity, I thought that it was a good idea to buy a travel trailer and drive from Florida to Washington, alone (well except for 3 cats that came along).

I was in western Washington for 4 years working as a traveling physical therapist.

With my cross-country and Washington adventures, my love for photography grew and I started DmHallPhotography.com. Then SmallTownReview.com was born from an incident in a restaurant.

The plan was to travel, see the country, take lots of photos, write about it while working as a traveling physical therapist. Unfortunately, physical therapists work long hours. Little time was left for hobbies or side jobs..like photography and travel writing.

In 2017, I returned to Florida to sell my house in Cape Coral and figure what is next.

My house was sold in 2018.

I am now in Naples, FL trying to figure out what is next and trying to live each day to the fullest.

I have a “permanent” job where I work 4 – 10 hour days, leaving me 3 day weekends to devote to my photography, blog and the piles of stuff that I still have from being a home owner for 20 years.

I am single and tend to experience the world by myself with my cameras in tow.

I have found that people treat a solo traveler much differently than they treat groups of people. I believe that the true personality of a business and their employees show, to a single traveler.

Safety can also be an issue when venturing to towns, parks and events alone. This perspective will be reflected in my posts.

I hope that you will follow along as I explore Southwest Florida and where ever else the wind blows me 🙂

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