Pilot Butte

There is a formation is Southwestern Wyoming called Pilot Butte. I have asked around to try and find out how it got its name. Most of the answers are that it led the early pioneers on their westward journey. Like a pilot leading someone somewhere. I think it is more reasonable to say that it looks like the pilot house of a a ship. See what you think. Take me to the pilot!

Long ago and far away(well, not that far)

Tomorrow is June 24, 2010. It will mark the first day I reported for my internship at LA County-USC Medical Center. It was a mere 37 years ago. I showed up for my first assignment or rotation on vascular surgery. I must admit, I was a little nervous. I would have to trust my education and experiences in medical school. I was doing a straight surgical internship so all my rotations would be in general surgery or a surgery subspecialty. The experiences I would have and the knowledge I would get during that one year would be more than the entire four years of medical school. Just thinking back.

La Jolla

Wedding bells were ringing in La Jolla last weekend. Tom Meuleman's daughter Lindsey was married to Joe Murray at the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla. Diane and I went down on Friday and on Saturday, Jamie rode down with Riley and Natalie. They were not there for the wedding; just to visit us since we were so close to their stomping grounds. We ate Mexican food at Alfonso's. Diane made me order in Spanish. The next day we took a tour of the aircraft carrier, Midway. We all had a go at the flight simulator. Riley and Natalie bagged 14 bogies. It was a beautiful day(aren't they all in San Diego) and the tour was fascinating. This was Diane's third time and my second. We bid farewell to the kids and then went to the wedding. The ceremony was perfect, i.e., short. We had a beautiful sunset to view over the Pacific. The next day Diane and I drove to Point Loma before we headed to the airport for the flight home.

Biking Weather

Diane and I did some yardwork in the morning. We planted 8 laurels, 2 roses, 1 daphne, 5 hydrangeas and one columnar beech. Compared to the work we did last year, this was a breeze. Sam then called and wanted to go on a bike ride so we met him at The Legacy Parkway bike trail and did an out and back of about 20 miles. I have a question. How can the wind blow into your body both going out and back? Did the earth reverse its spin on its axis. We topped the day off by eating a late lunch at the Red Iguana.

Tulip Festival

After our workout at the gym, Diane and I drove down to Lehi, Utah where the Tulip Festival was being held at Thanksgiving Point. They state, "Enjoy a quarter of a million tulip bulbs nestled amongst thousands of beautiful spring flowers" . This 55 acre Garden was a wonderful sight to behold. We lucked out with the weather. We were prepared for the worst but it was partly sunny for our entire time there. The tulips were magnificent. We are already planning a return trip when the roses are in full bloom.

No, I have never been rock climbing before. What difference would that make. I saw a movie once where they were rock climbing. Does that count? Well, no, I found out. I did do some rapelling once but that is going down. This time would be going up. Or trying to go up. Heck, I thought we were rock climbing when we were just hiking to route. Seemed like climbing to me. Well, it got steeper, way steeper. My friend Chris is instructing some folks from Rock Springs. They are trying to get ready to climb Devil's Tower in May. This route was a 5.7. I think I needed a 1.7. As they say, any climb you can walk away from is a good climb.

Vancouver/Victoria

Synopsis of the trip to Canada. We flew into Seattle on Tuesday and went to my brother Tom's house and then went to dinner. The next morning we drove to Vancouver headed right for Granville Island and spent a couple of hours there. Then we checked in and found we had a pretty luxurious hotel. We set out on a walking tour of downtown and hit Canada Place, Robson Street, Chinatown, and Gas Town. We ate great sushi at a little out of the way place that night. The next day we took the ferry to Victoria and went all around the Inner Harbor and had lunch downtown. Then it was off to Buchart Garden. It was a real highlight. The next day was Stanley Park and the Aquarium. We rented bikes and rode around the park. The weather was great . Saturday we went to the Anthropology Museum and toured Kits on foot. We had a great meal at the Boathouse on my birthday. Sunday we made our way back. We stopped in Fairhaven next to Bellingham and had lunch and then headed on to the airport. Great trip.To see some pictures click on Flickr photos.