ARCHIVES

Year: 2005

  • Epic Christmas Trip

    Epic Christmas Trip

    We had an epic Christmas vacation!

    On Sunday, Christmas morning, we drove up to Monterey. The drive was nice, and the scenery was beautiful, especially around the Pebble Beach area. We had Chinese food for dinner.

    The next morning, I went out for a run—just after a night of rain. The air was refreshing. After breakfast, we went to Cannery Row, and I toured the aquarium. The most spectacular part was the jellyfish exhibit. After lunch, we went to San Francisco, where Mom and Alice did a lot of shopping. I spent most of my time in Borders Books on Union Square.

    On Tuesday morning, we picked up Andy from the Oakland airport and went up to Smith River. We all stopped at the Bayshore Mall in Eureka until dark. The drive up further north was through pounding rain and howling wind.

    Anyhow, staying at Auntie Julia’s house was relaxing as usual. We spent Wednesday down by Auntie Nipa’s house and Crescent City. Thursday was spent visiting the Oregon coast. We also bought some bamboo from bamboodirect.com.

    We left Friday morning, and the travel back was an ordeal. Having been trapped by the downed trees and mudslides, we finally took the 101 to the 36 to cross over to Red Bluff. The 36 was a tortuous winding mountain road that lasted four hours, most of which was in the dark. Then, we went down to Pacific Union College via the back roads, one of which was through Butts Canyon. Driving was very difficult. I was relieved to get to Auntie Plerm’s house. The Samples did a really nice job with the remodel.

    The storm worsened that night. Electricity was knocked out, and roads out of the Napa Valley were all closed. We tried the 29, Silverado Trail, and finally decided to go down Howell Mountain into Pope Valley and get through Winters after going around Lake Berryessa. We made it to the 505, then the 80, then the 5. There were many trucks on the median and cars sliding everywhere. Thankfully, we made it home through that harrowing driving experience.

  • Zion in Autumn

    Zion in Autumn

    This last weekend in October was spent visiting beautiful Zion National Park during the peak of fall color. The highlight was Kanarra Creek and the slot canyon carved by this stream.

  • Horseshoe Meadow to Whitney Portal

    Horseshoe Meadow to Whitney Portal

    The trip began on September 15. After spying Whitney summit from the Lone Pine Ranger Station, Ryan and I got car shuttled to Horseshoe Meadow. From there, our trip took us to Chicken Spring Lake, Guyot Creek and Pass, Crabtree Meadow, and Guitar Lake. We had the most spectacular sunset at Guitar Lake, and the next morning, the full moon dropped below the Great Western Divide. Then, we approached Trail Crest. From there, we dropped our packs and summitted. After spending the night at Outpost Camp, we headed out to meet our car at Whitney Portal.

  • Sawtooth Ridge Loop

    Sawtooth Ridge Loop

    A week ago Thursday, we head up to Bridgeport. Although the invitation had gone out to so many people, only Lynette and Jessica managed to RSVP.

    At the beginning of the trip, just a few steps into it, Jessica’s backpack strap fell apart. We patched it up with a needle and some dental floss. It held up for the whole trip.

    This big loop took us through the northeast corner of Yosemite National Park, traversing Kerrick Meadow to Benson Lake and the Matterhorn Canyon. During the ascent to Burro Pass, we took shelter under the tent’s rainfly during a sleet storm. The next day, at Mule Pass, we had the most spectacular view of the Sawtooth Ridge. The way down passed Slide Mountain was beautiful, and we took a short spur hike to Rock Island Pass.

    We completed the loop and exited via Barney Lake and Annette’s Mono Village.

  • Four Passes Loop

    Four Passes Loop

    Last week on Thursday, Sid and I left for Snowmass—for the Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) meeting. We had lunch on a rainy day at the Quiznos in downtown Denver. It was funny that Sid remembered that the last time we ate together was also at a Quiznos, the one in Loma Linda.

    On Friday, the meeting was great. Sid presented his research well.

    The next day, Sabbath morning, we embarked on the Four Passes Loop from Maroon Lake. We did West Maroon and Frigid Air Passes. That was very difficult. We arrived safely to our campsite above Fravert Basin, and it was cold.

    The next day across Trail Rider Pass to Snowmass Lake was also tough. The lake was beautiful. That evening, we sat by the lake until after sunset.

    On Monday, after summiting Buckskin Pass, the descent was awful. My knees still hurt. At trail’s end, we both felt a moment of true accomplishment. On Tuesday, we returned via with a small detour to Breckenridge and drove through Rocky Mountain National Park.

  • Thousand Island Lake

    Thousand Island Lake

    This weekend trip started in Agnew Meadow. The Mammoth shuttle bus system just opened for the season. After camping midway up the River Trail, we made it to a partially frozen Thousand Island Lake. Banner Peak was also snow-covered. A few of us decided to do a polar swim—or do some pushups on floating ice. The most welcome thing afterwards was a warm sleeping bag and a nice campfire.

  • First Time up the Black Canyon

    First Time up the Black Canyon

    I was nervous about this trip. Wendy from the OR had told me about it, and we decided to rent kayaks from Willow Beach. I’ve never kayaked upstream before, and leading up to the trip, I was rehearsing how to navigate and use eddies to hop upstream. It ended up not being too bad, except for the section just right below Arizona Hot Springs, where the narrows produce such current that you’d have to paddle very hard to avoid going backwards.

    The hot springs were amazing, especially after a long day of paddling.

    The next day’s paddle out was easy, although it took some work, since there was barely any current in the Colorado River.

  • Dominican Republic

    Dominican Republic

    On Sunday a week ago, Scott and I arrived in the Dominican Republic. After a long travel night and day, we went for a run, which felt really good. That evening, we had dinner at Café Bellini. Their arugula portabello salad and spinach ravioli were really good.

    The next day, we went early to meet Terry at his place. It was a nice setup. After breakfast, we headed into the OR and took care of the patients: with distal radius malunion and another with bilateral polydactyly. After a quick lunch, we headed to the CURE hospital where Scott works. I saw some patients in clinic and also booked some surgeries. Steve came and joined us. There was a medical student who had a left small finger proximal interphalangeal joint contracture who had undergone release several weeks ago. She had developed necrosis of the skin flaps.

    Steve and I went to Terry’s place and did more cases on Tuesday. Scott’s container arrived in the evening, and we were up late unpacking it, both at his house and at the CURE hospital. Getting the C-arm out was the biggest ordeal.

    Over the next few days, we did more hand cases, including a polydactyly revision, rotational osteotomy, wrist fusion, scar contracture release, and pollicization. Caleb helped out on many organizational tasks.

    On Sabbath morning, I walked to church. People there were very well-dressed. Afterwards, we took the buss up to Caberete, where Scott and I worked on Tolerances and finished the editing. This felt like a major accomplishment.

  • Puerto Rico Tour

    Puerto Rico Tour

    We arrived safely, after nearly missing our flight while trying to drive through the rain to Ontario. We had arrived 3 minutes before the check-in counter closed. Stephen and Patty Schnall happened to be on the same flight. In San Juan, we got our rental car and headed to Fajardo—not too bad of a drive.

    Wednesday morning, Chad and I got up early and went to the pier in Las Croabas. We met a guide who took us out to sea on his little boat. We did some snorkeling. It was amazing, but the visibility wasn’t the greatest, since the winds were quite strong. In the afternoon, Stephen and Patty joined Chad and me for a trip to El Yunque. We had a nice time there—especially on the hike down to La Mira Falls. It was beautiful.

    The next day, we headed to the courses. The comprehensive review course was good. Afterwards, Chad and the Schnalls went with me to Las Croabas to kayak through the bioluminescent Laguna Grande. It was absolutely awesome. The winds were quite strong, but the mangroves sheltered us very well. It was nice to see water sparkle when disturbed. Apparently, tonight is only an average night, the locals said. We all really enjoyed our time. Kayaking back to the launch site was stressful, especially through the high winds.

    Chad presented his paper on Friday. He did a nice job, and no one asked any questions. Afterwards, we got to go to Palomino Island on the last ferry out. We had a nice time to unwind on the island. We then caught the last ferry back. This evening’s Art Explosion dinner was interesting—the artist painted large portraits in less than ten minutes each.

    Sabbath was great. We first toured the caves of Rio Camuy just south of Arecibo. The caves were really nice. Afterwards, we found the church in Lares. The preacher talked about the Sanctuary, the Sabbath, the Four Creatures, and the Throne of God. For lunch, Carmen and Lucy invited us to their home, and the food and hospitality were excellent. In the afternoon, we drove toward Utuado and then past Lagos Dos Bocas. The view from the highway was beautiful.

    Then, we visited Old San Juan. We spent time doing the walking tour. Highlights included El Morro and the Castle of San Cristobal. The architecture and design and construction were spectacular. We returned uneventfully, with great paper presentations and excellent sightseeing.

  • Grandma Eating a Fish Head

    Grandma Eating a Fish Head

    This is a picture sequence of Grandma skillfully dissecting a fish head with chopsticks.