A Trip to St. George and Zion

My oldest brother, Jeff called me midweek last week and said, "Do you know what the weather is suppose to be like in St. George this weekend?" He said that is was going to be in the mid-50s and asked if I would be interested in going down there to do a bit of mountain biking. We planned to go down after I finished my day on Friday and bike all day Saturday. We got a cheap room at the old Motel 6 and prepared to head down. When Friday arrived to my surprise and delight there were no cases at the hospital so we were able to leave early in the morning. By noon we were preparing for our first run

of the day. The weather was beautiful and warm. The first few miles of the 7 mile loop we were doing were dry and fun. However, we did not know that just the previous week St. George had had a years worth of rain in two weeks creating some huge floods and turning everything that was not rock into mud. We quickly figured this fact out as we ended up pushing and sometimes carrying our bikes about 2.5 miles. We wised up and called a local bike shop and asked which rides would be the best to take considering all the rain. The guy told us that the Church Rocks ride was pretty much the only ride the was worth doing.

On Saturday we went out to the Church Rocks which starts out with a huge drainage pipe that goes all the way under I-15. It was dry and mostly slick rock and pretty fun. Our legs were pretty shot after the previous days trudging and so about 1pm we were done. We decided to go and hike Angel's Landing in Zion National Park which was not too far away. We arrived at the park to the happy news that entrance into the park was free that day. We drove in the the nearly empty park and started to 2.5 mile rigorous hike to the top of Angel's Landing. Any of you who

have never heard of this hike need to know that it is incredible and crazy scary. Once you get to the top of the switchbacks you still have to climb a snow covered narrow trail with 1000 foot drop offs on each side of the trail. There are chain handrails along the most treacherous portions of the hike but even while hanging on it is pretty scary. We were slipping and sliding on the way up and much worse on the way down. There are many parallels that can be drawn from this hike and life and all of them pass before your mind while you hang on to a cold chain and stare 1000 feet down below your feet. It was a great hike and it was fun to hang with my brother as well.

A Journey to the Land Southward

I received an email from our program director along with the rest of our class for an opportunity to apply for a scholarship to go and perform anesthesia in Peru. The scholarship was being offered by an anesthetist that belonged to a humanitarian service organization called Idaho Condor. If we were interested in going we were to submit a one page essay on why we should be chosen to go. I submitted my essay with little hope that I would be selected. The submission date came and went without any indication as to who had been selected. I was on a break at the hospital in Payson and happened to check my email. I had been selected. I could not believe it. The email was short and succinct. He congratulated me on being selected and told me that more information was forthcoming.  He said that I should plan on working ten hours a day but promised me that the experience would change my life. I know little more now than I did then. You can look up the website for the organization at idahocondor.org. There are pictures from the 2010 trip and I think that it works the same way. There is one day that they spend in Machu Picchu and then go to Cusco and set up for surgery. I will post more information as soon as I get it.

New Clinical Schedule

Those of you that have been following my rotation schedule will assume that I am in Texas right now. Well, about the middle of last month my rotation schedule was changed. I will still be going to Texas but not until April. I am currently at Mountain View Hospital in Payson, Utah which is only 45 minutes from my house. I will be at this clinical site for three months after which I will be in Texas for four months and then finish with a final four months in Evanston, Wyoming. I just completed my first week in Payson and I am excited about being there. It is smaller than American Fork was but it is busy and will give me a good variety of cases. I am looking forward to being home for the next couple of months. I hope to be better at keeping things updated on this blog but you have heard that from me before.

A Little R&R

Just after Thanksgiving Cami's brother and his wife (Mark and Kim) asked us if we would be interested in spending a week in California/Disneyland with them. They had found a Marriott timeshare slot for sale in Newport Beach and told us that there was enough room for us to stay there with them. They told us that we would only need to come up with money for our food and our Disneyland park passes. Those of you that have been to Disneyland know that a park pass can exceed the gross national product of many a small country.

Cami, my bargain shopper extraordinaire, discovered that we could get military passes at a substantial discount. So I got permission from the hospital to take the time off and we headed to California. The weather for that substantial drive was pretty good. Saturday we drove to Mesquite and stayed with Kim's grandmother. In the morning we went to church and planned on getting back on the road afterward. As we were loading up to hit the road I noticed that our driver-side rear wheel was flat and a huge nail fragment was visible in the sidewall.

We drove on the tire to a nearby gas station and put some air in it and then went to Walmart to see if it could be fixed.  After $85 for a new tire and locking the keys in the car we were back in business. We made good time to Vegas but quickly realized that we were not going anywhere fast when it took us 3 hours to get from Vegas to Primm. The 20 miles from Jean to Prime alone took an hour. The drive to Barstow was pretty much the same type of stop and go traffic the entire way. I think that the total time from Vegas to Newport was about 10 hours.


Our plan was to go to Disneyland every other day starting on Monday and to recuperate at the beach on the days in between. Monday and Wednesday were awesome. The lines were reasonable and we were able to get everything done that we wanted to. The kids had an absolute blast and it was not too bad for the adults either. We spent Tuesday swimming in the incredible pool at the hotel and just generally loafed around. The weather was mid-70s and absolutely gorgeous the entire time. We spent Thursday at the beach in Dana Point. Despite the coldness of the water I just had to get in and be at one with the sea.     

While we were there eight or nine dolphins kept circling the little bay we were in. They came very close to the shore and it became evident that there were several babies with the group. It was really cool until some kids paddled to within touching distance of the pod and then they left.
   You may have noticed that I have not yet described our Friday in the park. Well many of you may understand that Friday at Disneyland can be quite busy and lines extremely long. The fastpasses can help but you really don't get to do as much and after a week of late nights patience begins to run quite thin.

Connor trying to be a good sport during my pity-party

   There must be some unwritten rule of fatherhood that you have to become mean and ornery on family vacations. Not wanting to dissapoint, I held true to this less than pleasnt fatherly tradition and became the wet blanket of the group. My incredible wife with the patience of Job put up with my crabbiness and gave me the space I needed. Luckily, I was able to leave early that day and go back to the hotel with Mark and Kim and one of their boys so that the rest of the group could enjoy their final day at Disneyland and I could get some sleep and prepare for the long trek home the next day. 
   All in all the trip was fantastic and everyone had an incredible time. Many thanks to Mark and Kim for their generosity and willingness to let us tag along.