re-entry and palisades

This week was one of re-entry. It was busy but better than expected at work. I got some hiking in and got all the laundry done so I consider it a success. Then I went for a few hours to the Palisades Blue Grass festival yesterday to see Brad play a “tweener” and he did great! He played mostly his originals and it went over great. He even got a standing ovation on his song “real radio”. I came back to do work as I have to do ACLS today- time to stop putting that off. Got a hike in before the work and the rain after waking up to snow in June. Glad I closed the windows last night and didn't freeze :). Next week we have a medical student in the office and will have an interview next weekend with a potential hire for 2011. I hope it goes well. I also hope you are all well. Lots of love…

almost 12 days of camping...

Day 1... went to my friend Nikki's 50th b-day in Northrop near Princeton hot springs... HAD A GREAT TIME with great folks, food, camping in her back yard, music (Brad even got to play with the band since 2 of the members were friends of his... a totally awesome suprise)... Nikki, a pilot and owner of a TT, taught me how to drive my car more appropriately and that made all the difference in our cross country trip... twas a great way to start our journey

Day 2... drove to Green River, UT in SIGNIFICANT wind... the car did great... hung out with an old couple from the Netherlands in an RV park

Day 3... drove to Honeycomb Rocks in UT in wind/dust/snow... bought appocolypse goggles just in case... had a great night at Honeycomb Rocks which were awesome with me hiking around and Brad taking a canoe trip in the reservoir

Day 4... drove to Benton Hot Springs along the Extraterrestrial Highway and enjoyed the Hot Springs... I got another great hike in that night and the next morning in that cool area

Day 5... attempted to drive to Strawberry but almost ALL the passes were closed... got a GREAT coat from Brad in Lee Vining and then drove about 300 miles out of our way since Tioga, Sanora, M... and another pass were closed BUT made it over a very snow/sleet/rained out pass and stayed in an already set up tent (very water proof which was good), got banded (tickets to get in the next morning) and dinner

Day 6... got in and set up tent city with everyone... had rain/snow/sleet/GREAT FRIENDS/music/2 10x10s and 1 10x20 making a warm and dry music/living room for us all to hang around in

Day 7... here comes the sun!!!! actually it rained most of the day but then cleared up that night and we had more music/sun/friends etc

Day 8... sun/hikes/more sun/more hikes/more great music, friends, food... EPIC happy hour, brad floating on the lake, Lyle Lovett and others plus awesome camp jams

Day 9... more of the same with Prince's "Kiss" blue grass style... priceless :)

Day 10... packed out and said a sad farewell until next year to great friends...Tioga still closed but this time got over Sanora which was slow but beautiful... camped at a great place along the river and had a great hike

Day 11... drove to the high dessert hot springs in Nevada and hung out with some folks that were of a different culture than us

Day 12... continued on Highway 50 (the lonliest highway in the USA) and we were going to camp out BUT since we were in my studly car actually drove the >700 miles home instead!

just barely keepin my head above h2o

since we got back from the raft trip it has been NON-STOP!!!! Late night and early morning meetings with work every day with a busy call on the weekend and tons of stuff happening...
Really so much of it has been work and so far I have worked over a 120 hour week in the last week. Brad has been as busy and we are both non-stop until we leave (and even for me the first day after we leave as we are meeting with Ken on the way out and I will be doing work with him while we are at a party for another friend)... it is 9:30pm and I just got home and I gotta get up and start with a 7am meeting before work tomorrow then a meeting tomorrow night... that has been how it has been... SO, needless to say not much new to put in this...
Love you all and back to work for me... I look forward to next Sat evening and hopefully sleeping in a little Sun before our adventure to Yosemite and NO PAGER/COMPUTER/RESPONSIBILITY begins :)))))

My first raft trip... TWAS AWESOME

I was very reluctant to go and it turned out to be FANTASTIC AND AWESOME!!!!!!! We left after work Fri and got to a camp site around 11pm. Met up with the group and quickly fell asleep. The next day we went to the put in and while Brad set up I helped car pool. Clifford and I had to jog about 3 1/2 miles to meet up with the other folks since we were getting out on Sunday and everyone else was going farther so coordination was needed to meet up with the crew. Then we got on the river and had a GREAT float. Brad had rigged up a great boat and it was a blast. We had to convince Clifford to get on the first time but even he had a great trip and loved getting on later. We got off for lunch somewhere and then got back on to discover the winds had come up... It was a learning curve to get used to the paddling but Brad is a natural and we had GREAT help and advice from the gang. We went to an area called Black Rock to camp at and it was FANTASTICLY BEAUTIFUL. After unloading a little I went exploring with Clifford and some of the gang... It was very nice exploring area. Then games and apps with proscutto wrapped brie tortillini, salmon, mushroom ravioli etc and later a phenominal dinner of lasagna and garlic bread (we made the apps and garlic bread and twas a hit!)... then listening to music by the fire and a great sleep. The next am I got out and hiked early and it was spectacular. Got back for breakfast and breaking down camp and then we got on the river again. Saw bald eagle, big horn sheep and birds galore... we took out at Westwater and the rest of the gang kept going (we had to get back for work Monday)... on the way home had an adventure of the tire deciding to fall apart on the highway at 70mph but it only slowed us a little (and scared me a lot) but we made it home to unpack and write this before going to bed... more anon and it was a BLAST!

Spring in Aspen!

So this is typical spring in Aspen... SCHIZOPHRENIC!!!!!!!!! Some days it is sunny and some weeks it is blizzardy. You plan for summer things like getting a boat set up for rafting trips while wearing a one piece winter suit with winter boots to go walk your dog. Luckily I still have my snow tires on but soon that will change too and hopefully it will stop snowing before June.

Work is unchanged although slightly less busy and town is empty which is nice. Clifford's wounds are healing so we let him go out without shirts now (except he does wear his winter coat in the snowstorms). I hope you are all well and warm! I would love some sun!

spring/winter/summer/winter... all in the last week

Sorry I missed doing this last week. So here has been what has been happening. LOTS of weather changes from high 60s to 13 inches of snow to snow melting to more snow predicted. In the middle has been work, hiking, making clifford shirts to keep him from scratching open a persistant wound etc etc. Last night we had a party instead of going camping thanks to the blizzard storm in spring dumping 13 inches in our path. It was mellow but we got rid of some chocolate which was good. In fact it was my first day to eat chocolate in 1 month. I did well with my food and exercise diary and lost 8# and gained lots o muscle... My buttocks now is not on the floor anymore and I feel much better in and out of clothes again. I love being in shape and wish I could just hike several hours every day. It would make me MUCH happier! In fact Clifford and I are supposed to go hiking today to find a bike cemetary (about 2 hours out) and we are just waiting for our friend to wake up so she can show us how to get there... I will try to include a picture if we get there. OBVIOUSLY we went... had a GREAT hike and both of us are happily limping and resting after the long hike. It was REALLY nice with AWESOME views and a great conversation with a great friend!
More of the same until Brad and I go to strawberry (yosemeti) at the end of May. Ken, Holly and the whole Adnan Gang will be staying at our place when we go which will be nice (except we will be bummed to miss them)...
Hope you all are happy and healthy!... Lots o love! Kim