2 Days, 3 Cities

Ok, Travel has officially become out of control. Listen to the last 24 hours....
Earthquake hits LA, 2 hours later I'm landing at LAX for Budget meetings. Dinner overlooking the beach with other DM from the west, then work all evening on computer. Budget meetings start at 7:00am in the morning and go until noon. Race to airport, catch flight to Phoenix and drive home to have dinner with Michele (Guess who's plane was delaying everyone). Work on computer for an hour or so, then back to the airport to catch another flight from Phoenix to Las Vegas for meetings at Hospital early in morning. In Afternoon fly back to Phoenix and then drive out to Yuma for more meetings.
I told Michele that I am working out of my office all week next week if it kills me (well, except for one day I may have to go to Tucson).
I officially feel like a pack mule, just hauling computer and bags on my back from place to place. I know why they call them beasts of burdon. That preaty much explains me.


Oh, a couple of weeks ago I had to go to Florida for some consultation with 3 hospitals surrounding Cape Canaveral. I flew in late on a Sunday night and didn't get to the hotel until about 1:30am. It was one of those hotels where you walk along an outside balcony to get to your room. I set my stuff down in the room and noticed there was a sliding door out the back. I opened the door to get some cool air and was scared to death as I heard this loud noise right outside my door. I turned on all the lights and what do you know, the ocean was steps from my room. There was a full moon and you could see up and down the coast. I left all my lights on for about an hour. When I got unpacked I noticed a large sign that said, don't turn your lights on at night. Apparently there are Sea Turtles that lay eggs on the beach out my back door. If you leave the lights on, the Turtles are confused. Your see, after the turtle eggs hatch apparently the baby turtles follow the full moon light reflected off the ocean back into the water. If you leave your lights on, the baby turtles are confused and head for the hotel. Opps, Im guessing there are some very confused baby turtles due to my leaving the light on for a good portion of the night.


I've attached some pictures of the beach outside my door, and if you look closly you can see the marking in the sand where the mother turtle drug herself up the beach just outside my room, did her thing, and then headed back out to sea. Hopefully I didn't do anything to reduce the turtle population of the Cape Canaveral area.

Monsoons and the Desert

The rains finally came to Phoenix the last couple of weeks. It's been a dry few months, but the break in the weather is long looked for down here. It's kind of like how excited everyone get's for the 1st snowfall up north, same thing here with the rain. There are radio contests for when the 1st inch of rain will fall, and everyone goes outside to watch it as soon as it comes.


One of the nice benefits of the rain, is what happens to the Desert Plants. For months they just kind of exist in a dormant state, and then when the rain comes....whoaza, blossoms come out big time. It' s kind of like our 2nd spring.


Anyway, I've attached a few pics so you can see what I'm talking about. See the clouds in the sky, when you see those in Phoenix you know the afternoon will be wet again. Oh, and if you look closely at the picture looking out our backyard with the dark grey clouds, on the corner of our block wall is a lizard that set up home in our yard. I guess the fence is his kingly perch. One last thing...someone asked if these pics were taken on different days, Nope they were all taken on the same afternoon (7/21/08). The only bad part...my pool skimmer is clogging up with blossoms. Yup, never can be happy.

Dogers vrs Diamondbacks

The La Dodgers were in Town to play the Diamondbacks. These two teams seem to have just a little extra curricular activity going on when they meet. Tonight was no different. I've always liked the Dodgers, but living in Phoenix we are kind of torn about who to cheer for. As luck would have it we ended up in the middle of a bunch of LA fans. That just made things more interesting. Dallas didn't want to come, perhaps due to his recent illness. However, Matt and his girlfriend Chanel came with us. Matt decided to antagonize the Dodger Fans a little with he cup turned into megaphone.

Though it was well over 100' outside, it was nice inside with the retractable roof closed and Air Conditioning running at full power. Hopefully the Diamondbacks will make the playoffs and there will be a few more games to take in before the season is over.

Attached are a few pics of the fun.

Visit to Upstate New York

Michele and I went to New York in late July for a couple of reasons...one, just to take a break and get away and focus on each other. Second, it was to also see some of the Church sites in up state New York and watch the Pageant. It was just what we needed!. Being at the Church sites gave us a little perspective we didn't have from just looking at pictures. It was especially nice to see so much of the Smith farm and land looking much the way it must have back then.
Walking out to the Sacred Grove was a very special experience which reminded me of being at the Temple. If you let yourself pause for a minute, you could feel the quiet and powerful peace of this location. We first went through the Grove with Matt's friend who was on a mission there and him and his companion were so excited to see us and talk to us that we didn't get the rich experience we had anticipated. So on Sunday Michele and I went back by ourselves and walked the quiet paths through the trees. It is awesome to comtemplate the significance of the event that took place where we walked.
What a bonus Niagara Falls was! Just as an afterthought we decided to go out to Buffalo and see the falls. It was such a magnificent place and powerful experience. It was kind of rainy the day we went and crowds were thin. We just kind of took our time and did everything we wanted. Sitting at the base of the falls you can just feel the power of the water pouring down and spraying out. We hiked onto the "Hurricane" deck which allows you to walk right into the base of the American Falls. The force of the wind created by the falling water is equivilant to the winds in a Hurricane...thus the name. We walked over the bridge to Canada and bought an umbrella that we will probably never use out in the Arizona desert.
This was a great getaway and renewed us in every way. We've committed to relive it one of these days soon. Oh, and who knew Sarah Evans would have a song named Niagara? Go Figure.