Rex Lee made my day

Even though it was a sleep in day today, I still got up at around 9am. I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older, the time changes, or the different bed and my sore back, but I no longer seem to be able to sleep in as before. At McGill, I remember sleeping into two in the afternoon or later! But since my locum in Red Deer, or maybe getting up early at the farm, has thrown off my schedule. Once again, the weather outside our hotel balcony was foggy and cool. So wearing long pants and a jacket, I was over dressed for the hot weather in Hollywood. We decided to do the Warner Brothers tour even though it was on the expensive side at $49 a person. It was rated quite highly on TripAdvisor, and we were running out of things to see. Asking for a discount at the cashier scored us a $5 discount per ticket. The tour started off with a video and then we were divided up into small groups and driven around the studio in electric golf carts. It was a much more intimate tour as we got to get out of the cart, feel the facade material, and our guide Joshua was extremely well rehearsed in his movie and television trivia. We saw the set for Oceans Eleven and a piece of the red casino carpet that remained, where Spiderman hung upside down for his kiss, and the set of a tv series at the time. The highlight for me was seeing Lloyd from Entourage. I pointed him out as we drove by and Shannon almost peed her pants. He walked exactly as he does on the show and was even wearing a sweater vest - very much in character. Overall, it was a very nice tour and completely different from the Universal Studios tour. We drove back down to Hollywood Boulevard and signed up for one of the many open air van tours of the area. This turned out to be pretty enjoyable as well, if not freezing, because we were on the last tour of the day with the sun setting. We learned about the Hollywood sign and how it was originally an advertisement for a real estate company selling "Hollywood Land." We cruised down the Boulevard where our guide pointed out famous hotels and restaurants with significant celebrity history. In Beverly Hills, we drove by the houses of Dr. Phil, Elvis, his neighbor the late Michael Jackson, George Clooney and all his famous neighbors on Roxbury Street, the Playboy mansion, the largest house in town owned by Aaron Spelling, Tom Cruise's hill property, Will Smiths museum like house and the corner where Tara Reid wrote off her car driving impaired. We also saw a bunch of houses owned by LARP's: lucky ass rich people. It was nice to just sit back and relax and let someone else do the driving, talking and music changing. I'm impressed at his multitasking. We drove back to Santa Monica and the 3rd Street Promenade once again where Shannon justified a pair of pants from The Gap. We had dinner across the street at an Italian restaurant that hit the spot for me with the pizza. Walking back to the car, we recorded our summary of LA for the blog before driving back to the hotel.

Day Zero

The countdown widget on my phone reached zero and despite the long anticipation for the Supertrip, the day has finally arrived for our departure.

As excited as I am, I can't help but think how quickly these next four months will pass as we travel.

The days leading up to day zero was packed with activity. No sooner had we left Vancouver, along with its own flurry of pre departure preparations, did we scoot to Moose Jaw where I was MC for Karen and Jeremy's wedding, driving back to Red Deer to meet with several lawyers, and then visiting family. We also repacked our luggage, oriented mom to the iPad, shopped for cruise provisions and bought last minute supplied. Once again, my supposed down time, even without impeding exams, was packed with more activity than I would have liked.

But then, this morning, I donned my trusty travel clothing and ScotteVest made famous by our Vietnam trip and set off. Goodbyes this time were somewhat different, more sad, because we were leaving for a longer time and strangely, we didn't have a home of our own to return to. No rent, no mortgage, and our belongings in storage in a warehouse somewhere in Vancouver.

At the airport, I made some last minute calls to the bank cards and put our phones on vacation billing. Our check in luggage full of provisions just made the scale at 44lbs and 34lbs.

Halfway through Shannon's second in flight movie, we saw the Hollywood sign and decended to the famed LAX. That space aged building that you see in movies is actually a restaurant called The Encounter. It smelled like California: traffic and humid. Fortunately not too hot.

It was easy to get around from the airport due to two competing shuttle services that charge the same amount. $30 got us to the Ritz Carlton Marina Del Rey, as long as you didn't mind circling the airport twice before leaving.

Our hotel was beautiful, and Shannon scored quite a deal going through easyoneclicktravel dot com paying as much for this place as a motel in Santa Monica from Expedia. I felt out of place in my camping colored outfit and backpacks. Worse was our baggage. We had deliberately brought a suitcase with a broken handle and a hideous plaid wheeler so that we could leave them in Tahiti. I swear the doorman gave us a funny look.

As we changed to go out, a thick fog rolled in and our view of the marina went from beautiful to nothing in half an hour. We set off on foot to Abbot Kinney and the Main Street shops, which were just sections with eclectic shops. We were squeezed in between reservations at La Vecchia where we had delicious steaks for dinner, made all the more better as it happened to be Taste of LA.

It felt late, and we walked back to our hotel. It was actually kind of sketchy but we made it, and looking forward to checking out the beach tomorrow.

Rib Roast Night

There's never a bad time for a nice delicious roast. Last weekend we had some mouth watering prime rib along with a smattering of mixed greens, peaches and cream corn, and potatoes, at Stephanie's apartment.

The key is the meat thermometer: 120F = success! 

 I shouldn't have written this post midnight tonight. My stomach's growling!

 We went all out - for dessert we not only had cupcakes...

... but also root beer and Coke ice-cream floats.

Yes, Breyer's ice-cream. The good stuff!

Quite fun, not so much castle

We spent a day out in Abbotsford with some of our favorite people hanging out at Castle Fun Park. Wee! Old school arcades, bumper cars like West Edmonton Mall, an all out mini-golf course and batting cages. How much more castle, fun and park can you get?

Final Days in Vancouver

The nephrology exam was written uneventfully on Monday. Practice questions notwithstanding, the nephrology exam was very fair and consisted of questions that were actually practical in the field. This is in contrast to the ridiculous internal medicine exam from the same organization.

My elation was short-lived because with only one, maybe two, days of complete and utter bliss at not having any medical obligations whatsoever, and the freedom to slack as much as possible, we have to move right away. The packers coming tomorrow and the truck on Friday. Again, it is sad to move away from a home that Shannon and I have established for ourselves. What makes it especially difficult is the beautiful sunshine out today from my window, which is an anomaly from the intensely wet weather that we have been having. Well, that is Vancouver.

These last three months since the end of my fellowship have been really productive. While I was expecting loads of free time, life got in the way, and because of traveling around for weddings, visits to family, some work and locums, and two exams, the time was surprisingly short and packed. I think Shannon and I managed to get quite a lot out of our remaining weeks here and did a lot of stuff around the area.

The ol’ computer is getting disconnected tomorrow, and we being our lives as transients by moving in to a friend’s extra room for a couple of days, delaying as long as possible the inevitable departure from this city and our friends. Well, so long Vancouver. And thanks for all the fish!

Up in Whistler

Trying to make the most out of our time out in BC, we went up to Whistler and Squamish a couple of times this summer and had a blast! The airplane was just big enough for four people and did it ever get blown around by wind while we were landing! I got to try my hand at piloting the plane for a bit, as well as seeing Vancouver from up above. We ended off the flight with a flyby of The Chief, a hike we did with Dan just a couple of weeks beforehand. We always drove by the old copper mine in Squamish, but this time we decided to stop and see what it was all about. The whole thing reminded me of Alan Wake and it was neat to learn about the history and how copper was mined. Shannon finally got to ride the Peak-2-Peak life from Whistler to Blackcomb and back - the longest unsupported span of any gondola. That sure is a long drop. While most people know Whistler for its winter skiing and snowboarding, in the summer, it has some great hikes and mountain biking.

It's Harvest Time!

Fortunately this year Edward and I were able to make it out to the farm during harvest time to help out. This was Edward's very first time out on the farm!! Boy was he in for a surprise. Edward realized that 6am existed EVERYDAY! We were up at the crack of dawn everyday (well after Mom and Dad though). I think Dad likes to get up before the sun rises (; p)! We were lucky to have really good weather for combining and that is just what we did. Curtis had to go back to work the day after we got there so Edward was first up to learn to drive the tractor. Now much to everyones surprise he was a natural at this job. I on the other hand was not so surprised as Edward seems to do well at everything he tries.

After two demonstrations from "the boss" aka Dad he was driving all by himself, loading on the fly and unloading at the grain bag. Jeff drove the combine and Edward drove the grain cart and together they took off a lot of grain.

Everyday from sun up till sun down that combine was moving. Only a few repairs needed to be made which delayed the process by a few hours and gave the combine a break, but all in all breakdowns are a part of harvest I guess. As long as the sun shines and the rain stays away we continue to race against the clock to try and get it all done. Even though it was a lot of hard work and long hours we had a lot of fun! When the sun is gone everything stops, Dad blows out the combine and we return to the house for food, beers and laughs with everyone who helped out and the whole day repeats as soon as the sun rises in the morning.

Edward even got to drive the combine, until it had a breakdown and he felt guilty and decided the tractor was a more suitable place for him. The breakdown had nothing to do with him driving but rather just mechanical. A belt or bearing blew I think, but I'm not sure. It seems it's always a belt or a bearing that goes when a breakdown happens. Enough about breakdowns, we like to pretend they don't exist.

We made a video of Edward's first experience with harvest.