Vacation 2013

I always like to take a moment and think about where I've been. Apparently from a couple of PM's I've gotten, so do the readers of this blog. So without further ado, here it is vacation 2013!

Look! I drew you a map! However, It's not very helpful is it...OK, so here's the breakdown

I checked out of work, headed for the airport and:

Boarded a flight in Damamm KSA to Amsterdam
Left Amsterdam for Detroit
Left Detroit for St. Louis

A week later I:
Boarded a flight from St. Louis to Seattle,
got in a chauffeured Escalade and went to the North Cascades Learning Institute where for the next week I learned and practiced expedition and remote medicine. with Remote Medical International
I headed back to St. Louis from Seattle,
got in my truck and headed to New Orleans, I stayed in the "Big Easy" for 3 days and had a great time.
Back on the road I headed to Central Florida, my mother lives here and I spent a great couple of weeks with her. While there we headed down to Everglades City, Florida and took air-boat tours, saw Alligators, Manatee's and the awesomeness that is the everglades.
Then I hopped on a flight from Orlando to Toronto, with a quick stop in filth-a-delphia,
We drove through Algonquin Provincial Park to Ottowa had a great couple of days in Ottawa and then headed back to Toronto where I boarded a flight for Orlando, once again stopping in "filthy", where I had a couple of beers and a "real Philly cheese-steak" (which apparently either has been greatly improved upon since leaving Philly, or was very poorly made) . Got up the next morning and headed back to St. Louis through Alabama.
3 days later, I boarded a flight to Amsterdam where I had a 7 hour layover that allowed me to explore the city a little bit and then finally boarded another plane back to Dammam, KSA.

So all in all, I drove through 8 US states (Washington, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida) and visited 3 countries (US, Netherlands, Canada) on two different continents (North America and Europe) and I've now driven up and down both coasts of Florida...Pretty cool stuff. It might have gone fast, but I'd say I had a pretty productive vacation. Training, food, drink, friends, family, dogs...Dammit, I'm ready for another vacation!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Florida (off the I-10)

Florida Everglades

Florida Everglades

Alligator in the Everglades

Florida Everglades

Florida Everglades

Northern Washington State

Everglades

Everglades

Alligator in the Everglades

Algonquin Provincial Park (right after I got my 1st Moose!)

New Orleans

Half-way there...damn me it's almost over!

I don't know why it always gets like this on vacation...first of all it takes some time to get your "home legs" (see "sea legs"). Once you've acclimated to home though, the trip almost gets worse! It's a funny thing, and a funny contradiction, I don't feel like a prisoner most of the year, in fact I really kind of like where I'm at and what I'm doing. I like where life, fate and God have taken me. I don't hate Saudi Arabia at all, I don't even dislike it...but it sure isn't the west. I must say, and I'd be lying by omission if i didn't, that I love traveling, and I love new things and my Saudi hosts really are great...but considering that you can do as you like here, pray as you like here and live as you like, going back to a restrictive country is...well...sort of counter-intuitive. My second night home I went to a 4th of July carnival, I didn't much enjoy it, but that's beside the point. In attendance at the carnival were Christians, Muslims, Hindu's and I'm sure Atheists. There might very well have been a satanist or two lurking around. American's, Brit's, African's, Indian's, Pakistani's and even a few Saudi engineering students. Nobody cared, everybody just had fun, nobody confronted the people who were together and unmarried, nobody told any of the women to cover their hair. Everybody just kinda lived and let live.

Soon after I got back I headed out to Washington state and headed about 3 hours north of Seattle, up near the Canadian border to attend some remote/austere environment medical training. I'll have more to say about that later, but the following pictures are from that week of training.

Tomorrow morning I'm headed to the "Big Easy", better in my opinion than the "Big Apple", laid back with a Caribbean feel. at this time tomorrow, I'll be knee deep in Zydeco music, seafood and fixings by the pound cooked in what some people call a "low country boil". Might even have some frozen daiquiris while I sit around listening to the friendly banter of the "who-dat" nation discussing the upcoming season. I'm having a great and well needed break, but I can't help but remember that vacation is half-over...damn! Time to get moving and get some miles under me, lots to see and do before I head back to the land of sun and fun.

Sunrise (filtered through paint shop, but only minimally so)

Sundown (filtered through paint shop)

Learning to make thermal wraps to protect patients

Deciding how to tackle the terrain

The proper way to carry a stokes basket in remote areas

I discovered this little waterfall on an early morning hike

Early morning on the lake (run through paint shop)

Suture Class (pig lab)

Learning how to deal with Acute Mountain Sickness and HAPE/HACE

Our group

The trip so far...in pictures!

So as I mentioned earlier, apparently you can "go home again". However, there are some facets that you need to be aware of. #1: Your friends are still your friends, but your acquaintances are gone. You weren't around to nurture those acquaintance-ships, so naturally they faded away. #2: You're on vacation, everybody else is living their life...don't expect to do much on a Monday-Thursday unless you visit people at their place of business. #3: Keep busy, and store up memories, experiences and images for your next year away. For your viewing pleasure, here are some of those images!

Rainstorm as photographed from my front porch!

Old friend of mine at the Fire Department

My old ARFF Truck, I love this monster!

My old ARFF Truck, I love this monster!

Breakfast!

Lunch!

Look at all that BBQ sauce and beer! (MO' Hick BBQ, Cuba Missouri)

Love this place!

SLU campus, St. Louis MO

SLU campus, St. Louis MO

Old St. Louis Architecture

St. Louis University has a beautiful downtown campus, the city views are awesome and the architecture breathtaking. It has the distinction of being the first University West of the Mississippi River, and also the First US University with a campus in Europe.