Eagles and Ice

Since Michael has been doing most of the blogging, I figured it was probably time for me to take a turn.  For the next five weeks, I am in Valdez, Alaska for a rotation in family medicine.  Yep, Alaska.  In January.  The most common reaction the past few weeks has been “but won’t it be cold?”  It’s ironic to me because, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but NH can be cold. Case in point, one morning last week was -12°F in Lebanon.  My mom’s school was delayed because it was too cold to wait for the bus.  Anyhow, being cold in Alaska is not exactly something that gives me any pause.  The dark is, though.  This morning, it was still as dark as midnight at 7:30am.  It was a weird experience since I’m still on East Coast time and was wide awake.  It’s 9:45am now and is just on the brink of daylight.  I guess it will make for some lazy weekend mornings since I can’t see much to explore outside.  (I am sure Michael is chuckling right now as I can sleep until 10 or 11am easily – with or without sunlight.)

I have only been here a few hours but it is stunning.  My host told me that at this time of the year, the snow typically reaches the bottom of the stop signs.  NOAA has declared Valdez the snowiest place in the US with an average annual snowfall of 300in. Unfortunately, this year has been odd (global warming?) and they only have a few inches of snow.  The past few days, it has been raining.  The runway was completely covered with a few inches of ice and everyone put on their Yak-Traks before climbing out of the plane.  Feels very familiar.  I’m sitting at the dining room table looking out at the river and a looming mountain.  A bald eagle just lazily flew past.  It is positively beautiful.  I plan to start carrying my camera with me because I expect there will be many, many photographic vistas.

Tomorrow is my first day at the clinic.  It is a true full-spectrum practice doing deliveries, C-sections, and even a few appendectomies here and there.  I am excited to get a better of sense of the profession and maybe even more of a direction as to what I want to do with my life.  Hopefully the rain abates and I can learn to Nordic ski for real.  There’s a lot of backcountry skiing here, too, but right now the avalanche risk is very high.  Maybe I’ll even be able to compete with Michael (and Denali) for winter adventures.  Stay tuned as I hope to keep up with blogging and promise there will be some pictures in the future.

The Temperature is Dropping

I think it might be time for an update. Our last post was June 4th, so I think it's safe to say that a few things have happened. Big news first, then the trivial details:

1) Rachel passed her Boards! She's closer to becoming a doctor. Now that Year Three has started for her, she's been doing her clerkship rotations. Her first one was at DHMC and the VA and was in Internal Medicine. Though she had some long days, overall her experience was positive. This is especially true about her time at Dartmouth. That rotation finished up at the end of August (with a test, of course, which she also passed, of course) and September finds her completing her Outpatient Pediatrics rotation in Belfast, ME. She is there for another week and then will return back here for Inpatient Pediatrics at DHMC.

2) We've moved. We're now at a 1950 brick bombshelter in Lebanon, NH. Though it's not perfect, there are some perks. We have a garage now(!). Although I had big plans for ripping apart my car this summer those did not unfold. I did, however, park inside when I replaced my right rear wheel bearing.

Those pits are bad.

The first bearing lasted about 189,000 miles and was made in Germany. The new one is from the same manufacturer but made in China. We'll see how their longevity compares. In addition to a garage, we have a yard with some raised beds and a fenced in backyard. The fenced in part is important because it means we can have Denali with us. When she's here we take her running, biking, and swimming, all usually at the Town Forest which is right next door (1,100 acres with a small lake and a LOT of trails). Because we have a lawn we also have a lawn mower, which I love to use. There is a Co-Op just 1.3 miles from us, a VW dealership .6 miles from us, and my work and DHMC/Rachel's second home are both only a ten minute bike ride away. We are also close to town and frequented the happening farmer's market a few times, as well. Overall, we are happy with where we are living.

3) We've attended three weddings thus far this year. One was for our good friends (and CSA splitters) and that was in Boston, during the spring. The second was in August and was for Asha, our old roommate. The most recent one was in Nashville, TN and was for one of Rachel's closest college friends. They've all been fun, but I'll be honest and say that the latest one was the most fun. I was able to put my extensive swing dance lessons to use and we rocked the floor. People gave us a  w i d e  birth. Seriously, though, TN was fun and everybody was really nice. Rachel was in the bridal party so she spent her time ... ? doing girl things? and I spent my time walking around the city, stopping in bike shops and running errands for the ladies. This included picking up a "neutral mauve-ish lip gloss." Whatever that is. Thankfully a girl in the store took pity on me and essentially picked one out. Thank you.

4) In June we managed to tack on one more National Park: Acadia. We have now officially been coast-to-coast. We had a great time making our tenth Park visit. We brought something we didn't bring on our trip last summer: bikes! Acadia has a great system of carriage roads, which are essentially roads made from crushed and compacted stone. They are really fun to ride on, and form a variety of paths throughout the center of the park. We spent our time biking, hiking, exploring tidal pools, and reminiscing about how great last summer was. We visited a botanical garden, too, which was really cool.

For some reason I can't get the sundew to rotate.

Pitcher plant!

This was a short hike later in the day after we did some biking.

Soaking in the rays.

The requisite touching of the Atlantic. It was cooooooooooold.

We came back here the following morning to look at the tide pools.

This is the summit marker for Cadillac Mountain. We've now been to places where the sunlight first hits the Lower 48 and last leaves the 48 (Olympic). Pretty cool. It's also interesting that the true summit is not where all the tourists go, but rather 300 yards away in a scrubby little bald spot.

This was taken from a look-out on the side of Mt. Megunticook in Camden, ME. We spent Labor Day weekend in Belfast and did some hiking and bike shopping. Rachel's host family bought us lobster dinners when we got home. After living in Maine for nearly ten years this was the first time I have had lobster. I think it's over-rated.

While we were sitting at the look-out there was a plane that was gliding over the cliffs. It was shut off and they were just gliding!

Today I ran my first trail race, a 10k. I finished in fifty-eight minutes, taking second in my age group (I think there were only three of us in it, though). The overall winner of the men's group finished in forty-two minutes!!! I also won an Ibex wool beanie as a raffle prize, and got a free (cotton!) t-shirt. I think I did all right for the $20 entrance fee.

I've run out of attention for the trivial details, but I'll throw a few in here:
We pickled seventeen quarts of jalapeno pickle spears and slices.
We've been riding on the rail trail a few times, with company (friends and family from both sides) and without.
We went to Bangor, ME in June (the 6th, to be accurate) to see a DMB concert.
Rachel looked fantastic in her bridesmaid's dress (sorry moms/aunts/sisters/other females, no pics yet)
Jon and Kristen came up and we went biking in northern VT for two days. Then they came down here and we all got to hang out for a day.
Cut up bread tossed with olive oil and grilled over charcoal is REALLY good, especially if you do the same with cherry tomatoes and then eat it all with fresh basil and mozzarella.
I've learned that I like IPAs, but now we're moving back into wine season.
We both think Denali has poor eyesight. It's a good thing we didn't get her as a hunting dog.
We met friends and family in NY and camped for a weekend. We both had a great time and learned that putting peach slices on pancakes while they're cooking is delicious. If the temperature of the griddle is just right, they'll caramelize and be oh-so-yummy.


That's pretty much our lives for the past few months. It was difficult to want to sit down and use the computer with all the nice weather we had. Now that it's cooler and getting dark earlier perhaps we'll post more frequently, but I'm not promising anything. We hope you're all well and had a fun summer.

Back to the Roots

We've made some interesting things lately. Most of them were really tasty.

This is a crepe cake we made for a dinner at a friends house. It took three nights to make, and three rounds of dishes. There are caramelized hazelnuts (or filberts, if you wish) on top and a hazelnut custard in between each crepe.

We got a new paddle for the KitchenAid. It's awesome.

Rhubarb season is here. We've eaten a rhubarb coffee cake (of some sort) each week for the past three (or four?) weeks now. We had one in a glass baking dish that was sitting on the stove. We accidentally turned on the wrong burner so I moved it over to a different burner. A second or two later there was a loud pop and there was glass all over the kitchen. Of course, some shards were hot so the melted into our linoleum a little bit. So, when those dishes say not safe for stovetop use, they really mean it. Next week we'll have more counter space so this shouldn't be a repeat issue...

Steak. We made teriyaki sauce and marinated the steak in it for a few hours.

We got some potatoes from the CSA and cooked them with some bok choy (also from the CSA).

On Saturday a friend and I hiked up to a B-18 crash site in the White Mountains. This was one of the engines.

This is a connecting rod. The plane crashed in January, 1942.

This is the head of a piston.

While driving back we stopped by to check out some interesting cars. This is a 1947 Crosley, which was made in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1939-1952. It's a 4 cylinder, three speed (the shift knob looked like a hand-turned piece of maple) and was available through dealers and Macy's department stores.

This is a three wheeled (one in front) 1974 Reliant Robin. It's 45 hp and 60+ mpg. They were produced in England and not available in the US due to safety regulations (yet somehow this one was registered in NH?). The body is fiberglass (a la Corvette) and it claims to have a low center of gravity and is fun to drive. It has 13" tires.