home sweet home

On June 25, 2014, I moved back into my house in Tahoe. I got much-appreciated help that afternoon emptying the storage in my garage loft from 5 members of Third Place, the college and twenty-somethings group from Sierra Community Church. I wish I had gotten a photo of Matti, Josh, Josh, Kyle, and Noah that day, but I didn't (I know, it's surprising that I missed a photo!).

what a beautiful view as i'm coming home

I took a break and watched the South Tahoe Standup Paddle Wednesday Night Paddle Races and caught the sunset there.

sunset with SUPcross races in the foreground

I spent the next couple of days unpacking, settling in, and starting to study for my PT board exam, and then on June 28, I drove up to Echo Lakes and picked up Jeff, one of my friends from the Emory climbing wall - he'd just finished through-hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail, approximately 210 miles including detours over 16-17 days. The next day, we went shopping at Sports Ltd, where Jeff invested in a climbing rope and quickdraws. He had pre-arranged for his mother to ship his climbing shoes and harness to my house. In the morning we headed out to Luther Spires, using my brand new South Lake Tahoe Climbing book and breaking in Jeff's new gear.

me rappelling down at luther spires

We alternated days hiking and climbing, walking up Taylor Creek to Fallen Leaf Lake, hiking to Lake Winnemucca and summiting Round Top, hiking Twin Peaks and bouldering there as well. 90 Foot Wall, two trips to Bottle Creek Crag, and another foray to Luther Spires rounded out the climbing. We went paddleboarding, walked to Secret Beach for sunset, watched 4th of July fireworks from my friend Lisa's condo on the lake (I stayed there a couple of times when I visited Tahoe on breaks from PT school), and cheered for the US as they played Belgium in World Cup Soccer using my laptop connected to my TV.

fallen leaf lake

somehow found live streaming video of the world cup

waiting for sunset at secret beach

out for a morning paddle

my feet at the top of the hardest outdoor climb i've ever finished (at 90 foot wall)

wildflowers were out on the hike to lake winnemucca, round top in the background

windy at the top of round top

fireworks from lisa's lakefront condo

bouldering at pie shop after hiking twin peaks

jeff lead climbing at luther spires

It was a fun visit, and a good long vacation for Jeff before starting his first full time job after college, moving to St. Louis. And I made sure this Midwest kid (from Wisconsin) experienced In-n-Out burgers before dropping him off at the airport to head for the "real world."

nothing like in-n-out

alan and enzo's visit

It was all a blur - staying up late before I left London to watch the US team play in the World Cup, getting up early to catch my trans-Atlantic flight, hanging out at a sports bar in JFK International Airport for 3 hours or so watching more World Cup action, then flying cross-country to arrive bleary-eyed in San Francisco shortly before midnight on June 17 (2014), a couple of hours after Alan arrived at SJC with Enzo.

The next day we pedaled off as a family to visit a couple of parks via some bike trails, stopping at Creekside Park and then Blackberry Farm, where Enzo enjoyed the playgrounds as well as the creek.

alan and me up a tree at creekside park...

with *somebody* snoozing on the bench below us

enzo making the most of the playgrounds

riding bikes

The next day we drove off to Monterey for a couple nights, fitting in tidepooling at Point Lobos, playground enjoyment at Dennis the Menace Park, and a perusal of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

my parents, brother, and nephew tidepooling at point lobos

we spotted sea otters, crabs, anemones, pelicans, seals, and more

father and son at dennis the menace park

outside at the monterey bay aquarium

Alan and Enzo left Monterey separately from the rest of us, headed their own way for a couple of days, so I made my first trip home to Tahoe and spent my first night back in my own house.

el dorado beach/ lakeview commons

I only spent one night before going back to my parents' house - Alan and Enzo had also returned.  We made a trip to San Francisco where we saw Steve and Trudy (my hosts when I spent the summer in San Francisco) and Alan played in a session in an Irish pub.  We did encounter a small problem when Enzo wasn't allowed to be in the pub (because it's a bar!) so we found a bookstore down the road where my mother and I each spent some time with Enzo reading books and playing with Lego.

me, steve, trudy, parents, enzo hiding his face on alan

alan playing in a session

We went for a hike at Fremont Older Open Space with Janet Anvick and the Anvicks' yellow lab Cedar, both on the rolling grassy hills and in the wooded areas.  We were treated to a close-up view of a doe and fawn as well as views of the Santa Clara Valley from Hunters Point.

hiking with janet anvick (and cedar) at fremont older open space

family photo at hunters point

wildlife spotting (spotted wildlife?)

The night before Alan and Enzo flew back to Madison, we had a joint early birthday celebration for Scott Anvick (June 26 birthday) and my mother (June 27 birthday), celebrating with our family tradition of a homemade birthday cake, this time provided by the Anvicks.

joint celebration of mama and scott anvick's birthdays

June 25 marked both Alan and Enzo's trip home to Madison and my move back HOME to Tahoe...

9 days till graduation

Despite not feeling 100%, I still managed to get out and hang out with as many friends as I could fit into my schedule before leaving Atlanta.  I started out May 2, the morning after I finished school, by picking up my friend Lois from the Emory climbing wall.  I hadn't seen her since December for various reasons, but we managed to get together and take a walk up Stone Mountain.  It was clearer than I've ever seen it up there, with just enough breeze to make the temperature pretty perfect.

clear view from the top of stone mountain, and me with lois

After dropping Lois off I visited Ashley, an Emory PT second year who also attends Passion City Church, at her new place.  Her current clinical runs Sunday through Thursday, so I hadn't seen her at church in weeks (she did make it to Good Friday Atlanta).  That evening was Graduate Christian Fellowship's First Friday Dinner.  Due to CSM in Las Vegas in February, the Dominican Republic trip in March, and the Vestibular course in April, I hadn't made it to one since last semester.  It was fun to hang out and catch up with people, and make a couple of new friends.

steffi, amara, lydi, lily, me, jonathan, then the whole group shot from first friday dinner

Saturday morning I got up early and headed out to Dunwoody to meet up with James and Jonathan for another hike.  We headed north to a piece of the Appalachian trail, hiking up Blood Mountain, the highest peak on the Georgia portion of the trail with an elevation of 4458 feet.  Following directions I found online, we made it a "lollipop loop" where only the beginning and end of the trail were the same.  It was nice, with the route we took up the mountain being longer, less steep, and much less traveled.  We saw only a couple of people before we rejoined the Appalachian trail but found a crowd of probably 30 people having lunch at the summit.  As promised in what I read online, there were sweeping views from the top and also on the way down.

james, me, and jonathan atop blood mountain

Sunday was my second-to-last time at Passion City Church, then in the afternoon I headed over to my classmate Dan's place.  He had a 5 month old baby boy I had yet to meet, and I hadn't seen his wife since before she gave birth.  I had a pleasant time hanging out with them before meeting up with Debbie and Laura from Veritas Church for dinner at La Parrilla.

Monday started off with Caleb from Graduate Christian Fellowship coming over to hang out at my place and sing songs together - we'd done it once before during Snowpocalypse round 1 and agreed we wanted to sing together again.  Then, I met Gina, my climbing wall co-worker, for a leisurely celebratory lunch after her last undergrad final followed by Frappuccinos at Starbucks since there was a half-off special for a few days.

A bonus I garnered from Saturday's hike is that both James and Jonathan are pilots, and they offered to take me up with them sometime in the coming week.  I managed to rearrange my schedule to meet James, who is also a flight instructor, at PDK (Peachtree-DeKalb Airport) on Monday afternoon.  I had the incredible experience of sitting in the pilot's seat of a single-prop Cessna and actually flying it for some of the time we were in the air.  We headed southwest over Passion City Church and near downtown, then headed east toward Stone Mountain, passing south of the Emory campus.  We looped around Stone Mountain and then I got to fly us north out past Lake Lanier.  James flew us lower down over the lake before having me take us back near the airport.

1980 cessna 172p, inside the cockpit, and a statue near the passenger terminal

view of cdc and emory from the air

Later that evening, I got together with Kelly, one of my good friends from Passion City Church, and walked a bit of the BeltLine that is near her place.  On Tuesday, I went around 10:30 am to get an oil change since my car was about to be driven across the country.  I had been assured on the phone that it would take 45 minutes, so I figured I could still meet Karen at Stone Summit to climb by noon.  Over 2 hours later, my car was finally done, and I still had to get back home.  We ended up meeting at Starbucks for half-off Frappuccinos instead.  My friend Brian from Intown Community Church came over for dinner - I hadn't seen him since fall since neither he nor I were attending Intown any more - I wanted to congratulate him on his engagement as well as catch up and then say goodbye.  I headed out again after dinner to hang out with another Passion City Church friend, Nick.  We were planning to take a walk, but I ended up bringing leftover dinner for him and we just sat and chatted while he ate.

hanging out with (clockwise from top left) karen, kelly, gina, and nick

Wednesday morning I did some more last-minute errand running before meeting up with Elizabeth from Graduate Christian Fellowship for lunch on campus.  Steffi also stopped by briefly to say hi, so we got a photo of the three of us:

elizabeth, steffi, and me

My parents arrived that afternoon, so I picked them up from the airport.  We went back to my place, then walked around campus before getting half-off Frappuccinos from Starbucks (yes, I was doing my best to make the most of the deal while it lasted!).  I took them to pick up their rental car, then we went to my father's grad school friend's (David and Lucy's) house where they would stay for a couple of nights.  We went out to dinner with David and Lucy at Downwind Restaurant, coincidentally at the Peachtree-DeKalb Airport.  The next day my parents and I had a lazy morning before heading up to Acworth to visit cousin Linda for a night.  I hadn't seen her for a year and a half, since Thanksgiving 2012.  My parents hadn't seen her since my cousin Annie's wedding in 2009.  Before she got off work, we had half-off Frappuccinos again, then met her for dinner at Chili's - my parents and I shared a full rack of ribs.

with my parents and cousin linda (and apollo)

The next morning I got up super early and drove to Woodstock to meet my clinical instructor from my short-term outpatient clinical in July 2012.  We had a good 45 minute chat before his first patient, then I headed back for breakfast with my family at Linda's house.  We got back into Atlanta in time for me to meet the professors and other preceptors from the General Medical Conditions course for a late lunch.  My parents met up with David and Lucy again, and had dinner with them at Saba, around the corner from my place.  I joined them briefly before going to pick up a couple of friends to climb at Wall Crawlers.

with david and lucy

last time climbing at wall crawlers:
marius, tiffany, david, me, katherine, and brent

Saturday morning was a "Legacy Breakfast" at Glenn Memorial Church.  Since my mother got her Master's degree at Emory, I am therefore a legacy.  After a continental breakfast, my mother placed a Legacy Medallion around my neck during a ceremony in the church building.  In the afternoon, we met up with Laura, a family friend from our days in Seaside, CA, her husband Ernesto and mother America for a late lunch at Atlanta Fish Market.  The food was delicious and company delightful.

legacy medallion

ernesto, laura, my mother, me, america, my father

Sunday my parents joined me for my last Sunday at Passion City Church, we had lunch at a Vietnamese/ Thai place, and then we just lounged around my house as I attempted to sell all my furniture on Craigslist.  My bed was the first to go on Saturday night, so I had to sleep on my air mattress for the next three nights.  Lounging around was not unwelcome, as my father had started feeling poorly on the day after my parents arrived - we put it down to allergies as he had bad hay fever with Atlanta pollen in the past.

Monday morning I got up super early and headed over to campus for the Emory Commencement ceremony.  It was scheduled to begin at 8, we were supposed to line up at 7, and I was trying to meet friends in other departments for photos by 6:50.  I only managed to meet Caleb for a photo because the others were late, but it was good to say goodbye before he heads off to do his PhD at Indiana University and I return to the west coast.

pre-commencement photos with friends

After the commencement ceremony in the quad, we proceeded to WHSCAB (Woodruff Health Sciences Center Administration Building) - the site of our interviews, orientation, many lectures, and now graduation ceremony.  Along with my parents, Anika, David, and Lucy attended graduation, and Marius showed up to say hi before we left.  We had lunch at Mary Mac's Tea Room, a historic Atlanta restaurant offering a Southern experience.  Anika joined us and my cousin Rachel met us there.  My father, Anika, and I shared a full rack of ribs with fried green tomatoes and collard greens as sides - DELICIOUS!

with my parents at graduation

my parents and me with rachel at mary mac's

My parents and I went back to my place where I started packing up my car and waiting for more Craigslist customers to buy furniture.  I ended up selling most of it and making a deal with the new tenant in my place for a bunch of the rest of it.  The next day was our scheduled departure date - beginning of Cross-Country Road Trip Version 2014!

easter to early may

My last post ended on Palm Sunday (April 13).  Although I was at the review course for the PT board exam, I was able to attend the 5 o'clock gathering at Passion City Church.  That week was another busy one - we had a huge group project due for our Health Promotion class, and my group was only about half done.  In addition, we had deadlines approaching for research, with our paper and poster due and oral exam coming up.  Friday, I took a carload (Anika, Ashley, Dan, and Kevin) to Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Alpharetta for Passion City Church's Good Friday Atlanta service.  It was great, despite the pouring rain.  We managed to be just barely under the covered seating, and only got a little bit sprinkled on when the wind changed a bit, but there were people out on the lawn sitting and standing under umbrellas and tarps.

kevin and dan, lauren, ashley, anika, and me at good friday service - it was COLD!

I spent most of Saturday reading and editing our Health Promotion group project, putting together my slides for the group's presentation of the project, and writing my portion of our research paper.  Sunday morning I got up before dawn and took a different carload (Anika, her friend Alvince, Marius, and Dan) to Stone Mountain for their annual Easter sunrise service.  I recruited another 4 people to join us up there as well.  None of us had ever heard of the service, so we were surprised to learn that this was the 70th year in a row it had happened.  The sunrise was beautiful, although we were very cold.

anika, alvince, marius, me, and dan waiting for sunrise

easter sunrise service

I got home and decided I really wanted to go to Passion City Church's Easter service - but it was out in Alpharetta at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater again and I really didn't want to drive.  At the last minute, I found a carpool with a spot for me.  I decided to bring my tarp with me just in case we ended up on the lawn.  Sure enough, we were too late for seats, but the tarp meant we could sit down and stay dry.  It was a great service, and I'm glad I made it out there and also glad I didn't have to drive.  It was amazing that it was free - there was an all-star lineup of well-known Christian worship leaders up on stage.

easter service at verizon wireless amphitheater.

I spent the rest of Sunday and most of Monday back on the huge paper - I finished it around 2 am Tuesday morning.  It was 43 pages of text plus references and appendices.  We also had a PowerPoint presentation to give as a group in class that day.  Somehow we survived, and "all" I had left was research.  That meant finishing our poster Thursday, finishing our final paper Friday,  preparing for our oral examination the following Wednesday morning, and presenting our poster the following Thursday.  I definitely kept focused on that Thursday, May 1, as it marked the day I would be FINISHED with school.

We managed to pull our poster together and submit it, did our final paper edits from our (at least) 12th draft, and then had a gathering at Dr. Greenfield's, our primary research advisor.  It was nice to relax a bit and just hang out with the group - all five student researchers and three advisors attended, as well as two spouses and Dr. Greenfield's oldest daughter.

Saturday I took off from schoolwork and went for a hike.  I did my usual number and gathered a pretty random group of friends to hike - Anika and Marius from the Emory climbing wall, Katherine from Graduate Christian Fellowship, and James and Jonathan from Passion City Church.  We went out to Tallulah Gorge expecting to hike into the gorge and swim in the swimming hole at the far end - but as we drove in, the woman collecting the parking fee asked if we were planning to go the the gorge floor, because it wasn't open due to aesthetic water releases through the month of April and May.  We hiked around the top of the gorge and down near the bottom for a total of over 550 stairs down and back up.  Then we headed across the road to go swim in Tallulah Falls lake, and found out it was ALSO closed for swimming.  Sigh.  We ate lunch by the lake before heading back to Atlanta.

falls in the bottom of the gorge

katherine, anika, jonathan, james, marius, and i were so surprised that this overlook
gave us a view of MORE WATERFALLS!

The next morning I got up super early again and went with Gina, my climbing wall co-worker, to Stone Mountain for sunrise - she wanted to go to the Easter service but set her alarm an hour too late!  The sunrise was even more beautiful than the previous week, and we were able to sit wherever we wanted for the best view.

sunrise over stone mountain lake

gina and me at the top

After church, I got together with my research group to brainstorm on possible questions for our oral exam, then went home and started delving more deeply into the information to prepare.  The next morning, I was planning to get up and spend six hours with the first year class, helping out in open lab for the General Medical Conditions class and for their mock practicals all afternoon.  Instead, I woke up at 4:30 am with horrible stomach pain.  I missed all day as a preceptor, but felt better in the evening so I went to the Grove at Passion City Church.  Stomach pain hit me again during the last song, so I dropped off my passengers and hurried home to go to bed.

music, lauren doing watercolor, winsome wall, group shot of me, lydi, natalie, and laura

I woke up the next morning feeling pretty useless again and had to miss class that afternoon.  While staying home feeling poorly, I still managed to do some studying for my oral exam.  I emailed my professors Tuesday night asking what to do if I couldn't get out of bed Wednesday morning either, but ended up dragging myself in for my exam.  Fortunately, it went well.  I was excused from helping out with the first year practical exams as there were enough other preceptors available to cover.  I joined the rest of my research group briefly to discuss how we planned to present our poster the next afternoon before heading home before my stomach pain got too miserable.

Thursday, May 1, finally came.  My group had to spend the first two hours listening to other groups present their posters, but our turn finally came.  I got to go first, so by 4:15 pm, I was DONE with school.  It felt so good to be finished!  After the poster presentations, there was an awards ceremony.  I came away completely surprised to have won three awards!

lindsay, elizabeth, travis, me, and alycia - research dream team

awards

That evening, the class gathered at Ormsby's for a celebration.  I went for a little while and then headed home to bed.  Although I gradually felt better, I ended up not getting completely well until May 7 - a week and a half later!