Merry Christmas!

Warm Christmas wishes from the Dhyanchands in the Pacific Northwest to all of our family and friends! Sorry for the lag since our last post and photo update. I'm posting some new photo albums today, including shots of our kids digging into their stockings this morning. Oliver got the Giant Squid he has been wishing for ever since seeing the Giant Squid exhibit at the Burke Museum, and Natalie got an Island Princess Barbie which is singing in the background as I type. Also it just started snowing!

It has been an eventful and fun Christmas season for us. We have really enjoyed celebrating Christ's birth at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral this year. We have gotten together new friends at my office Christmas party, and at the home of Rosa and Greg Waller in Kirkland. Rosa works at my office and they have a son, Ian, who is 4. Ian came over to our place yesterday to play, while Natalie and Karen were at the Pacific Northwest Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker. This Nutcracker featured set design of Maurice Sendak of "Where the Wild Things Are." We braved Seattle traffic last week to enjoy some of the downtown light and festivities, including an amazing gingerbread house display at the Sheraton.

Natalie has lost her first three teeth (so far) since we have been here, including one of top incisors two nights ago. So last night we had dual visitations from St. Nick and the Tooth Fairy. Natalie said that wouldn't be awkward because they probably know each other...

Merry Christmas!

And the Next Assignment Will Be...

We just learned today that our next assignment will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am already practicing spelling it! I will be working at the Veterans Administration Medical Center. At the end of January we will be returning to Knoxville for two weeks, and then it's off to Albuquerque! We will be there from February 10 until the end of March. Looking forward to the change in the weather.

Volunteer Park and Natalie's Birthday

We've enjoyed Natalie Week here in Washington! I just posted the most recent pictures.

It started as a very wet week for us, even by Seattle standards. Unfortunately, many people south of Seattle have suffered greatly from the flooding. There were some traffic delays, but no major damage where we live.

On Thursday, Karen took the kids to Seattle to Volunteeer Park and the Asian Art Museum. I met them later with the bus at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI). The kids really enjoyed the interactive "salmon gutting and canning" exhibit, and I loved learning about the Great Seattle Fire of 1889.

Karen and Natalie enjoyed a birthday tea at "Taste the Moment," a Victorian tea room in Redmond on Friday. Saturday was gorgeous - still cold, but the mountains and sun were out in true splendor. At the Kirkland Art Center, we got to make holiday crafts, cards, and wrapping paper. After some time at the lakeside to watch the sunset, we had a special birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

Today (Natalie's actual birthday) we awoke to snow. But by the time we got out of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, it was all gone. A special memory today - as we took the bridge across Lake Washington to Seattle, a bald eagle soared next to us.

We are still working out plans for our next location and will let you know more when we do.

Advent begins - Thankful for safety

We had a nice mellow Thanksgiving at home - watching the Macy's parade in NYC, cooking our meal, playing our homemade Thanksgiving Bingo game, etc. We enjoyed a date night out the next night, thanks to Emily, the wonderful 15 year old daughter of our landlords. Then we met up with some old college friends - Mike and Julie Straight and their daughters Maria and Eleanor & Mike and Donna Eisses and their children Seth, Olivia, and Meredith. There are some cute dress up pictures to the right under "First Snow and More." It was fun to reconnect with old friends and watch our kids play together. I (Karen) continue with Hot Yoga classes twice a week!

Last week we visited the Chittenden locks. It was amazing to see the largest lock completely empty for its annual cleaning and maintenance. We got to see a small yacht go through the small lock when we arrived. We especially enjoyed the fish ladders where we saw a few straggling salmon making the exhausting journey home to their spawning grounds. It was raining a lot so I didn't take my camera, but you can check out the link for great pictures.

I found a relexology path at Marymoor Park in Redmond last week. It was really amazing. Check it out.

We also visited the "Fremont Troll" under the Aurora Bridge. It is a giant sculpture holding a real VW Bug in it's grip. Check it out under the "First Snow" album.

Last night we enjoyed attending St. Marks for their annual "O" Antiphon service. It's a service of lessons and carols based on the verses of the hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." It was a wonderful way to start the seasons of Advent.

As you may have heard in the news, western Washington received a large snowfall (see great pictures at right) this weekend followed by a huge rain. We are safe, warm, and dry despite scattered destruction around us - flooded streets, downed trees, mudslides. Here's a link to a newspaper article with details: link

An Update...

An update on our current situation. We have extended our time in Washington until January 26, 2008. Just after making this decision, however, we were plunged in darkness and rain for 4 days in a row. This week has been a nice reunion with our friend, the Sun. Still pretty cold. We are glad to be extending our time, as we were starting to feel the pressure of not being able to see everything. We are also in the "negotiation phase" of planning the assignments that follow. Who knows? The spring may see us in Arizona, and even Colorado. We'll have more info in the next few weeks.

Wish you all the best Thanksgiving holiday!

Moira Smiley and Voco

On Sunday I had the opportunity to take a "Versatile Voice" class at Dusty Strings from Moira Smiley and her vocal group Voco. I had met Moira back in 1999 at Malcolm Dalglish's summer camp. Voco was here in Seattle on west coast tour. They blend Appalachian music and Balkan sounds with their own vocal improvisations. Neat stuff. Check them out.

Yoga Boot Camp

I've been wanting to try "Hot Yoga" for quite sometime. In Knoxville, I'd have to drive across the county to get to the class. Here in Kirkland I can drive two blocks. So, tonight I visited the Ashram for my first taste of "Hot Power Yoga." Since I can barely tolerate saunas at a spa, I was nervous. But I kept up pretty well and didn't faint. We'll see if I can even get out of bed in the morning!

Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center

Saturday we spent at the Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center. The kids enjoyed the kayaks, cargo loader games, magnetic wall, and water play/lock system. I really enjoyed the amazing nautical art on the walls by a local artist. Her collection was entitled the "Seas of Antiquity" and had lots of ancient Greek mythology of the sea as inspiration. We had a nice lunch at Anthony's Pier 66 and watched the ferries come and go.

Seattle Japanese Garden

On Friday, November 16 the kids and I went to the Seattle Japanese Garden. We enjoyed the lovely trees, tranquil lake, and many lanterns. The university students were trimming the pine trees that day so it smelled like Christmas. Many planes passed overhead and were reflected in the pond. See if you can find one in the picture above. The other pictures at right show the other wonders of the garden. It started raining on us at the end and we scurried to the nearest place for hot chocolate: Oh Chocolate in Madison Park. We had real french hot chocolate and bought way too many truffles to take home to Daddy.

Proust was a Neuroscientist

On Tuesday, November 13 I (Karen) went to Seattle's Town Hall to hear a lecture by Jonah Lehrer. His book Proust was a Neuroscientist just came out and I'm very interested in the pattern he has found of people in the arts predicting scientific breakthroughs. Example: Walt Whitman wrote his poem " I Sing the Body Electric" just before science actually discovered that our body has electrical impulses. Anyway, for those of us in the arts who believe in our field being a way of knowing and a valid experience (even if science hasn't proven it yet) this book is for you. Check it out.

Woodland Park Zoo Redux

On Sunday, November 11 we returned to the Woodland Park Zoo, this time with Daddy. We really enjoyed the raptor show where we learned a lot about falcons. The Habitat Play area had a neat rope "spider" web and a super cool conifer you could sit in (see picture #224). The hippos were fun to see munching. We were sad to learn that Hansa, the baby elephant born to the Seattle Zoo about 7 years ago, had died this past summer. We had read a library book about her and were excited to meet her. Of special note on our visit this time was the amazing orangutan that loved to draw with colored chalk. We watched him for quite a while as he thoughtfully folded the paper, scribbled away, switched colors, etc.

Discovery Park and Chowdah

On Saturday, November 10 we explored Seattle's Discovery Park. It's an old fort and military base that is mostly used now as a public park/nature center. First we visited the Daybreak Star Center run by the Indian Tribes of all National Foundation for their monthly art sale. We got to see a few totem poles, carved canoes, painted drums, button blankets, jewelry, leatherwork, etc. Then we stopped by the park's visitors center to explore their exhibits. As you can see from the pictures, the kids loved the puppet show area. Then we got a pass to go through the military area and out to the lighthouse and beach. Be sure to look carefully at picture #188 as it is a view of Mt. Rainer from the lighthouse beach at sunset. Then we had dinner at Fisherman's Terminal - fish and chips/salmon and chips/New Jersey Chowder. What is NJ Clam Chowdah you ask? I had never tried it but really liked it. It is the Manhattan and Boston Chowders combined. (Kinda like getting the "two in a bowl" soup at California Pizza Kitchen) Before this I had tried three other restaurants versions of "Northwest" Chowdah, which seems to me to be Boston Chowder with lots of Bacon. Yum! Maybe I'll top my Chowder escapades of 1999 when I was in Boston for 6 days and had 10 different kinds of chowder!

seattle aquarium

Friday, Nov 9 I took the kids to the Seattle Aquarium. We enjoyed the many exhibits-especially the wave tank, tidal pool touch tank, jellyfish, and underwater dome. We got to see some salmon schooling, otters playing, fur seals vocalizing, and the brand new octopus come out of his cave! The kids also enjoyed getting their pictures taken as if they were a jellyfish or diver. Oliver got to dress up like his favorite - a killer whale. We enjoyed a nice lunch at their new cafe which over looks the piers to the south. We got to see the Washington State Ferries coming and going while we ate.

Guide to "More Seattle" photos

A few of the photos at right may need an explanation. Under "More Seattle" you see 5 pics of N and O at the Pacific Science Center touching the creatures in the tidal pool and sitting in the big chairs. Then there are two pictures of us tasting flavored honeys at the Pike Place market. Then CD got a few neat shots of Mt. Rainer. The first is looking our of our Pike Place parking garage and across Quwest Field/Safeco field toward the south. The next two were taken from the Drumheller fountain (which was turned off) on the campus of UW. Then there are several pictures from our sunset trip to Gas Works park. The kids enjoyed log rolling down the hills toward the lake. Natalie just lost her first tooth Sunday afternoon when we were out and about. She felt sad about giving it to the tooth fairy so she made us take a picture of it Ultimately, she kept the tooth and instead drew a picture and wrote a note to the tooth fairy in lieu of forfeiting her tooth. The tooth fairy found her sweet note/picture and gave her a "Sacagawea" coin anyway. The remaining pictures are of the amazing UW Arboretum. Check out that Birch Bark Cherry (#142). It feels and looks like burgundy satin ribbons. Natalie enjoyed filling out the "Arbor Kids" workbook and I was excited to finally meet a Larch tree (#146) while Oliver loved to run up to the pond and wait for the ducks to come near him.

Update from Karen

Alas, our computer is finally here with its new motherboard installed and ready to connect us to the outside world. To catch up a little from my perspective, here I the things I've enjoyed so far about living in the Seattle area for the past 16 days:
1. We can walk to a playground, several restaurants and many stores from our apt.
2. I took Natalie to a performance of Dracula by the Int'l Ballet Theater here. It was awesome.
3. Shopping at Trader Joe's rocks. It's bizarre and wonderful to spend less money on your bottle of wine than on your pack of lunch meat!
4. We rented a keyboard from a local music shop and are excited about messing with all the bells and whistles.
5. Worshiping at St. Mark's Cathedral this past Sunday was an amazing experience. This church's spirit reminded me of the wonderful and warm little Episcopal church we got married in. I got to hear great choral music (Russian, English - Byrd and Bainton) as well as Taize music. Diana Butler Bass was in town and gave the homily and three infants were baptized. The service lasted 1 hours and 40 minutes! It was All Saints Day, so I got to belt out "For All the Saints" hymn while the amazing organ filled the cavernous space. Also of note, the Keiskamma altarpiece from South Africa is touring the world to raise money for AIDS outreach and it resides at St. Marks right now. It is beyond words. Check it out.

Highlights of the Week

It has been a fun and crazy week. Sorry I haven't had more time to post.

Just learned some good news. Our home computer is back online! Also we have located the missing box of cold weather items we had mailed to ourselves. We should be reunited later today.

We have had many adventures over the last week, I'll just try to hit some of the really memorable points.

Tues, 10/30 - Karen and the kids went to the Woodlands Zoo and then we met near UW to visit one of our favorite author/poets Jack Prelutzky at a bookstore. Here's a picture with Jack. The bookstore has had a lot of famous guests we recognized who drew on their walls.




Wed, 10/31 - We had a great time trick-or-treating in our neighborhood! Nice and spooky weather for it. Also had a fun dress up party at my work where I went as El Diablo Doctor.

Thurs, 11/1 - The kids and I had our first sushi conveyer belt experience at Sushiland, near my office. These type of restaurants are relatively common here. What a blast to watch all the marching sushi and pick and choose what loots good!

Fri, 11/2 - In the meantime, K and the kids are taking in the sights. They have been hitting all the libraries, several museums, and parks. This day they saw a giant squid exhibit at the Burke Museum on the UW campus.

Sat, 11/3 - After a walk to our local Supercut for Oliver and to our local Safeway to replenish supplies, we went to Bellevue's Crossroads Mall. Here we ate Russian food at my vote for "Best Food Court in the World" award.

Sun, 11/4 - K dropped us off at the Pacific Science Center this morning (She attended a pretty amazing service at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral). We finished our tour there and then hit various points around town; Pike Place Market, UW campus, Gasworks Park (for sunset), and Ivar's Salmon House for supper. What an awesome Seattle day!

Week 2 in Washington

Happy Halloween to everyone! Yesterday was, in fact, our first visit to the actual city of Seattle. We drove across Lake Washington on the "floating bridge." It was a pleasant drive on a very mild fall day. We spent the afternoon at the Pacific Science Center, under the shadow of the Space Needle. It was great children's museum, with lots of great exhibits. We were able to get in free with our East Tennessee Discovery Center membership. (Having Zoo, science center, national parks membership pays off when you are doing a lot of travelling.) The Center was so extensive we were not able to do it all in one day. We decided to walk down to the shoreline, where we found a Spaghetti Factory, but will come back soon to see the rest of the museum and travel up the Space Needle.

Question: What do the Seattle Space Needle and the Knoxville Sunsphere share in common? Post your answers in the comments.

Saturday we spent in the great outdoors - at a pumpkin farm and corn maze in Redmond. We have been noticing how much more ethnically diverse the population is here, more than any place we have lived in before. I am especially aware of this more in a rural setting such as this farm. In my experience, those places are usually more "white bread," but that is definitely not the case here. We bought some pumpkins which we will be carving tonight.

Settling in Kirkland

We are still down with our home PC, but I have access at work ( and currently, a little down time).

First of all, it is hard to believe we narrowly avoided wildfires in CA! Pam and Craig's place is far out of the danger zones but some of the areas we visit to the north are in the thick of it. The city of Escondido and the Wild Animal Park are greatly affected. Thankfully, according to their website, the animals at the Wild Animal Park are safe despite damage to the park.

We love our new apartment. It is conveniently with walking distance of stores, playground, and a bus route that I am taking to my clinic. It has been mostly gray and wet, but we just had a 2 day reprieve, with a clear sunny sky that offered a great view of the mountains. We are near Lake Washington and have enjoyed several beautiful sunsets. Lots of nice restaurants. A nice library. Kirkland has a lot to offer. We are currently enjoying the fall colors and getting ready for Halloween.

My first 2 days with my job were spent at a training center in Renton, behind the screen of a computer (I am still behind the screen of a computer!). I have been learning to use a Electronic Medical Record program called NextGen. It is fascinating, yet mindboggling. Anyways, today was my first day at the clinic. It is a little chaotic, but hey! it's an adventure. Learning EMR is a very important step for me, and I feel I am finally catching up with the rest of the medical world. At the same time it is almost more of challenge to interact with a patient with a computer between us. I am concerned about how this affects bedside manner. The people here are friendly and helpful. I will be getting a lot of Spanish practice.

More later.

Arrived in Washington

Quick note. We arrived safely in WA. We are settling comfortable in our apartment in Kirkland, WA. We are having PC problems right now so there might not be many posts/ emails for a few days. Things are colder and wetter, but it is definitely beautiful in the Pacific Northwest. We will update with more pics as soon as we are up and running at home. Later.

Hasta Luego, San Diego!

The "Wedding Guests that Never Left" are finally leaving! I am posting as we await our delayed flight at the San Diego Airport (big fog this morning!). We have really enjoyed our stay and the hospitality of Pam and Craig (who are still enjoying themselves in New Zealand). Their apartment has been an ideal and comfortable base for us this past week. We have enjoyed TiVo, high tech cooking gadgets, and a wonderful rooftop to view the bay and landing aircraft.

Wednesday, we watched a puppet show at the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park, and did some more exploring of the park. Thursday, the sun came out again. We took advantage by traveling up the coast to Torrey Pines State Reserve, a beautiful park with great ocean views. We lunched in La Jolla, where we viewed seals basking on the beach. Natalie wants to add that there was a great mermaid statue at the restaurant Azul. From there we stopped off at Mission Bay to fly kites, get soaked, and watch the sunset.

Yesterday, we packed in seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls at the San Diego Natural History Museum, Cabrillo Monument, and Coronado Island.

We are close to boarding so I will end for now. Next stop, Seattle!

Balboa Park

We have enjoyed exploring San Diego's Balboa Park these past two days. We have taken in the gardens, fountains, museums, restaurants, architecture and wildlife. The kids were especially excited to see another amazing mosaic sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle called the NikiGator. Natalie enjoyed seeing the Old Globe Theatre and Shakespeare sculpture and bench. Walking through the canyons we enjoyed the scent of the many amazing eucalyptus trees and admired the roots of many others such as this tree above.

Seaworld

The weather is been cooler and cloudier lately. We still had an enjoyable outing to Seaworld yesterday. It was a great experience getting to be face to face with dolphins and petting their "melons." It was also really cool seeing the walrus and the beluga whale swimming in their tanks. The highlight of the trip was Natalie being selected to participate in one of the shows and get to shake hands with Clyde, a sea lion.

Legoland

Friday we spent at Legoland in Carlsbad, CA. Thanks to the generosity of our Knoxville friend Marsha Rhyne, we had two free passes! We enjoyed many unique amusement park rides, as well as the amazing lego sculptures and yummy apple fries with vanilla whipped cream.

Quail Botanical Gardens

Natalie and I enjoyed a wonderful time on Thursday afternoon at the Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas, CA. We saw desert plants, lots of native plants, topiaries and many fruit trees as well as a waterfall and bamboo forest. Enjoy the pictures in the photo album. The highlight was getting really close to a rabbit and getting a great picture. I also admired the bamboo sculpture.

Encinitas

A little time to blog now. Oliver and I are hanging out in our hotel in Encinitas (a pretty coastal town) while Karen and Natalie are exploring the nearby Quail Botanical Gardens. Earlier we explored the Museum of Making Music and then had lunch with Pam at her workplace, Biogen IDEC. Oliver has been craving "homeschooling" for a few days now, so we are giving him some downtime.

We spent the day a the Wild Animal Park yesterday. It was unlike any zoo we had ever been to. The scenery was incredible. At almost any point you could look down upon a vista of herds of giraffe, gazelle, rhinos, etc. intermingling on a savanna surrounded by the rocky tumbleweed mountains of Southern California. Unfortunately, my camera had not recharged properly so we have almost no pictures to share.

Tonight we plan to enjoy the beach. Tomorrow will be a day dedicated to Legoland in nearby Carlsbad. Day after tomorrow we return to San Diego to live in Pam & Craig's apartment for a week while they honeymoon in New Zealand.

Incidentally, we are all doing fine. Just the normal wear and tear after being on the road for a week. I think, like our youngest, we all look forward to a little more routine in our lives. Still, it's a great environment with a lot of unique things to experience. It is a little drier than what we are used to, but one can hardly complain about the climate here.

Escondido

We are in Escondido, CA tonight.

On our travels today, we passed by Orfila Vineyard and stopped by for a bottle and a tour. Karen made a really cool discovery in our AAA guidebook - an art installation called "Queen Califia's Magical Circle" by Niki de Saint Phalle. It was a large sculpture garden consisting of mosaic sculptures (with beautiful polished stones) and a maze. It was a little confusing to get to, but very much worth a look.

Escondido is about 40 minutes north of San Diego. Our plan is to use this as a new base for two days as we explore some of the surrounding attractions, including Wild Animal Park, which will be our destination tomorrow.

The Wedding in the Flight Path

Greetings from sunny San Diego! This our third day here. It has been a festive weekend celebrating my cousin's wedding (Team Rajachard). It has been a grand reunion with family and friends traveling the globe to get here. Our family represented the extent of the Tennessee contingent. We have enjoyed making a lot new friends, too.

This was the best wedding we ever attended! Pam and Craig carefully planned a meaningful, elegant, and fun ceremony. They also chose some breathtaking locations in Balboa Park. The actual ceremony took place in a courtyard that was the focal point of a marathon the couple had trained for together. That it happened to be in the flight path of San Diego International Airport, with jet engine interruptions every few minutes, only served to add to the character of the wedding. The reception took place at the San Diego Natural History Museum, and it was awesome! Oliver conked out around 11PM in the arms of our aunt, but Natalie plugged on through, among the dancing, flowers, and fossils, till after midnight. "I wish I could start this day all over," she said as she got ready for bed.

We'll be seeing a lot more of San Diego over the next two weeks.

Las Vegas and the Unicorn Adventure

We are posting from the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas. What a fascinating and crazy place! Part of it may be the jet lag (or getting humiliated at Blackjack) but I am in a daze. Anyways, it's been an experience.

Our travel this far, has gone pretty smoothly. Our only near catastrophe involved Natalie's unicorn, Brietta. Natalie discovered that Brietta was missing as we were about to board our flight out of Knoxville. We realized she had left her in our taxi! Incredibly, we were able to contact our driver, and even more incredibly, he was able to meet me at the security gate with the strayed unicorn. Crisis averted! Much thanks to our courteous driver (we don't even remember his name) and Odyssey Airport Taxi (865-973-6212).

Fairy Picture Information

Several of you have asked about the lovely Fairy Pictures of Natalie that were taken at the UT Trial Gardens last spring that are featured in one of our photo albumns. They were done by Knoxville's Laura Owens and her number is 865-803-6427. She sews the outfits and made the mushroom chair, too! She has clothes of all sizes for boys and girls. Enjoy!

Ohio Renaissance Festival

We returned safely from a whirlwind trip to Canton, OH for Karen's 20th high school class reunion. Along the way we had great fall weather, and a fun hotel stay with an indoor water park. On the return trip yesterday we had a great stopover at Ohio Renaissance Festival. Karen and the kids have been studying the Medieval and Renaissance periods during homeschool the last two weeks. This led to the discovery of this little excursion, and it was definitely a worthy stopover. The 'village' which this takes place is a permanent structure that has such an air of authenticity about it that you feel like you are in a different era. During 3 hours there, although exhausted, we hardly got to experience all there was. We did, however, get to experience mead, archery, and catapulting frogs!

Bye bye Car!

Sold my car today. It had served me pretty faithfully on my commutes for the last 3 years. But it didn't make sense to continue paying insurance and upkeep on two cars, since we'll hardly be using them in the next year. Plus, the money will help with the travel expenses.

I thought I would be mourning its loss more (I probably will later) but it is nice having the extra room in the garage. I feel like our lives just got a tiny bit simpler.

Cherokee Health Systems/Professional Goals

CD here. The past two months working at Morristown have been a great experience for me. The clinic is called the 5th Street Clinic and is part of Cherokee Health Systems. One of my professional goals for the next year is to observe the operation of different practice models. Cherokee's model is an integrated approach - mainly integrating medical and psychosocial issues in healthcare. There is also a focus on serving impoverished people. Most of the clientèle at 5th Street have no health insurance or TennCare or are on Disability.

The advantage of integrated care is the team approach. One or two people (a doctor and nurse) do not have to manage all the aspects in the health care of some of these very complicated patients. There is a Behaviorist that I can consult down the hall at a moments notice. Or a psychiatrist. Or a case worker. At 5th Street we have weekly "team meetings." All the disciplines in this model are represented and we go over complicated cases to insure coordination of care.

I have really loved the environment here. My colleagues and staff have been very friendly and I get the sense that people really enjoy working here - it's more than "just a job/paycheck." So, have I made my point that Cherokee has impressed me?

Another professional goal is to become fluent in Spanish. 5th Street gets a large Mexican population, many who work picking tomatoes. Practicing the Spanish I have been learning has been one of my favorite things about working here.

One of the only drawbacks about working in Morristown is the nearly 50 mile commute. My consolation (other than having a nice job) is getting to listen to several audiobooks. Perhaps I'll start a blog one day that reviews audiobooks...

Anyways, to all my 5th Street friends: Hasta luego! I hope our paths cross again one day.

Simplified Itinerary

I decided to post our itinerary in a manner that might be easier to follow:

9/25/07 - CD finishes job in Morristown

9/27/07-10/1/07 - Travel to Ohio

10/3/07 - Flight to Las Vegas

10/4/07 - Flight to San Diego

10/6/07 - Pam and Craig's Wedding

10/7/07-10/19/07 - Sightseeing in San Diego

10/20/07 - Flight to Seattle, Moving into apartment in Redmond, WA

10/22/07 - CD's job begins at King County Community Health Center

12/30/07 - CD's job ends

Getting Started

In only almost 3 weeks we will be on the road! Still a lot we have to do and setting up a blog for posting our travel adventures is one of those things. So far setting this up has been too easy. I am hoping that there will be a easy way to create links from this blog to pictures from our photo albums, as well.

To summarize where we are and where we are going: I (CD) left my practice in Knoxville this past spring after 6 years. Most of you know that by now and many of the details surrounding it. We were planning a move to Ohio, but that plan has been put on hold due to a job for me not materializing and the poor market for selling our house. Now, we are still at home in Knoxville. I have been doing a temporary job with a community clinic in Morristown, TN and Karen has been developing her own curriculum for home-schooling Natalie and Oliver (I will let Karen fill in the details on that front). We are going to Ohio at the end of September for a short trip for Karen's 20th high school class reunion, and shortly after returning we are getting on a plane WEST. A day in Las Vegas and then on to San Diego, for my cousin Pam's wedding. After the wedding we will be staying in San Diego to take in the sights, until the 3rd week of October. Then we will be travelling up the coast to our home until the end of 2007 - Redmond, WA. There I will be working a temporary job with a community health clinic. After that... well that's what we know so far. Most likely we'll need some time back in Knoxville by then. Our house and cats? We are making arrangements with a trusted house sitter.

More as we approach crunch time...