Bloody Sunday Bush

Sea Kayaking anyone?

I love going whale watching but I have never been quite this close to a whale before.

Fishing

Ice fishing can be a very dangerous sport

Hiking to Squaw Peak Summit

Today I went out for a hike after work. I decided to go out to squaw peak and hike the summit trail. It is about 1.25 miles from the parking lot to the summit and the trail ascends about 1300 feet. It was a good hike but a little warm. I made it to the top and spent some time enjoying the view. It was peaceful and quiet and just what I needed to relax. I saw a 3 foot lizard while hiking but was unable to get the camera out before he ran under some rocks. There were many small lizards and birds out during the hike which made it even more peaceful. Here are a few pictures from the hike.

Here is a picture trying to show how steep the trail was. It is hard to tell but it was a great hike wore me out by the time I was done.





Here is a view of Phoenix from the Summit. The smog that you see is about as bad as it gets. A huge difference from So Cal.


I have been trying to get out and hike as much as possible. I have Hiked to the summit of Camelback mountain a couple of times recently also but always seem to forget my camera. Since this is the desert the pictures from camelback would be fairly similar to the ones here.

Monsoon Season

It is officially monsoon season here in Phoenix which means that on top of the 115 F temps we also have huge wind and dust storms along with thunder storms that bring flash flood conditions. Unfortunately the lightning also causes fires in the area. It is amazing, though, to watch the lightning and see the dust roll in. It also results in great sunsets after the dust storms. These storms cause many accidents due to lack of visibility while driving so it is best to stay off of the roads if you can. Here are a few pictures from here in Phoenix during the Monsoon this season.

Travel

I have really wanted to travel lately to see other parts of the world. As I was looking at travel information I came across these pictures that make me a little unsure about my traveling desires. Actually I just thought these picts were great so I wanted to share them.

The New Place

Here are a few pictures of my apartment in Phoenix. It is located 4.5 miles from the hospital and just off of the freeway so it only takes about 8-10 minutes to get from my front door to the hospital enterance. The prices here in Phoenix are much more reasonable than in Cali. This apartment is a one bedroom, 804 sq ft. apartment with two pools, a gym, a sand volyball court, plus much more. It is a fully gated community that was built 5 years ago. This apartment is the same price as a 600 sq foot, with nothing else, built in the 70's in a bad part of town, apartment in California. For those of you who know the area of Phoenix you know that you can be in a nice part of town on minute and a bad part of town the next. My apartment is on the border of Scottsdale, Tempe, and Phoenix so it is a little nicer part of Town. The only thing that I really do not care for is the HEAT. I think that I am getting use a little bit but when it is still tripple digits at 11:00pm it gets a little old. It isn't too easy on the electricity bill either. In all I have enjoyed my few weeks here.
This is the clubhouse/office building.

My apartment is on the 3rd floor. If faces East so at least I don't get the afternoon sun!


Here is one of the two pools. It feels really good to jump in for a few minutes. It helps beat the heat. The trick is to try to go in when there are no kids since most of the kids in the pool are unsupervised and very wild.


This is looking from the kitchen into the living room.


This is a picture of the living room area.


Here is the dining area, barely big enough for my small table but it works great.

This is the kitchen (as if you couldn't figure it out!). It came with all of the appliances. This apartment also has a dishwasher and full size washer and dryer.


This is a view from the sliding door into the apartment.


The Bathroom above and some pics of my bedroom below.





I Hope that you enjoyed this tour of my bachelor pad.

Check back later for updates on me!

System Down!

I have more pictures to put up for everyone but my internet is not working at the moment. I don't know what is wrong but for now I am having to go to the business center at my apartment complex in order to get on the web. Unfortunately I can't load my pictures on from here. Keep checking back and I will hopefully get more up shortly. Have a great weekend.

My New Home

Here are a few pictures of my new home. Not the home that I am paying rent on every month but the home that I will actually be living in for the majority of the next twelve months. This last week has been full of fun and exciting orientation that consists of ten hours of boredom and a couple of free, but not too palatable meals. I start work on Monday and I am on the wards. My first 30 hour call shift is on Tuesday (yes, my second day as a real doctor) and I am expected to know the answers to everyone's questions by this time, and also know how to treat everything that comes in the door. It will be an interesting experience to say the least. In all honesty I am terrified and just hope that I have a cool senior resident that is willing to help me A LOT.




These pictures look like the place is on a tropical Island but it is actually in the middle of the desert where the average high temp has been around 110-113F and the low is about 85-88F. (I thought that deserts were cold at night!!).

Graduation Weekend

Memorial Day 2006 was Graduation Weekend for Loma Linda University School of Medicine. A lot of family was able to come down and help me celebrate the big weekend.













I am the second from the end (right side of the picture).



Murray and Elaine were able to be here for the weekend from Alberta, Canada