MINI VACATION IN SPOKANE

Dear Family ,

We went up to Spokane again.  Rob gave me another treatment for my left eye which has remarkably improved the vision.  He injected an anti-angiogensis drug that cuts down on macular edema. My associate at the Mass. General Hospital, Judah Volkman, discovered the process while he was in the Navy as a resident and then did much research on this phenomenon.  I thought he might get a Nobel Prize for this but he passed away.

Anyway, Rob and Jeff and their families worked out a stay at a resort on Priest Lake in Northern Idaho close to Canada.  Here is a picture of the lake on a rainy morning.  The area reminded me so much of our family vacations camping out in a large tent on lake Sabaeo in upper Maine.  We all stayed in an apartment complex.

They were full of surprises: we got up at 5:30 AM and got ready for a fishing trip on the lake.  They reserved a boat and a captain who really knew the lake and we fished for lake trout.

We caught a lot of fish!!!!  Here is Julius with his Dad's lucky fishing hat and one of the fish he caught.

There were a lot of fish marked on the monitor.  We were the only ones on this lake which was 30 miles long complete with islands and bald eagles.

Here is Zander, Anna and Julius with a few of the eighteen fish we caught ranging from three to eight pounds.

We got back and immediately had a fish fry and it was great.

More surprises as Jeff had some Maine Lobsters flown in fed express and then I really felt like I was back in Maine.

We used to have these great vacations in Maine.  First thing I bought when I got on the staff at the Mass. General was buy a 12' x 14' tent and an Old Town canoe and we would take ten or eleven kids up there camping in the wilds.  Cheryl was up there as a baby even.. We fished, swam, picked tons of wild blueberries and one morning, back then, I cooked 110 blueberry pancakes.

This trip to upper Idaho was very nostalgic.  Well the next day, Mom and Eva drove down to Spokane so Anna and Julia could participate in they ballet dress rehearsal.  We spent the time pushing another hobby and it was total fun.

Here was a great place for target shooting and plinking and a safe place to do a job on some tannerite, not as dramatic as this video but a two pounder sent up a plume about 20 feet and the reaction is universal.  Jeff got one with open iron sights also spectacular.

Well it was a truly great time.  I am trying to find a medical excuse to go up there regularly.. maybe they should try the right eye!

Thanks to Rob, Eva, Jeff, Tammy and all the cute kids for a truly great mini vacation!!

Alles Gute, Dad and Mom