How I spent my summer vacation
 

Not than anyone really NEEDS to hear this, but I fought so hard to get the "time off" from my DM1 trial requirements, that I thought I'd share the highlights from my recent 2 week vacation!

1. Traveled by car, train shuttle bus, muni bus, BART, and airplane all in one day to get from home to Virginia Beach (via UCSF!)
2. Spent 5 days alternately flinging myself into the ocean and lounging on the beach
3. Tossed jellyfish
4. Chased sand crabs
5. Drank fake beer :(
6. Made and shared my moms merely fantastic cheesecake (after shlepping 2 springform pans through step 1 above!)
7. Ate a lot of yummy food
8. Had a triple chocolate malt at the Purple Cow
9. Watched Judge Judy and Judge Alex(omigod - am I so glad I have a DAY JOB!)
10. Stalked (or was stalked by) Wild Bill in Richmond
11. Pondered chocolate martinis
12. Walked 30 blocks around Richmond talking with our Bill-Lee. He is EVEN BETTER in person than in print!
13. Almost fell on my A$$ in the dark restaurant.
14 Had a fabulous dinner with Bill (unfortunately, Sheila, he did not bring cupcakes - although he DID come bearing chocolate!)
15. Counted my many blessings...
16. Picked up my hubby at the airport
17. Touristed around Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown. Pretty cool, living history lesson!
18. Drove ~ 300 miles RT to Arlington VA and DC - primarily to go to Pastries by Randolph, a great pastry shop we had visited 19 years ago. STILL awesome. I got a pastry that actually was TOO CHOCOLATEY. Didn't know that was possible!
19. Went to the Spy Museum (thanks hutchibk for the tip!) which was really cool - a great mix between hokey and creepy! Trust no one.
20. Saw the Lincoln memorial and the WW2 memorial. The WW2 memorial is new, and very cool. I thought it beautiful, moving, and very appropriate to what it was commemorating. I cried of course. You should definitely see it.
21. Got 2 free tickets and first class flights back to San Jose by booking on an oversold flight.
22. Final highlight of the trip: Our rerouted flight took us through Chicago with JUST ENOUGH of a layover to call my sister who ordered and delivered us PIZZA! Which we ate in the baggage claim.

23. First day back....UCSF labs, echo, PET/CT, office visit ALL in one day! But well worth it!

I know nobody cares about my vacation...but it was so good to just get away...I'm so lucky to have my medical team "get" that the reason we're in treatment is so we can HAVE A LIFE! And squeeze every last minute out of it.

The highlight of course....RICHMOND! (and Randolph's!)
Bill - when are you coming to California???? I've got a 6 mile hike all picked out...

How I spent my summer vacation
 

Sounds fabulous to me !! I am still waiting for mine.
I want to try the new Hawaii superferry to a neighbor island and just sit on the beach and do nothing.

Chrisy
Sounds like a fabulous time...even with no cupcakes....the area is beautiful there....anywhere with a beach is a treat for me. I have this need to feel the sand between my toes....

I care about your vacation. So there. And it sounds fabulous. Especially the "flinging" yourself into the ocean. I can't get that visual out of my head!

I think that you need a vacation from your vacation. Where do you get your energy? Must be all that chocolate...

It was wonderful to actually meet you, Chris. (For those of you who haven't met her, she has the most beautiful eyes and smile you have ever seen and she can out-walk anyone, I'm pretty sure. I showed up for dinner early because I was starving, but she wanted to "stroll" around a bit to work up an appetite. I agreed, thinking it would be a 10 or 15 minute thing. After an hour of hiking up and down the cobblestoned streets of old town Richmond, I felt faint and several times let Chris go ahead a few paces so that I could check my pulse without her seeing. It was rapid, but still strong. We had to stop to buy water at one time and as soon as I drank my bottle, I began sweating like crazy. Wow, I guess Chrisy got me all dehydrated. She said we walked 30 blocks, and I can assure you, all kidding aside, it was one of the nicest 30 block walks I've ever taken. (except for the alleys she wanted to walk down, at that point I switched on to 'protector' mode) We had a great time at dinner, too, and actually when she tried to sit down on that shadow in the restaurant, I thought it was a bench, too.)