updates

Hello all! I'm definitely getting worse and worse about posting on here- sorry!
Work is overall going well- we are getting some new items for the hospital (plasma!! finally!!) and also reportedly bringing on two new doctors in the fall. So you can imagine that we've been pretty busy! The clinic was also featured on a local pet lovers TV show, although I haven't found a link to the video yet, but continue to get comments about it from clients and other friends on the island.
I did get to explore a bit of Kauai last month, which is the next island north. Although it was mostly a work sponsored trip for a conference on the island, I took an extra couple of days to drive around and check out more sites. This trip was enhanced greatly by the fact that 3 friends/colleagues of mine were also at the conference and we teamed up to explore the island. The lecturers were mostly Tufts profs, so attending the conference was a little strange for me having graduated so recently- it was pretty much like being back in class!  There was even a back back row I was tempted to sit in for those who know my seating preference at school...
Also attending the conference was fellow V'09 Lindsey, now completing a crazy residency in MA; and Annapolis mentors/friends Julie and Isabelle. On one of our days off- we took a long boat ride up around the west coast of the island through some definitely rough seas (thank you Dramamine). The north/northwest coast of the island is completely inaccessible except by hiking, helicopter or boat- no roads whatsoever here. It's called the 'Na Pali' coast and looks like an amazing hike to come back and do one day. It was definitely a gorgeous, pristine area to view from the boat. We then turned and headed further out to sea towards the remote and off-limits island of Ninihau- where the boat briefly anchored for a snorkeling excursion. Overall, the snorkeling wasn't that great, but during the boat ride we saw lots of spinner dolphins, humpback whales (finally!), and 2 huge manta rays!
One of the big 'tourist pulls' is Waimea canyon- which we tried to see with little success due to the ever present cloud cover at that elevation. It did seem to rain daily on Kauai, and the clouds just hang out over the canyon. On our last day- we joined a kayak trip up the Wailua River about 2.5 miles where we parked the kayaks and continued on foot for an additional mile to reach a huge waterfall!  This method of approach is the only way to reach this site, so the number of visitors is somewhat limited, although it seems the 3 major kayak companies all bring their groups here. Still gorgeous none the less and a perfect combination of outdoor activities to me! The hike was exceedingly muddy though, so it felt awesome to jump in the water at the end, followed by a short picnic lunch.

Katie kayaking

Lindsey getting a mud treatment

Gorgeous waterfall!!

I should mention our resort where the conference was held as well- this place was pretty massive!  Several separate wings of the hotel, 2 restaurants, huge workout room with lots of equipment and free weights (a rare find at hotels) and the centerpiece of the resort was it's huge swimming pool with 5 hot tubs. The resort was also positioned essentially on it's own beach front property. So you can jump out from the pool, walk about 20 feet to the beach and jump in the bay just beyond- gorgeous!!

View over the pool, looking out to the bay.

View up the Napali coastline

We're transitioning back to the dry season here in Hawaii- it's a nice time of year because everything is still green and we're having more sunny days than rainy days finally!
And on that note- I'm out the door for some errands and to enjoy the sunshine!