I am starting to get giddy with excitement about my trip to San Francisco. Except for the pain (which has subsided into sort of a dull ache...not a good sign) in my knee, all I want to think about right now are all the recommendations my friends Dave & Claire and Trina have given me. I'll be leaving Missoula tomorrow morning at 10:45 AM and arriving in San Francisco via Salt Lake City at around 1:50 PM. My friend Dave (aka Punk Ass) is picking me up at the airport and dropping me off at The exceedingly groovy Hotel Triton, after which I have to boogie over to register at my conference. Later, Dave will go back to the airport to pickup his brother, Rick and another friend and fellow Urologist Karl Westenfelder. Karl, Rick and I are sharing a hotel room. The Triton is located at the gates of Chinatown and I can't wait to get my mouth around some of the great culinary offerings to be had. The Extended forecast looks flipping awesome, with the weather just getting better and better as the week goes on. I can't wait to see the Golden Gate bridge up close (before 9/11 I flew over it in Jack Roscoe's sweet little prop plane on my way to Gwen & Jack's wedding in Arcata), visit Alcatraz and go the largest independent record store in the country, Amoeba Records. Oh yeah, and I'll learn alot at the conference too :)
Picking A Tree From the Wayhiup
When my friends Phil & Julie Gardner used to live in Indiana, there home was tucked away south of Indianapolis is a beautiful wooded area near Martinsville. They called their home the Waydownback and it was frequently the jumping off point for our weekend adventures in the hills of southern Indiana. Phil & Julie moved to Missoula about 7 years ago and now have a home, nestled in the pine forested mountains, about 30 minutes south of Missoula...they've affectionately named their Lolo, Montana home the Wayhiup.
The Wayhiup sits atop a ridge and is surrounded by both logged and unlogged forest. Their land butts up against land owned by the timber conglomerate Plum Creek. Because of the reforestation methods of logging companies, fast growing and invasive species of pine have crept onto the Gardner property and they let some of their friends come up each year to help thin away trees that crowd out the native trees. This year, I got invited and it was a super fun time.
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