Back from Vacation!

[Raverlaw]

Hi everyone!

After an outstanding 100th birthday party (my friend Mike O and me each turned 50 this month ) we left the next day for a week long camping trip at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California. We camped at beautiful Summit Lake and hiked daily to some beautiful waterfalls, meadows and volcanic features. Mt. Lassen last erupted in 1914, and the area bears many scars of the eruption as well as active thermal features like bubbling hot mud pots and steaming pools.

The highlight of the trip, after getting acclimated to the elevation, was our hike on Friday to the summit of Lassen Peak - elevation 10,457 feet. The trail was short, but featured a 2,000' elevation gain, so it was quite a climb. The last 500 feet are a free climb over large boulders to the tippy top. We all made it and signed the register at the top. That day happened to be the 25th week, to the day, since my AVR surgery. As I stood at the trail head, gazing up at the peak I was about to climb, I couldn't help but think that a mere 25 weeks earlier at the same time, I was laying head down on a surgical table being flayed open. I much preferred the second climb over the mountain, but couldn't have done it if I hadn't "climbed" the first one.

Here's some pics of the three of us in Bumpass Hell, a vast area of steaming pools and sulfur pots, named for a man who discovered it in the 1870's by falling into a boiling pool and losing his leg ; as well as one of me at the top of Lassen Peak, celebrating my little anniversary.

 

[tobagotwo]

So, you decided you preferred all those boiling pots of lava-heated mineral water to a nice, soft hospital bed?

Can't imagine why you'd say that...

I'm glad we have you with us, Bill. You add to our lives.

Neat celebration idea. I wish I'd been that clever, now that I see this. Good to see you're full of energy, and that you enjoyed it so much.

Best wishes.

 

[Karlynn]

Congratulations Bill. Quite a feat! And I think a good lesson for our pre-surgery members on why sooner is better than later. There's no way I would have been able to do that 25 weeks post-op, let alone 50 weeks.

 

[Marguerite53]

a veritable moonscape!!

a veritable moonscape!!

Thanks for the pictures. You look great. What an inspiration!! So glad to hear that you enjoyed your 50th -- mine was last december and we enjoyed the Oregon coast -- not so sunny! but exhilarating, stormy walks and good family together time.

I'm impatient to be climbing my own mountain, but "all in good time, my pretty, all in good time", I guess!!

Congratulations!!

Marguerite

 

[Raverlaw]

Neat celebration idea. I wish I'd been that clever, now that I see this.

Bob,

I can't take credit for the idea. I just looked up and thought about climbing the mountain - and realized that my surgery was on a Friday morning. I was exactly one week short of six months (that's this coming Friday) and so it worked out to 25 weeks. The mountain climbing analogy that we all use here is SO perfect though: The worst part is standing at the bottom, looking up and fearing the worst (I won't make it - it's too high/hard/far), then comes the actual climb, when you just put your head down, and set one foot in front of the other until you reach the summit; the exhilaration of being on top and having made it through; and finally, the downhill return, which goes fast and leaves you feeling tired but accomplished as you return to the trail head. Once you're back, you are different in a way that is hard to explain: different because you met the challenge.

Very much like OHS in my experience. I didn't invent the analogy- I think it was in use here long before I joined in January, but it is a great analogy and all of us who have been there "own" it.

Our very own Tom Hosack will soon be climbing Pike's Peak, which is a cool 3600 feet higher than Lassen - and he's doing it for a great cause. Be sure to support him in any way you can.

 

[Abbanabba]

Way to go Bill!! Not too bad for an old bloke...!

A : )

....actually, I'm just jealous I don't have a scrap of the energy you do, but you're certainly an inspiration.

 

[Raverlaw]

Anna,

I'm not an old bloke yet...just a little older than you are

And you must have some energy, as I've seen your post on certain other threads here promoting a very strenuous form of cardiac exercise....

 

[hensylee]

we need to refer folks to your mountaintop picture just before they go in for their 'fix'. You truly look like you are on top of the world.

In the second one, where is the LEM?

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Raverlaw]

Lest you all think that the entire park looks like the surface of the moon, I include another shot; this one of Lassen Peak from a distance. The park is full of beautiful alpine forests and lakes.

 

[Bryan B]

Bill,

I love that last picture, especially how you can see the mountain and trees reflected in the water. Love the new avatar too!

 

[hensylee]

what a beautiful scene, Bill.

Nice new avatar. You look just like yourself.

 

[Abbanabba]

Gorgeous picture Bill! I'll have to get around to posting some of the beautiful mountains and waterfalls near my new home town.

.....oh.....

....and re: my recommendations for cardiac exercise..... I'm afraid these days the mind is willing...... but the body.......*sigh*
Still, one must do what one can, eh?

Cheers
Anna : )

PS - if it makes you feel any better, at least you're a 50y/o that feels 30...... I'm a 30y/o that feels at least 60 some days!!!