After dropping him back off with the grandparents, Nicole and I started the final section of UMBR (Ross' step 1 review class we've been attending through the semester). This section - pharm and phys - was run by the esteemed Dr. Kudrath. I say "esteemed" because his part of the course is the reason Ross imposed their mandatory attendance policy on UMBR - 90% attendance, or no dice. See, he's so good, that people would just skip the earlier stuff, and come for his part. I believe he also teaches at a lot of the Texas medical schools, and had some very specific, tested-and-proven advice to hand down to us. It was a grueling 8 hours per day, but I think we came away with an excellent review, and some fantastic advice.
We'd planned to take that advice, and hit the ground running, but we needed a serious break. Thus, Nicole and I spent a few days doing nothing but hitting the gym and reading by the pool.
(This blogger website is being unreasonable today, and so I may not be able to post all the picture I'd like. You've been forewarned).
After our poolside relaxation, we flew to Spokane to visit Nicole's family for a week. The last time I was in Washington was about two years ago in November - I managed to fly in on the same day as their first big winter snow. However, my bags chose to wait a day, and arrive at their leisure (I believe they stopped off in Milwaukee or somewhere like that). So there I was, wearing jeans, a button-up dress shirt, and the the little zip-sweater I'd layered on in Houston. This time was different - it hovered around 80 during the days, and only dipped down to about the 70's during the night. Nicole's parents wanted to make sure to show me the town at this time of year, and I've got to say - it's a beautiful city. Part of it remind me of Augusta, GA, and other parts of New Haven, CT. The river running through the middle of the whole town, though, adds in a certain something that couldn't have been done by engineers and city planners.
The first day (if I remember correctly -they all sort of run into each other), we walked around the park that hugs the river that runs through the city.
(Nope...blogger isn't letting me post pics the way I'd like to - I'll do it in a separate post).
So we walked around the park that first day, and had a nice lunch at Rock City Grill. After that, Nicole and her mom walked around Nordstrom, looking for baby clothes for a friend of Nicole's, while her father and I browsed ties we couldn't afford. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and hanging out.
The next day, we went to Manito park - Spokane's got a lot of parks, but this one is more like a botanical garden. they had their little plant conservatory. We spent a good amount of time walking around and smelling the roses, before heading to the Elk Pub in Brown's Edition. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I heard "Elk Pub", but I wasn't too far off - it felt like it catered to the hipster set and businessmen alike, with a whole lot of Northwest charm.
The next day, we did a bit of shopping - hitting up the Nordstrom Rack (their big bargain basement that, for Nicole, is always good for hundreds of dollars of savings on jeans and tops, and for me, is always good for at least one tie), and costco. We also went to see a friend of Nicole's mother, who has this fantastic projector set up in their living room. Forget flat-screens - I want one.
There was a lot of hanging out, a lot of eating good food - I went to mass with the family, and we had a huge family barbecue, during which time I got to meet the rest of the family. It was like a matching game - Nicole had been telling me stories about all of these people for years now, and I just had to put names to faces. It was a lot of fun - we also spent some time with their next door neighbors, who have turned their back yard into a beautiful little park. Their fire pit was an ingenious little deal crafted from a tractor wheel.
One night we went to the Gibliano Brother's Dueling Piano bar. The whole idea of a piano bar is very northwest (very Seattle - very Billy Joel and Elton John ), and, as such, is something with which I had no experience other than Nicole's stories. She and her mother were all revved up to go, so her dad and I tagged along. It's been explained to me this way - you have two pianos, and everyone sings along. Part of the way the pianists make their tips is that you pay them to play or to stop playing something. It's supposed to be a lot of fun - apparently, though, the crowd we mixed in with that night didn't know how things were supposed to go. There were some older folks singing their hearts out, but the rest of the folks were the college-aged crowd who, apparently, thought it was just some regular bar. Nevertheless, after a few drinks, Nicole and I belted out all the verses to Billy Joel's Piano Man (which, in my heyday, I could have gotten up on stage and tickled from the ivories), and Don McLean's American Pie. I hate to say it, because it probably isn't true - but I had more Bon Jovi in my soul than that crowd. (It's impossible to go clubbing in a college town and not hear Livin' on a Prayer).
Following that rousing start to the night, I made an interesting discovery - I love ginger; not the spice girl, not the castaway - but the actual plant. I mean, I'd always liked ginger-ale, but ginger's great, especially when added to martinis and mojitos.
We went out for Anniversary dinner (our 2 year, her parent's 29 year) at Clinkerdagger - the same place we'd visited on my last trip. Afterwards, we walked over bridges, taking pictures of the city.
This trip - this time off - has allowed my to finally get into some reading I've been meaning to do for quite a while. I've managed to get through the following:
Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy
Justin Evans' The Good and Happy Child
Carlos Ruiz Zaffon's The Shadow of the Wind (one of my new all-time favorites !),
and I'm reading Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle.
Right now, I should be plowing madly through hundreds of questions in preparation for step 1, but my package from Kaplan hasn't arrived yet (it should today). So, I'll go through a few from a q-book I have, and hit it tomorrow.
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