The last few days of our class, which I never got around to blogging about, were as enjoyable and educational as the beginning portion had been. We learned how to give an muscular injection (Seth and I were each other's guinea pigs for this one), how to identify a hernia, and how to rotate a twisted testicle back into position (no guinea pigs here, just a theoretical explanation). Our class ended on a Thursday, and on Friday we had those folks who didn't have to skip town right away over for snacking, drinks, and a fire in the living room. I know I've said it already, but I can say enough about what a great social experience this class was and what an interesting and diverse group of people we met and became friends with: a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, a Shakespearean actor, a beekeeper, a yoga instructor, a professional poker player... And despite the differences in lifestyle, we all had in common a love of the backcountry and a desire to be prepared to help ourselves and others while enjoying it.
Connecting on this shared interest lit a fire under me and Seth to do some summer planning, and last week we bought train tickets to (finally) visit Glacier National Park this July. We'll be there for about 10 days in the middle/latter part of the month; I'm extremely excited to take a backpacking/camping trip without use of a vehicle. The Amtrak (the same train line that we've taken cross-country) stops directly in the National Park, and then Glacier runs a shuttle (free with your Park Pass) along the main park road and to the major campgrounds and trailheads. We hope to spend several days doing a backpacking trip and the remainder of the time camping and going on day hikes, perhaps with one night in the lodge to clean ourselves up before we board the train back home.
I'm also excited to announce that for the first time in many years we'll be home for Thanksgiving. I thought that perhaps if we bought our tickets now that they would be comparable in price to a "normal" time of the year, and I was right, so we did. I'm really looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner with family, to Grandma's pie (I'm putting in a pecan request now), and to some kind of blackened fish concoction of Dad's!
