Capitals, Delays and Nuclear Medicine

I had an opportunity to visit two nation's capitals this last week. Washington DC and Ottawa Canada. I have been to these cities before, but never in the same week.  The bustle of the two cities is very similar as everywhere you turn there is another government building, memorials, constant construction and lots of people from all over the world.

Washington DC

My flight from Sacramento to Washington DC went through Houston and was without incident except for the delay from Houston to BWI (Baltimore). About 30 minutes late.  That would not have been a big deal but I was already getting in at midnight. This caused a cascade of delays that put me at my hotel about 1:30 am. I had about 4 hours of sleep before I had to wake up and make my early morning meeting. The meeting went great and gave me the afternoon before I had to catch another flight to Ottawa. I looked at getting an earlier flight but to no avail. I had to wait until 9pm to catch my flight out of DCA (Reagan National).

So I had the afternoon to take a nap or walk around DC. Since I was tired and it was hot outside (95 degrees with 80% humidity) I was prepared to get a nap, but Paige convinced me to go see the new Spiderman movie. I walked over to the nearest movie theater and for an afternoon matinee I paid $15 to see the movie. At least it was in a nice air-conditioned theater. There were only 5 other people in the movie (it was the middle of the day on a Tuesday). The movie was great, but it was eerie with the theater being so quiet.

Ottawa

After my movie I hustled back to the hotel and drove my car to the airport. With plenty of time I was able to get some work done at the airport. I was also watching as my flight was delayed 10 minutes, then 30, 60 then back to 20. I knew I might get stuck in Washington DC for the night. Luckily I was only delayed 30 minutes and arrived in Ottawa at 11pm. 

Every time I go to Ottawa it is an adventure to get through immigration. They are in the process of changing their process and procedures to make getting through immigration quickly. One of the new changes is putting in self-service kiosks that make it easy to process people. Since these are new they are still working out the kinks in the system. I ended up being red flagged for additional screening. Joy.

After waiting 30 minutes to talk to an immigration officer, I was asked a series of questions about why I am visiting, if I have ever been arrested, who I live with, and what I was doing in Toronto in 1994. Wow, they remembered that I worked in Toronto for a year and that Dallin was born there. I quickly finished all of their questions and headed to the hotel. Another late night with a little bit of sleep for the next day. Luckily I didn't have a meeting first thing in the morning and had a chance to sleep in.

I had  several meetings over the next couple of days but had some time to see parts of Ottawa. Some

of the things that caught my eye was the Changing of the Guard. I had the chance to see this from one of the buildings along the street of the marching path. I had know idea that Canada had a changing of the guard much like what I have seen in England. It reminded my that the US and Canada both had roots from England. Canada embraced more of their roots, while the American Revolutionaries did everything they could to cast off the oppression of the Kind. Funny how much we are the same and different at the same time.

Coming Home

After two days of meetings I was anxious to get home. I went to the airport with time to get through immigration before I got on my airplane. This is a nice perk of leaving from Ottawa. I go through US immigration before I get on the airplane. Luckily no incidents.  When I got through immigration I heard my flight from Ottawa to New Jersey had been delayed. This meant that I was going to miss my connection to Sacramento. I went to the flight counter and they had already booked me on another flight that went through Chicago. I actually got me home 1 hour earlier. I was very happy about that.  I caught my flight after feasting on fries with poutine and bacon. I had to have fatty foods for my HIDA scan the next day. That is my excuse and I am sticking with it. 

Nuclear Medicine

After arriving home, I looked at my original flight from Jersey and saw that it was delayed until 3am in the morning. Boy am I glad I got on a different flight. This actually gave me time to irritate my gall bladder a little bit more. I stopped at In and Out on my way home and picked up a Double-Double at 11pm at night. You got to love that In and Out stays open until 1am.

The next morning Paige took me to the doctor to get my HIDA scan done to figure out what is going on with my gall bladder. The whole week I actually felt pretty good. I was anxious to find out what was really going on with my "gut".  A HIDA scan basically injects a radioactive isotope into your blood stream and then they give you drugs that mimic eating fatty foods filling up your gall bladder and then giving you more drugs to force your gall bladder to empty. They take pictures and movies watching the function of the gall bladder.

Good news is that there is nothing wrong with my gall bladder. Bad news is they don't know where the pain in my gut is coming from. That means more tests. We will have to wait and see. In the meantime I am actually feeling pretty good.

DWP

Finding peace in the big cities (Church in London and Paris)

Another trip abroad and another chance to go to church on Sunday. This time we included 3 of our

Hyde Park Ward

girls on this trip. This was the first time that my daughters have left the country and attending church in a foreign land is something they really wanted to do.

Our first Sunday was right off the 11 hour flight from the US to London. We drove from the airport to downtown London. I knew that Sunday’s in London where pretty quiet and we could easily drive downtown, find a place to park and enjoy some of the museums and parks on a nice quiet Sunday. Our first stop was a Hotel near Hyde Park. Although we were not staying in downtown London, we found a Marriott near Hyde Park to change our clothes from the long flight from the US. It was nice to get some clean clothes on and get ready for church.

Church started at 10am and we had enough time to change, eat and find the church. It was an interesting ward. It was the Hyde Park ward and consisted mostly of older people and college students from Queen’s College or study abroad programs from BYU. The church was also a visitor center and was swarming with missionaries which is always great to see. We talked to several people that were there like us, tourist traveling in the area. We even saw one of Paige’s mom’s friends from Southern California that was there traveling. Small world we live in.

Notre Dame

The following week we were in Paris. We found a church that was walking distance from the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. I had told the girls about an Easter Mass that Paige and I saw a couple years ago and   how incredible it was. So the girls wanted to attend a Mass in Notre Dame while we were there. We decided to attend the 8:30am Morning Mass in French. They have a 10:30am Mass (Gregorian Mass) that I think is in Latin, which would have been really cool. But we had tickets to the Louvre at 11am so we decided to attend the early Mass and then go to our church down the street at 9:30am.

Rose Window NotreDame

First I have to say the best time to visit Notre Dame is first thing in the morning. You get to feel the reverence of the place because the number of people mulling around and making noise is much less than the normally crowded afternoon. With very few people and fairly quiet, I could actually feel the importance and reverence of this magnificent cathedral. Even if you aren’t religious or spiritual you would be able to feel something for this building. I could feel the over 800 years of religious worship where millions of people have
worshipped thru the centuries. What a great experience and one that I hope my girls never forget.

After a great experience at Notre Dame, we headed to our church for sacrament meeting. This was an interesting experience. Since Paris is a huge tourist destination, the sacrament meeting was held in the chapel and the overflow room. The overflow room had a TV with a live feed from the Chapel. In the overflow room everything was translated into English from the missionaries.

Paris France Ward

It made the meeting interesting as I think there was probably more English speakers in the overflow than French speakers in the chapel. Singing the hymns in English and French at the same time was amusing, as well as the harmonizing melody sung to different words. We kept in sync most of the time, but there were some awkward moments when one group finished before the other.  We met several people from all over the world that had traveled to Paris to see the sites.

DWP

Week in Hell

Pulsipher Clan 2017

Family reunions are always a time to reflect, dig up old memories, relive the fight you and your
brother had when you were 10 years old, and lots of just plain fun. When you come from a large family (close to 50 people) getting everyone together for a family reunion can be a logistical nightmare. Especially when the location of the family reunion has to change last minute due to forest fires.  Several things at this family reunion where great and overall it was a wonderful time had by all. The highlight of the reunion for me was seeing old pictures of our youth and of our parent’s youth. Especially when we all saw pictures of my mom in a bikini and she would not admit it was a bikini. (she called it a 2 piece, picture not included to protect the family secret)  Laughs all around and great to reminisce about our childhood.


Now for the part that didn’t go quite as planned....

• My Mom and Dad’s Cabin (The original destination of the reunion) was not available for the reunion. It was custom made (Thanks Dad) for the reunion now and in the future. We were all bummed that we could not stay there. Mostly because the weather was perfect. 70 degrees instead of 110 degrees in St George. Instead we ended up at my sister’s house, my parents house and some of the in-law’s house. It was still fun, but we were all looking forward to the “Legacy Cabin” my dad has built.
• St. George weather was hot. Not just hot, but Super Hot! Every day over 110 degrees. Many people have said that Hell was not as hot as St. George. And boy we felt it. But we had plenty of time in the pool, inside and on hikes up in the mountains when we could. So even though it was “Hotter than Hell” we still had a fun time.
• Trip to the Emergency Room was not in the plans, but it happened. I was not feeling well due

  

  Faking Death for the kids

  
  to problems with my gall bladder. I had been in pain for the last couple of weeks and actually went to the doctor the Thursday before our trip to get things checked out. Come Sunday I was feeling nauseous, light headed and was in pain. The doctor suggested I go to the ER if I had those symptoms. So After Family pictures on Sunday, I headed to the ER. A couple of hours of fluids, nausea medicine and a slew of tests, they sent me home and told me to relax and follow up with my doctor when I got home. No blockage in the gall bladder. My youngest brother and sister came to the hospital to visit to give support to my wife and give me a hard time for skipping out on the family reunion. I know I can always count on them for fun.
• Ruby died on Monday in the parking lot of Costco. Don’t worry we did not have to call the police. Ruby is our 11 year old Suburban. The 115 degree heat finally got to her. She was already having problems with a small leak in the cooling system. Right in the parking lot the water pump let go and wiped out the starter, part of the belt and who knows what else. I had AAA come pick her up and take her to the nearest auto dealer. The total bill was $2000 minimum and we made a decision to try and sell her to the dealer. She was so old and duck taped together, the Dealer would not take her. We called Make and Wish and donated her for parts. (We love you Ruby, duct tape and all!) Check out my Ode to Ruby Post.
• No Rental Car big enough for all of us and our stuff. We called around St. George to find a rental car for all 7 of us and our luggage. No go. We ended up renting two cars to take all of us home on July 5th. It ended up being a great drive home and we got to see some beautiful part of the country we have not seen before.
• Death Valley was 120 Degrees. We decided to take a little bit longer drive than normal to
  
  go home. Basically extend our vacation and see a beautiful part of the country. We went to Death Valley where it was 120 Degrees and we got to see Badwater (The lowest point in the Americas), The Devil’s Golf course, Furnace Creek the hottest place in the world, and sand dunes that look like they came from the Sahara desert.
• Long Drive home turned out to be a beautiful drive along the east side of the Sierra  Nevadas. Starting at Lone Pine and driving up Hwy 395. Within about 1 ½ hours we drove from the lowest place in North America to one of the highest, Mt Whitney. What an amazing place that we live. On our drive from Death Valley to Lone Pine we came to the top of a ridge of a canyon and a F16 or F34 came right over the top of use at less than 100 feet and dropped down in the canyon below vertical to the car. What an amazing sight and sound.

Overall the Week in Hell was just that it was Hot, and we made a potentially horrible week into a great fun time together. Even in the Emergency Room in St. George.

DWP

Ode to Ruby

Over the last 11 years you have endured two large families with so many trips to Utah and Southern
California it is hard to count. You endured dirty little kids jumping over your middle seat to “get in the back”; spilled milkshakes, fries, chicken nuggets, and that one time we had Chinese food on a long road trip.  You have been reliably taking us to WinCo, swim, school, church and work for countless number of trips. You have been dinged and dented by too many people to mention, but every scrape and dent reminds us of the efforts you made for our family.

But it has not all be work for you or us. You enjoyed several trips camping, skiing, Boy Scout trips, Girls Camp and  trips to the Aquatic Center for a day of fun on the lake. Not to mention the number of times you have been to the drive-in theater to “watch movies”.  You have also been known to play your music loud with a car full of kids hanging out of windows driving in the neighborhood. Not only have you been there for happy times but you have been there for sad times as well. You were always the “go to” place when someone needed to be alone, to vent, cry or just yell at the top of their lungs.

The comfort and security that you gave us over the years will always bring great memories for those that you served. You truly will be missed by all.


The Pulsipher Families