Desert Flowers

Here are some pictures from our vacation this week. For the most part the fun-having was done during the first few days. For Keith and I, the second half of the week has been spent sitting in a large, overly air-conditioned auditorium for nearly 10 hours straight listening to people talk about various medical topics. The talk on pap smear updates was good, the one on aerospace medicine, not so practical. Truth be told, I love a good CME. I love sitting around and drinking coffee while soaking in what really smart people have to say about the studies I've been reading all year. I love pontificating about various medical practices. It's amazing how much difference in opinion and practice style there is between various clinics and communities. Keith thought I was crazy when I was actually more excited to go the the conference than I was about sight seeing or sitting by the pool. Anyway, enjoy the pics from our "Kat almost died hike", as well as our trip to the botanical gardens. More pics will eventually be available on Flickr as usual.

Top 10 Reasons to Move to Broken Bow

For those of you who aren't aware of all the attractive offerings of our beloved B-squared, here's a partial list in reverse order of importance:

#10) Nice people. Our garage door has been torn off for over a month, and no one has stolen a single item.
#9) Open spaces. If you like the outdoors, and you don't mind frequent gale force winds and an occasional waft of cattle manure, then you'll love walking or biking on rural roads through rolling plains.
#8) Local produce. Talk about a green-minded people, BB has a nice farmers market throughout the summer. You can even buy local, grass-fed Bison there.
#7) Friendly neighbors. Ours have come through yet again in the doggie daycare department while we're vacationing in AZ.
#6) Very nice doggies live there (yes, I mean ours)
#5) No traffic. You know you're getting spoiled when sitting at the intersection for 30 seconds while waiting to cross the highway causes you to throw your hands up in frustration.
#4) Home cooking. Sort of a necessity rather than a bonus given the dining options are few, but hey, it's still good.
#3) Excellent health care from very qualified professionals.
#2) Housing prices: You can afford a veritable mansion here for the cost of a down payment many other places in the U.S.. The median home price in BB is $57,800.
#1) Keith and Shaleah live there, and if they aren't enough, they now have a big TV.

So, if it hadn't already occurred to you, give it some thought. Broken Bow, "In the middle of everywhere!"

Rich people live here.

We're in Scottsdale. It's a ritzy suburb of Phoenix that seems to exist solely for the purpose of helping people consume. The road our hotel is located on is lined with countless restaurants, hotels, coffee shops and shopping centers. And if you don't like the Crate & Barrel across the street, you hop on the shopping trolly and ride 8 miles south to the next one. Awesome! Today I bought cute dessert plates at Anthropologie, a lemon juicer, and espresso cups -- all things that are very hard to find in rural NE, but easy enough to take back as a carry on.

We have four days of Continuing Medical Education (CME) conferences here, and four days of consumption. Kat and Jeffrey were kind enough to drive out here and entertain us for the weekend. We did lots of cool stuff including a nice hike and a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home (see this blog for professional style description of events).

When we come back we will be smarter, tanner and better dressed. Very successful CME week indeed.