a shot in the arm

The weather is changing quickly, but we still have time to get some hiking in before the snow flies. We went up yesterday with Heidi, because she gets so happy-dancy when she sees me put on my hiking boots. She did great again. Made it all the way to the top all by herself. Here we are, shrubby-haired woman and short-legged dog at high elevation.



When we got back to the ski valley, we noticed signs of life at the medical clinic, which is always an encouraging thing, so decided to check in with the Travel Doctor there. He's the only one in the area, and he travels a lot himself, so we took a chance and popped in. Not surprisingly, things are slow at a ski clinic this time of year. Not a broken leg in sight, and the nice doc had some time on his hands. So without actually planning to do anything but talk to him about our shots for Ethiopia, we ended up getting the shots right there on the spot. Maybe it's all in my head, but I feel a little bit "off" today. I didn't sleep well with a pain in my arm, and thoughts of yellow fever, morphing into a dream-state rendition of "Yellow River", running through my head all night. But it was good to be sort of caught off guard with the shot thing. And it was as pleasant as it could have been, considering the needles and all. Even little Heidi was invited inside to join the party. Nice place, if you should ever need a doctor while visiting Taos. I'd definitely choose the ski valley over the local hospital. And you can walk across the parking lot and have a nice green chile burrito and a beer afterwards, which is just what we did.

So plans for Ethiopia are moving right along. The fundraiser is going to help a lot in paying the cost of the trip, so the foundation doesn't have to pay for it. We have to pay our own medical expenses and other personal stuff, which is not cheap... those shots were over $600 for the two of us. Yipes! I guess I'd better go make some beads! But at least we're done with that, and now we're set to travel anywhere we want to. First Ethiopia, and then the World!