On the Road to Recovery

Andy had his ACL surgery yesterday. 

They shaved his knee and made him initial the correct one.

And then the surgeon came in and initialed the correct knee.

And then the nurse came in and made him state the correct knee.

Basically it was confirmed about 700 times that the left knee was the one to operate on.  Apparently it only takes one doctor somewhere to operate on the wrong appendage to put a few additional protocols in place.

Soon enough I got him home and comfortable.  And then the dogs decided to help make him more comfortable too.



Although "Dog Hugs" weren't formally laid out in his recovery packet, I think we'll allow the additional therapy.

New Zealand - A Sprint for the Start

Getting to New Zealand from Michigan is not easy.

It is long.

Ambien is necessary.

Planes with personal TV screens and free movies to choose from is also necessary.

Here's a quick breakdown of our journey:

Step 1: Drive 3 hours to Chicago.
Step 2: 3 and a half hour flight to LA - 6 hour layover
Step 3: 14 hour flight to Brisbane, Australia - 12 hour layover
Step 4: 3 hour flight to Christchuch, NZ - 8 hour layover
Step 5: 1 hour flight to Queenstown, NZ - 6 hours until shuttle departure
Step 6: 2 hour shuttle ride
Step 7: Begin hike!

My jet lag just came back from typing that. 

I should note that our Brisbane layover on Christmas Day was awesome.  We left the airport and went to the "beach" - it's on a river but I'll call it a beach anyways - had some beers and relaxed.  I'd show you pictures because I brought my camera - I just forgot to put a memory card in it.  Whoops. 

For our midnight to 8 am layover in Christchurch, we hauled out our sleep pads and bags and slept on the floor of the airport.  Because we're classy like that.

Somehow, we finally arrived in Queenstown, got some grub, stored our suitcases and went to the lake:

That's not us in the above photo, just 2 random tourists who decided to sit down and get all up in my picture.

As we sat on the beach waiting for our 3 pm shuttle to depart, Andy perused our documents.  Then this happened:

Andy: Uh, we should probably head to the shuttle stop.
Me: Why?  We've got like 2 hours right?
Andy:  I guess I kind of remembered wrong.  It leaves at one.
Me: You mean now?
Andy: Yeah.

And with that, we began our relaxing vacation with a less than relaxing sprint for the shuttle.

You'll Never Believe What Washed Ashore

Andy and I had a first in our hiking history at our campsite yesterday.

The day started out fairly normally.  The night before we had read that our intended campsite, Mutton's Cove, was closed because of the flooding and landslides that hit that area of New Zealand in the previous weeks.  We were bummed because it was supposed to be one of the most remote and beautiful beaches, but we figured we'd find somewhere else to hike.

We decided to go on a guided kayak trip that morning.  When we mentioned our situation to the owner of kayak rental, he told us he thought the campsite had just opened and would check into things while we were out on the water kayaking.

So off we went kayaking, which was pretty amazing.  I was nervous at first but calmed down as we paddled around and hung out with the birds, jellyfish and seals.

After we disembarked from the kayaks, the owner told us our campsite was open, but the water taxi to it left in 15 minutes.  He had called the boat operator for us and he'd wait an extra 5 minutes for us - so we flew to the car, threw some things in our hiking bags, raced to the boat launch and boarded the water taxi just in time.  We then began to trek to our remote beach campsite and set up our tent.

 And then this washed ashore:

And then we thought we it was a mirage and we were hallucinating, but truly, a Bernese Mountain Dog named Cash had come ashore.  His owner, Ken from Wellington, had brought his kids and the dogs out boating, and they had randomly chose to stop at our beach.  Ken had put Cash on the dingy and put a life jacket on him, but Cash doesn't swim.  So he was surprised when Cash suddenly jumped out of the dingy.  One of the kids had to get him and bring him to shore, luckily his life jacket kept him afloat.

Ken informed us that Berners aren't too common in the North Island or the Northern part of the South Island where we were camping.  We couldn't believe the luck that our remote campsite opened for use, that we barely made the boat to bring us here, that Ken - one of the few Berner owners on the island - chose this beach to stop at and that Cash oddly decided to jump in the water.

So we gave Cash some pets, Ken gave us some beers and we enjoyed the random events of the day that led a Bernese Mountain Dog to our campsite.

New Zealand Log Crawl 2012

Yesterday I went on my first Log Crawl.

It was kind of like a Bar Crawl, only New Zealand beach style.

We arrived in Westport and promptly made our way to West Coast Brewing Co. There we engaged in a beer “tasting.” This consisted of the brewing assistant giving us some glasses and pretty much leaving the taps open for our choosing for the next two hours. We chatted with some locals and travelers and enjoyed our brew.

When we left, we took a “rigger,” which is basically an empty 2 liter pop bottle filled with beer to go.

Westport is a beach town, so we made our way to the beach with our rigger in tow. We decided we wanted to walk the beach, but we didn’t want the rigger of beer to get warm in the car, so it came with us.

From that point on, we stopped at each comfortable log along our walk, sat down and sipped some beer and then moved on to the next cozy looking log. When our rigger was half way gone, we turned around and headed back.

Thus two litters of beer and two miles of beach led to my first unofficial log crawl.

Kiwi State of Mind

Greetings from New Zealand!
We have to pay for the internet here – so I’m just posting quickly to say by some crazy miracle Andy’s knee has been no problem for him hiking. He’s actually still faster than me on the trail half the time, which kind of makes me want to break his other ACL.

He did develop some blisters on our final day coming off of one of the trails. He was angry at his hiking shoes for betraying him after five years and hundreds of miles. So he threw them away less than a minute after getting off the trail.

And now just a few pictures/highlights from our adventure thus far:
Lunch spot on our first day in New Zealand:

A rainbow over Te Anau:

Andy discovering New Zealand:

Kepler Trail complete:

New Year’s Day Picnic:

Crossing my fingers that our good luck and sunny days continue.

Like Son, Like Father

The memory of Toby's 3 ACL surgeries is still fresh as the snowfall we received in Michigan last night.

That's actually an old snowy Toby photo, but you get the idea.

His injury occurred 2 weeks before we left for Ireland.  My Mama helped nurse him back to heatlh while we were away.

So, here we sit, 2 weeks before we leave for New Zealand, for the hiking trip of a lifetime.

Toby's ACL is still in tact.

Andy's ACL?  Not so much.

He injured it at soccer and got the MRI results today. 

Fortunately the doctor thinks he can fit Andy for a brace that will keep him stable enough for hiking.  It might mean a little less than we'd planned, but we'll do what we can.  It might just mean we'll hike less and visit wineries more.  And more wine is never a bad thing.

So we'll delay surgery until our return.

At which point I should probably schedule a vacation and have my Mama nurse him back to health.

Whaddaya think Ma? At least you wouldn't have to fight to keep a cone on Andy's head.

So until we leave, Andy will be commiserating with the one furry guy who can best relate to his pain.

O Canada

After Andy completely outdid himself surprising me for my 30th birthday, I knew I wanted to do at least a little something fun for him when he turned 30.

For some reason we passed on Chuck E Cheese and decided on a joint birthday road trip with friends to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

He was excited about the destination, but he screamed like a kid on Christmas when I told him our hotel was at the casino.  I also told him I would give him the gift of not standing over his shoulder and nagging his face off while he gambled.  I'm generous like that.

Soon after crossing the border, I began my love affair with Tim Horton's and proceeded to be fueled by TimBits for the rest of the weekend.

Our friend had a slight issue with his passport.  It was expired.  And it was 10 years old.  And he went bald.  And he grew a beard.  Thankfully some border agent took pity on him and let him pass.

Slight difference.

Andy borrowed another friends blazer to complete his "I'm an engineer" outfit.  Please note the too short jeans and white tennis shoes:

Trendsetter.

The next day we slowly made our way to the falls. Do you know how difficult it is to keep a group of 11 individuals who are easily distracted by shiny lights and beer together?  It's a lot like herding cats.  We almost managed one group photo:

Team America minus one.

We visited a brewery afterwards.  Although the beer was good, the poutine was even better.

More majestic than the Falls.

We continued indulging at a Brazilian Steakhouse for dinner.  That's two hours of unlimited meat delivered to your table every few minutes.  Although it left me with a stomach ache and gave me the meat sweats, it was still amazing.

After a little more drinking and gamling, our Canadian Dream came to an end and we made our way back home. 

O Canada.

Thanks for the memories, America Jr.