Puerto Rico

This is not the best picture in the world, but one of the neatest things I have ever done is visit a bioluminescent bay in Vieques, a small island off the North East coast of Puerto Rico. There are little organisms which live in the bay (called dinoflagulites) which, when touched emit a blue/green light, like you see in the picture. We hopped on sea kayaks in the evening and went to the middle of the lagoon and then swam with light emitting everywhere we touched. When you picked up water your hands glowed, Justin & Joe's chest hair glowed. It was really neat.

Puerto Rico is one of the neatest places that I have traveled. The island is small, yet there are tons of different activities. We went to the rain forest (the second picture is Joe, Justin & Nate in standing in a waterfall at the rainforest), saw the largest radio telescope (satellite) in the world, went snorkelling - Joe & Justin saw an octopus, went to the smalled branch (of church) ever, and generally had a really good time.

One of the more interesting parts of our trip was figuring out where we were going to stay each night while there. After reading about all the fun things to do in various parts of the island Camille, Justin, Nate, Allie, Joe & I decided that we wanted to travel around and stay in various parts of the island. The second night was an adventure because we had just arrived in Vieques and all we cared about was making sure that we could see the bioluminescent bay. By the time we figured out what we were doing for the night, all the hotel offices (they were small ma & pap's shops) were closed for the night. We were sure we would be sleeping on the beach, which didn't sound good since I already had 100+ mosquito bites and the sand was chaffing our legs. So, we ended up staying in an empty house owned by a friend of the guy who took us to the bay. We were all certain that we were going to die. It was kind of an adventure trusting someone you don't know... he had keys to the house (and therefore, access to us & our stuff), was our only form of transportation (not to mention the only one who knew where we were) and took us on a rather scary excursion through the unkept woody area behind his house. Fortunately, we made it out alive and no one had their stuff stolen! The next night, still not knowing where we going to stay, but attempting to get across the island, we stopped at the first hotel we saw when we got tired. After asking for three rooms, we became inquisitive of the strange set up of the hotel. Turns out, it was a hotel that caters to PROSTITUTES! Every wall in the room was covered in mirrors. It was quite an experience. After that we stayed in a few nice resorts to make up for our other sad, yet fun, experiences.

Vacation

This is beginning to feel a lot like a vacation blog. Las week we spent several days in Wyoming. We had a great time!! Our friends, Kevin & Tori, the youngest retired couple you'll ever meet, showed us what a wonderful time early retirement can be. We ran the Snake River, rode wave runners and 4 wheelers, lit amazing fireworks over the river and RELAXED!! Both Joe & I finished the books we were reading and we watched a lot of movies. It was nice to get away for a little while. School starts up again, for Joe, at the end of this month and life will begin to be busy with not so exciting things. We have at least one more vacation planned before then, Puerto Rico, which should be great fun. In the mean time I will continue to update the information we get from medical school's as soon as we receive them. Hopefully, Joe will start going to interviews within the next couple months.

And then...

We've just returned from West Palm Beach, FL. We worked most of the time we were there, however, we were able to take time to enjoy ourselves as well. Probably the most exciting thing we did while in West Palm Beach was watch the Leatherback Sea Turtles lay their eggs on the beach. After dark turtles begin to emerge from the beach... we were lucky enough to see three in various stages. They would crawl out of the ocean, find a nice spot, dig a hole, lay approx. 100 eggs, fill the hole and then crawl back into the ocean. It's really an amazing thing to watch.

Joe has now applied to medical school. There are 16 schools that he has applied to so far. He applied to several in California, several on the east coast and a few in between. He should receive his MCAT score tomorrow, finally, and we'll know at that point (we hope) if he's a good candidate for any of the schools he applied to. He may apply to a few additional schools, depending, of course, on his MCAT score. For those who are wondering, this is a long process, Joe probably won't even hear back from most of these schools for several months and he probably won't receive any acceptences or rejections until around Christmas.

Life is good for us. We're excited to spend a lot of time outdoors this summer - camping, waterskiing, hiking, and what not. We've got a few small camping trips planned and hopefully we'll find our way to Lagoon sometime soon (they have several new rides neither of us have been on).

IN THE BEGINNING...

Universal Studios, Hollywood, California
February, 2005

I've decided to join the rest of the world and start "blogging". It's been kind of fun to create a mini-website devoted soley to ME (and joe)! I figured now is the best time to figure out how to maintain a blog, because in a year (hopefully) we'll be moving far, far away. Right now, however, Joe and I are excited to enjoy our first school free summer since we got married. We're even thinking about another fun trip (since it'll be the last of it's kind for about 10 years).

Joe has already began the long arduous process of applying to medical school even though he won't begin submitting applications until June 1. We should receive the scores from his MCAT (medical school entrance test) on or around June 15 at which time we will have a better idea of which schools he is well suited for admissions to. Some of the schools we have considered are UCLA, UCSF, Dartmouth, Tulane, Duke, Mayo Clinic, Ohio State and many, many others. We will keep you updated as aplications are turned in, requests for more information are received and hopefully (in about 9 months) acceptances received!

Unfortunately, my life is no where near as fun to talk about as Joe's right now. I work 30-40 hours a week, read books, work out at the Field House and do whatever else come's up. Which, for those of you who wonder regularly, does not currently include getting pregnant. I can, however, refer you to several cute babies if you need something to ogle (consider: Madison Spilker, McKenzie Atkin, and many, many Johnstun/Barrett/Jack babies). And, if that doesn't satisfy you ask Joe - he'll descibe the physiology of babies, pregnancy and the like and probably bore you to death while he's at it!

So, for anyone out there interested in what's going on in our lives, check back periodically for more news and information from Heidi & Joe Atkin.