Day: July 31, 2019

I have often been envious of patients when they have told me stories of taking their grandchildren on vacations. Typically they take them individually as the child reaches a milestone (e.g. graduating high school, becoming a teenager, etc.). Patrice and I have both dreamed of that day. Well folks that day is today. Robyn and David are allowing us to take their oldest son, Owen, on a trip. This might seem like no big deal to you but it is a huge step for them. I don’t want to say that David and Robyn (who we affectionately refer to as Dobyn) are overprotective but let me just tell you that when I wanted to take Owen in their pool when he was a baby, David insisted on reviewing the steps for infant CPR before I did so.

So when we asked if we could take Owen on a trip and Dobyn agreed to let us you can imagine our excitement. Patrice decided on the Rocky Mountaineer for a variety of reasons. It came very highly recommended from Patrice’s sister, Fern and her husband Brian. It also met one of Owen’s requests, that we go to a foreign country where English is spoken. We also had to find a time that worked for the young man since his summer activities are very extensive. You know what I mean, science camp, karate camp, chess camp, etc. can make things a bit challenging to find a time that fits into both of our schedules. My patients are aware, my schedule is also busy. As one of my patients recently said to me, “Dr. Reiss seems like you are either on vacation, about to go on vacation, or just got back from vacation. Have you forgotten the word work?”.

This morning we headed off to Canada with Owen and also our daughter, Lindsay, and her boyfriend, Robby. Our flight left at 9 AM but I was up at 5:30. Excited does not adequately describe the way I feel.

The flight from LAX to Calgary was smooth except there were tons of young children. Owen was quietly using his iPad or Rubik’s cube and frequently interacting with Patrice and me. The hoards of other children were crying, running up and down the aisles and creating smells that do not belong in an enclosed space. At least not one at 35,000 feet without any means of escape.

Arrival at Calgary airport was smooth with very few people roaming the halls (unlike the masses of people encountered at LAX). We then took a pleasant 2 hour motor coach (not bus of course) ride to our hotel in Banff. There were only about 12 people on the bus and 5 of them were in our group.

We are staying at the Rimrock Hotel and it is lovely. Rooms are spacious and the staff very accommodating. The views from the rooms are spectacular

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Time for dinner. I didn’t get much sleep last night so I am running out of gas. This will be all for tonight.