This morning I planned on attending a 7 AM lecture for the 3rd day in a row. I awoke at about 4 AM and decided rather than playing Duolingo, Wordle, and checking emails I would close my eyes for one more second. When I next opened them it was 6:58 AM. At that point it was unlikely that I would make it to the 7:00 AM lecture so I just closed my eyes again and smiled. What a wonderful feeling it is to get a good night’s sleep. I finally got my act together and made it to the 8:00 AM lecture and those that followed. Today was a good day in which I learned all sorts of great tips that will help my patients and me.
Mid day we met for a quick lunch at the nearby Mulate’s (201 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130) so I could get back to the conference. The main courses were okay but the highlight was the dessert. So here at the request of Eric is a photo of a dessert: beignets filled with Nutella.
Worth every calorie.
The highlight of the meeting occurred today when Patrice and I saw a UCLA Health VIP. Yes, Janet, one of the high level doctors at UCLA Health was at the conference. We chatted briefly then Janet told Patrice that I was a UCLA superstar. How could I not love that?
That’s all good news but I’m sure you are asking “What is the great news?” Turns out that one of my sister’s high school classmates is in town and we will be seeing him tonight. Many years ago I recall looking through my sister’s high school annual. I was curious to see what she looked like when she was 18. I wondered if she looked anything like what I remembered. After finding her I looked at the other students. Suddenly I stopped and yelled out, “ANNETTE, YOU WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH SIMON AND GARFUNKEL?”. As I recall she said, “Who?”. So tonight we will be seeing Paul Simon perform. Much to my amazement we could buy excellent seats at a very affordable price. We looked online and saw that balcony seats for his performance in Los Angeles cost far more than we paid for seats in the orchestra section for tonight’s performance.
Yes, Paul Simon in New Orleans.
Home now. Too tired to write more. I’ll tell you all about the concert tomorrow.
This morning I headed out to the ACP meeting trying to get to a 7:00 AM talk. Yes, 7:00 AM! Don’t these people realize that some attendees are coming from California? I did my best not to disturb Patrice while leaving at that absurd time of the morning. After a quick breakfast I made it to the meeting where the speaker was discussing wound healing. I had no idea the extent of the pictures that were to follow. After seeing some tasty bed sores and limbs that looked like they were destined to be amputated, my breakfast started to revisit me. Luckily it stayed where I had placed it rather than returning to my mouth.
The morning went well, as did the afternoon. While I was trying to get smart, Patrice was again exploring the city. She went to the Audubon Aquarium (I thought Audubon was into birds?) which is not too far from the hotel and said she was thinking of me. Then she sent me this picture (see below)
Thinking of me? What is she trying to tell me?
One of my concerns for this vacation was that I would not get any time to exercise. We are staying at a hotel that is across the street from the convention center and with so many interesting talks how would I get any time to work out? It turns out that the New Orleans convention center might be one of the longest ones in the world (1 kilometer according to Wikipedia). Even though we are across the street, the meetings are at the opposite end. On Wednesday my pedometer read 14,243 steps. Today it was at 6,477 by noon. The set up here is kind of crazy. It is not unsual to have about 500+ steps between lectures. And when you get disoriented about the lecture room location (which is easy to do) you can add on another 500 steps.
After the conference we decided to head out for dinner. First I thought I would see how the outside world was doing and I found this. See below.
Hmmm, this blog is suppose to be fun and games.
After seeing that my appetite became curbed a bit. I thought for a moment and I asked myself, do you think Patrice would accept McDonalds instead of another fancy NOLA restaurant? That would be a NO!
Dinner was at an Italian restaurant named Domenica (123 Baronne St, New Orleans, LA 70112). It is located inside the Roosevelt Hotel and was recommended by a friend of Patrice. The food and service were superb. See below.
Patrice had the fish of the day, Red Snapper.I had the crawfish pizza. It was excellent but Patrice’s fish was much better. We shared the Brussels Sprouts.
As I said the restaurant is located in the Roosevelt Hotel. The hotel looked very elegant. It opened in 1893 when it was called The Grunewald Hotel”. In 1923 it was renamed in honor of former President Teddy Roosevelt. I was told that Huey Long often frequented the place. We checked out the lobby and saw this painting. See below.
Patrice said it reminded her of us. I didn’t understand then I looked a little closer.Now I understand.
I have to get some work done now because before you know it, I will need to hustle down the street to the conference.
Today I started the ACP conference and Patrice toured the city. She definitely got the best of the deal. For example I started my day with a talk about pains in the butt. That was my highlight. In all sincerity the talk was very informative and gave me some tips that will help me assist my patients. I hesitated writing that knowing that someone will make some butt jokes at my expense. Go ahead I can take it. The rest of the talks were just okay. Patrice on the other hand took a city tour. Here is the one picture she sent me.
Caesar’s Palace Casino? Do I need to keep a closer eye on this woman?
The afternoon lectures were okay but none were as good as the 7:00 AM Butt lecture. In addition to going to the didactic sessions we have time to go to the the exhibit hall where all sorts of companies are looking to sell their products to doctors. There are electronic medical records companies, drug companies, and a variety of companies looking to hire doctors. I stopped at one of the booths to talk to a recruiter. I cut to the chase, “Would you consider hiring a doctor of my age?” The rep enthusiatically said, “Yes, yes!”. So we had a conversation and I think we might have a deal. I really liked the look of their booth. What do you think?
I later asked if they knew who their oldest primary care physician was at UCLA. They did not, so I told him it was me.
In addition to looking for a job I was availed some health food in the Exhibit Hall. After all this is the meeting for the nation’s elite internal medicine specialists, of course we eat healthy.
Delicious brownines. Not up to Patrice’s quality. But how would I know, did I eat one? No, I ate two.Hmmm, maybe this is why I’m so thirsty.
That’s enough about food. Well maybe not.
Tonight’s dinner was at GW Fins (808 Bienville St, New Orleans, LA 70112). It was recommended by my friend Andy, who said he had the best meal of his life there. Andy is from Fresno. Should I have been worried?
The restaurant is in the French Quarter and they had a modest dress code (men required to wear collared shirts). They started us off with biscuits. They looked very plan but beleive me they were anything but.
Very tasty biscuits.
Patrice and I both ordered the Scalibut. Seems like this day started with a lecture about butts and ended with us eating two. The Scalibut dish was Shrimp, scallops, halibut, and risotto. Also with a few peas to fool you into to thinking you’re eating healthy.
This was amazing and gone in a flash.
I don’t know about you “butt” I’m exhausted. Talk to you tomorrow.
We are off. After a relatively long hiatus we are traveling again. I must admit it has been quite gratifying to hear from numerous people “When will you be traveling? I miss your blog.” Well that day has come. At my previous job, I was only working 1 day per week and had 8 weeks of vacation. My current job with UCLA is a bit more restrictive so other than a couple of weekend trips to visit the grandsons we have stayed at home a fair amount of the time. I recently found out that I’m allotted educational leave that doesn’t count against vacation. When I realized that the American College of Physicians meeting was in New Orleans this year I had to go. Patrice agreed without hesitation since some of our best meals on trips have been in NOLA. Some of our friends heard about our plans and said they look forward to hearing about the trip when we get back. I told them, I’d send them an email everyday instead. Just check out REISSTRAVELBLOG.COM
As usual the trip to the airport was a breeze. We use the Ride Yellow app for trips to LAX. The Yellow cab drivers almost always arrive early (as opposed to Uber drivers who seem to have trouble finding our house). They don’t charge you extra for reserving the taxi in advance. They also know how to get to the airport. The charge is quite reasonable so I suggest you use them.
The flight to NOLA was uneventful except for some occasional mild turbulence. I have to admit I was a little unnerved when I saw this.
737 MAX? Yikes!!!
In spite of being on one of the most dangerous planes in the sky at least we weren’t going to one of the most dangerous airports. That being Reagan in DC. And I am not talking about the air traffic issues in DC. Oh well, we landed safely in NOLA, got our bags and headed to the hotel.
People have expressed concern about my blogging. “Aren’t you worried that someone will rob your house knowing that you are out of town?” Not at all, I tell them. The reason is that we have Bruce and his pet dog, “Daisy”, house sitting for us.
Here is a picture of Bruce.
And here is a picture of his sweet dog, Daisy.
Isn’t Daisy a dear?
Tonight’s dinner was at Muriel’s (801 Chartres St, New Orleans, LA 70116). We’ve eaten there twice before and tonight was just as wonderful as we remembered. They had a wonderful offer that we took advantage of. You could choose an appetizer, main course and dessert for $55. The meal was amazing. I don’t think we could recreate the food we had for twice that cost in Los Angeles. Just take a look at our choices.
My appetizer was the wedge salad. It was perfect. Patrice had the Tasso Carbonara. She thought it was great. My main course was Shrimp and Grits.
I have a rule never have Shrimp and Grits north of the Mason Dixon line. Well we are south right now, and this meal did not disappoint me. The only thing I thought was odd was that there were only 5 shrimp. Don’t they usually serve 6 shrimp with an entree?
[Patrice here. Don’t say anything but as you can see in the picture there were 6 shrimp. Someone grabbed one when Robert was busy using his phone. Serves him right.]
Patrice’s entree was the Pecan Crusted Drum.
I never had heard of a fish called a Drum. I Googled it and found out that Drum are members of the Sciaenidae family. Sorry but that did not help me at all.
Bread pudding for dessert. Patrice’s favorite. Almost as good as Massa in Los Angeles. I had the Crème brûlée
The crème brûlée was delicious. It was just as good as the crème brûlée that I make and a lot better than my friend, Gary’s. By the way, as a doctor I am a bit embarrassed to promote and make crème brûlée. After all it has to be one of the most unhealthy desserts ever made. It has sugar, heavy cream, vanilla (that’s not bad), and egg yolks. The healthiest part of the egg (the white, which has all the protein) is discarded. Very unhealthy but oooohhhhh soooo good.
After all that food, I am exhausted. Talk to you tomorrow.
OH MY GOD, doesn’t do it justice. The Sphere was spectacular! From the moment we entered we were impressed. We found our seats with no difficulty entering the area directly (after a long walk) from the Venetian Hotel lobby. We got to our seats and we were treated to a series of hit songs with superb acoustics. The arena was illuminated with a graphic paying tribute to the Eagles with a collage of Los Angeles landmarks (in honor of the band being from LA). Check out the video below to see the scene and two patrons waiting for the show.
The Eagles came on stage (no warm up act) and we were treated to 2 hours of their hit songs and a series of graphics that almost upstaged the stars. I have a great video of Glen Frey’s son, Deacon, singing “Peaceful Easy Feeling” but copyright laws won’t let me post it. Sorry.
The Sphere has 18,600 seats and can hold 20,000 with standing room expansion. The only thing that would be a concern would be exiting in case of an emergency. Leaving the arena was awful. Thankfully there wasn’t a tragedy and we are alive and well
After the concert ended. Do we look like we had a good time?
Telling you about the concert and the venue was supposed be the end of my entries for this trip but Sunday morning we had a special activity that I have to share. A friend of ours, Milton, has relocated to Las Vegas and we planned to connect for a brief visit.
Milton picked us up at the hotel and drove us out of the Strip area and filled us with all sorts of interesting “facts” about Vegas. As Milton put it “I’m going to tell all sorts of interesting information about Las Vegas and you can decide later which of it is true.” This made him sound typical of one of my blog followers (and like me too for that matter). In addition to showing us a number of local communities (including his beautiful home) he took us by Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. We didn’t enter this region but what we could see from the highway was beautiful. Looks like it is definitely a site worth visiting. We had a lovely breakfast at Cottonwood Station in Blue Diamond, Nevada (14 Cottonwood Drive; Blue Diamond, NV). The food was delicious and the prices reasonable. Service was friendly but interesting. If I’m not mistaken they brought out each drink and meal one trip at a time. Luckily they brought my meal last since (although I’m not proud of this) I’m a very fast eater. Speaking of fast Milton told us something I had not known. He was the state high school champion in the 100 yard dash. I didn’t want to brag but I have a 100 yard dash honor myself. I still hold the Dorsey High School record for the SLOWEST 100 yards ever run. With the 100 meter dash having replaced the 100 yard dash, I most likely will hold the record for eternity. After a quick picture and a goodbye it was time to check out from the hotel and head for home.
Milton, Patrice and me. That is Milton on the left
Well that is the end of this trip. I know I usually end with fun photos but forgive me this time since this was short, sweet, and all about giving Patrice a pleasant birthday. I did think about you at one point. Our room was number 5121. All the odd numbered rooms were on one side with the even numbered rooms on the opposite side. On our way to our room we passed 5111, 5115, and 5117. That’s correct, no 5113. Room number 13 in Las Vegas? ………………… NO WAY!
Last night we arrived after 11 pm. You would think with a late arrival we could cruise in and the staff would be tripping all over each other to help us. Think again, Robert. We were greeted with bumper to bumper traffic. I had to fight my way between taxis and limos in a traffic circle only to find out that the entrance for checking in was on the other side. So again I needed to extend my arm asking to get over (easy to ignore a turn signal hard to ignore an arm). We got to the valet and asked if they could charge our car overnight since we arrived with very little energy remaining. He said he would make a request but no guarantees. This morning I checked my car app and saw that what was at 16% last night was down to 12% this morning. Not sure if it was the cold weather or if the valets used our car to keep themselves warm but that further drop was a little unnerving. That level of charge was a new low for me and I needed to find a charger or I would not feel comfortable. Patrice made a call downstairs to check on the charging. Based on what I had experienced so far I knew it was a wasted call. You would think for what we are paying here we would be treated like royalty. So I continued to get ready to find a charging spot and suddenly a message came across my phone that charging had begun. Isn’t she amazing? Aren’t I, the lucky one?
So instead of heading out looking for energy I decided to expend some of my own energy in the gym. Oops, I forgot we are at an expensive hotel, I meant fitness center, not the gym. As I slowly meandered towards the fitness center a gentleman passed me and said hi. He knew the way, so I followed him. Turns out he and his wife are visiting from New York and celebrating her birthday. What a coincidence. I told him that we will be celebrating by going to the Sphere tonight. He replied “I’m taking my wife to the Eagles – Raiders game tomorrow. Maybe Patrice is the lucky one?
Actually I realized later that the Raiders aren’t playing this weekend and he meant he was going to see the Eagles at the Sphere just like us. I guess I’m not that special after all.
We are not gamblers and I can’t stand the smoky air in the hotel so hanging out at the casino was not very appealing. Instead, Patrice booked us a brunch and a show at the nearby Treasure Island hotel. I don’t like to gamble but I sure like to eat. Turns out she made reservations for “Señor Frog’s Drag Brunch”. Sounded like an event where you eat as much Mexican food as you can, as fast as you can. Turns out that was not quite correct. It was Mexican food but we were entertained by a bunch of guys dressed up as women. I wasn’t expecting much but OMG does not adequately describe what we saw. Clearly society has passed me by. I have NEVER seen anything like this in my life. A series of men dressed up as women came on stage then sang and danced. The audience would scream. Then the performer would come off the stage into the audience and people would beg them to take cash from them. Most were just single dollar bills but I saw at least 1 one-hundred dollar bill.
Performer with cash in both hands and patrons begging for her to take more.
Then they came out for their finale. The entire troupe was on the stage sending their love to the audience and then came off the stage to join us. Again audience members gave them lots of cash. The screaming in the audience was mostly women and reminded me of the when the Beatles came to the USA for the first time. Heck, if I knew wearing a dress would be such a turn on for females I would have taken a much different approach in college.
From the amount of cash being given, I think this was the most popular performer. She did some amazing acrobatics during her set.
By the way I think I must look like the owner of the Treasure Island hotel because we stopped twice on our way to the show to ask for directions. Each time the Treasure Island employee addressed me the same way, “Hey boss, can I help you?” And once again the directions to Señor Frog’s started with the same sentence “Walk through the casino……”
‘We are back at our hotel chilling for a while. We will be seeing The Eagles (musical group not the football team) tonight and since the show doesn’t start until 8:30 we need to rest up.
That’s enough for tonight, or as Patrice just told me “That’s too much”.
On Thursday Patrice celebrated her ??? birthday. We decided to celebrate by going to see the Sphere in Las Vegas. We have been told it’s a very special venue so why not use it to celebrate this very special occasion.
I got off work fairly early and we headed east. Traffic was awful, as expected but, we made it to about 130 miles from home in the first 2 1/2 hours when we stopped to get some dinner. Close to the freeway we found HK’s Bar and Grill. The food was fine and the prices reasonable but it was quite clear that we might have been only 130 miles from home but we were light years from our element. At the table next to ours there were some women who were very loud and boasting about their tattoos and body piercings. At the table next them there were a group of men two of which had T-shirts that read “Sons of Trump”.
Well fed we carried on. The traffic varied from heavy to light. Our car said that we could make all the way to the hotel without stopping and still have 3% left in our battery. That didn’t seem like a wise strategy so we stopped at the Super Charger adjacent to “Eddie World” in Yermo, California to charge for a bit. Patrice took the opportunity to use the facilities where she saw this sign in the convenience store.
A couple of hours later we pulled into the lot at the Venetian Hotel and hurried to our room. No surprise that it was gorgeous and that we had to walk through the casino to get there. It’s a well known fact that in every Las Vegas hotel when you are given instructions on how to get somewhere the first sentence is “Walk through the casino……”
Enough for tonight. I would like to tell you about the hotel arrival but my blog editor wants to go to sleep. So that means I must stop writing and leave our arrival story until tommorow.
Last night we made it to the game on time in spite of having to deal with a lot of fan traffic. The Phillies have been playing well and thus the crowds have been large. Philadelphia fans have a reputation of being very loyal but when their teams don’t perform to expectations they can be ruthless. They had a happy night because the home team scored 4 runs in the third inning and that was all she wrote with the Phillies winning 5-0
It was a well played game and my assessment is that the Phillies have an excellent team. I am sure the Astros would love to play them again this October. I think that is a real possibility. The only recommendation I have for the Phillies is that outfielder, Brandon Marsh, shaves and gets a haircut. See below.
As you can tell from this picture he previously played for the Angels. Both the beard and hair are much longer now.
To sum up this trip I have to say it has been a fun birthday getaway. I got a call last night from my daughter in Madrid because it was 1:00 AM and already my birthday in Spain. How wonderful it was to hear her voice. Actually I couldn’t hear her because we were at the baseball game but she followed up the call with a text message.
By the time you read this I should have landed at LAX and be on my way to the office. Yes, after getting home from the game we packed to prepare for an early flight. Kudos to Patrice for agreeing to get up early so we could get home early enough for me to get to work to see a 1:00 pm patient. I don’t know for sure but I suspect I’m UCLA’s oldest primary care physician and at least today the one with the longest commute.
We don’t have any other plans for trips until November. So you don’t have to worry about hearing any more of my ramblings until then.
Today was supposed to be all about baseball. Since the game isn’t until 6:40 pm we had to find something else to keep us busy. A number of museums were recommended but Tuesday seems to be the day they all want to be closed.
So instead we headed to the much talked about Reading Terminal Market. Apparently when the market opened in 1893 there was a railroad at this site. The railroad terminal closed but the market has flourished although at times there have been some down years. Currently it is quite busy with an incredible array of offerings. We tried to go to the Market yesterday but we were overwhelmed by the difficulty finding parking. Today we did our homework and found very reasonable priced parking at a lot adjacent to the market. The only quandry at the market is which delectables to choose. There are so many and all look so good.
Donuts? Ribs?Potato salad, lobster mac and cheese, standard mac and cheese?Meats galore?Cheeses?Fish?Honey?More fish?Sausage?Sweets?More sweets?
We decided to share a roasted pork sandwich following the recommendation of our friend, Kevin, thinking we could also share another Philadelphia Cheesesteak. Clearly we didn’t realize what we had just purchased. See below
Good thing we just bought one to share.
After having our lunch at the Reading Terminal Market we drove by the Rodin museum and saw his masterpiece “The Thinker”. The museum was closed but The Thinker is located outside at the entrance.
We love this piece. We saw it in Paris. We also see it ever day at our home. We have a 12 inch replica in our family room. I suspect ours is a bit less expensive.
We then headed to the Franklin Institute to see the Lego exhibition titled The Art of the Brick. It is more geared toward the younger age group but we thought it was fantastic. See below.
Whistler’s Mother in LegosLego Mona LisaThe pictures really don’t capture the beauty of these pieces of art. My favorite was this one of Ben Franklin.But the flamingos were pretty cool as well.
We then went back to the hotel to chill for a bit. The high temperature today was 89 with 37% humidity. Looks like we are getting out of town just in time because tomorrow it is going to hit 98.
Aftrer a nice bit of relaxation it is time to head for the game.
This morning, as usual, I got up earlier than Patrice. Being the good husband that I think I am I left the room as quietly as possible and went to the lounge for breakfast. There I had a plain bagel (and I do mean plain) and a chocolate milk (did I mention that I was told that the coffee machine is broken).
After eating I started reading my book while trying to ignore the conversations of the other travelers around me. I did overhear one woman say to her partner, in frustration “I’m not a doctor!” Since I didn’t hear what preceded that comment I resisted saying “But I am!”
Patrice informed me, via text, that she had awoken. I inquired “What is your plan?” to which she replied “Get up and have a little breakfast. Pack and get on the road. What’s your plan?” My answer was “Wait for you to get here and tell me what to do”.
While waiting I checked my emails and saw that a patient sent me his recommendations for Philadelphia. By all normal standards I share much too much personal information with my patients. Sorry but I can’t help myself. I love seeing and talking with my patients. How else can you explain a man of my age still enjoying going to work? I shared with a new patient, Kevin, that I might be slow to get back to him since my wife and I were traveling to Baltimore and Philadelphia. He told me that he had spent some time in Philadelphia and had a “to do” list for the city. Here is the list:
Hmmm, we will be in Philadelphia for 2 days. I think we might miss one or two of the things on his list.
Prior to heading to Philadelphia we went to see the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore. Actually I should say the remnants of the bridge. That is where a container ship struck the bridge on March 26, 2024 and 8 workers making repairs at the time were killed. A horrific sight on the news and more so in person even though we couldn’t get very close. See below.
Francis Scott Key bridge on August 26, 2024
After the bridge sighting we were on our way to the City of Brotherly Love. The drive was a breeze and again the trees lining the highway were gorgeous. We arrived much too early to check into the hotel so we checked Kevin’s list and decided to have Philadelphia Cheese Steaks for lunch. We selected Pat’s King of Steaks [1237 E Passyunk Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19147]. We weren’t in a rush to get there before closing because they are OPEN 24 HOURS!
Open 24 hours but the real challenge is finding a parking space.
The only decision we needed to make when we arrived was what type of cheese. The choices: 1. American, 2. Provolone, 3. Cooper Sharp America, or 4. Cheese Whiz. Really, Cheese Whiz? I was told that is the original so I ordered it. But provolone sounded really good. This is what I was served. What do you think?
Would you eat it? I did and it was great. Much better than it looked. I think I will try provolone next time.
Not sure why we choose Pat’s, we were also given Geno’s Steaks as an option. When ordering our food at Pat’s I turned around and saw this.
Yes, across the street is another iconic cheese steak restaurant open 24/7. Makes for a lot of happy steak eaters and a lot of unhappy cows.
After our cheese steak fest we tried to go to the Reading Terminal Market but the parking was awful. I needed some chill time so we decided to defer the market to another time and head to the hotel.
Checking in was a bit traumatic because they couldn’t find our reservation, in spite of me showing it on the Marriott App. While they struggled with looking for the reservation I tried to log in online. That was “successful” but unfortunately didn’t get us a key to a room. The app had a chat function that I used but unfortunately that just went to the clerk who was helping us at the hotel. Lucky for me I didn’t say on the app that the hotel clerk is a jerk. They were finally successful in getting us checked in. I say they because it took 5 people.
After chilling in the room for a bit it was time for dinner. We chose Vernick Fish [One N 19th St, Philadelphia, PA 19103]. The meal was wonderful and reasonably priced.
We shared the Crab Roll appetizer. Baltimore should be jealous.I had the halibut. It was delicious. Patrice had the sea bass. Good but a bit spicy.We shared cheesecake for dessert. The restaurant provided the happy birthday message. Two days early but much appreciated.
We had a lovely evening and looking forward to more baseball tomorrow.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 