Sedona

Anna and I went to Sedona, Arizona this weekend. Sedona is known for its beautiful red rocks. Here are some pictures of some of the red rocks we saw in Oak Creek and Sedona

This is Bell Rock, named so for somewhat obvious reasons. Our hotel was called Bell Rock Inn and Suites and was right by this rock formation

This is a view of Oak Creek from the bridge going into Sedona

A view of more red rocks from the bridge

A view of a beautiful red rock formation at sunset

This is probably my favorite picture. The sky looks so ominous but we never got rained on.

Another beautiful picture of the red rocks of Sedona

A view from our hotel showing the rock formations rising behind.

Vegas Baby!!!

This weekend Mandy and I went to Las Vegas. It was great! We stayed in the Stratosphere hotel which is right on Las Vegas Boulevard (aka The Strip). There is a restaurant and lounge on the 106th floor of the space needle at Straosphere called Top of the World.

Me and Mandy at the Top of the World overlooking "The Strip"

A fountain outside of Caesar's Palace showing (from left to right) Hades, Zeus (Jupiter) and Posiedon. Those of you who know of my love for Italian archaeology will know why this hotel was one of my favorites.

The Big Apple right here in Sin City. This was one of my favorite hotels, New York New York. It was complete with the twin towers, the statue of liberty and realistic looking New York streets inside. I've never been to the real New York, but I would really like to after this.

Paris

We at dinner at a French-Italian restaurant in Paris where we were serenaded by three of the workers. It was pretty cool and the food was really outstanding.

The Eiffel Tower at night through the water show at the Bellagio (in Ocean's 11). Every night at 5pm a water show begins choreographed to different music. There is a different show every 15 minutes

with completely new music.

A view of the entrance hall of the Luxor hotel. The hotel is a giant pyramid whose lights shine 40 miles out in all directions. I really liked this hotel. Because the hotel is a pyramid the rooms are situated in a slant going up the inside of the pyramid and they have inclinators not elevators. I felt like I was in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory with the Wonkavator.

Billagonna (noun): (Navajo) A white person. Probably derogatory.

Interesting story. Today I performed an alveoloplasty on an elderly gentleman. (For those unfamiliar with alveoloplasty it is smoothing sharp or knotty bone down usually so a denture will fit better later). He did not speak any English and the assistants (who are all Navajo) asked him questions for me and translated during the procedure. The procedure went very well and the sutures looked good. He did not complain at all during the procedure.
I had reviewed the health history prior to starting and the only thing of note was a statement in big red letters saying, "NO BILLAGONNA." Being a medically minded person I assumed it was some type of medication that I had not heard of and made a note not to prescribe Billagonna for post-op pain.
When Dr. Bulloch asked me about his health history before we wrote his prescription I showed her the note and said that he must be allergic to Billagonna or something. She laughed and said, "that's what they call white people." She said she was impressed that he made it through the procedure without causing a fuss. So, Anna and I are officially Billagonnas, which we suspected we were all along. :-)

Finally...more Grand Canyon Pictures

I have been trying everyday for a couple of weeks to upload more Grand Canyon pictures. I was only able to upload 3 this time, but I'll try another posting.

Point Imperial at sunset

A view from Point Imperial

A view from Bright Angel Point on the North Rim showing many layers of rock carved out by the Colorado River.

A view of Horseshoe Bend in Page, AZ

WIHCC

Welcome to the clinic here in Winslow. This is the sign leading into the Health Care Center complex. The dental clinic is to the right of this sign.

The gang's all here...

Here are all the doctors and us. From left to right (back row): Dr. Spritzer, Dr. Min, Dr. Barnes, me, Anna, Dr. Po (pedodontist), Dr. Markel, Travis

(Front row): Dr. Bulloch and Dr. Burton. We are in front of the new dental bus. Anna and I have our eyes closed because we are staring directly at the sun.

Here is the clinic from the outside. There are four operatories and a "quiet room" which is a regular operatory with sedation equipment. There are two satellite clinics: Dilkon and Leupp. These three clinics, with 8 doctors between them, serve ~20,000 Navajos!
The Health Center complex also has a physical therapy dept., an optometry dept. and a small hospital.

Another view of the clinic. This is the door we go in for work each morning. To the right is a mobile dental bus, which is an RV made into a two operatory dental clinic. They had the tribal blessing ceremony to bless the bus the second day we were here. The bus will travel to remote areas to help more people.

We work with four doctors mainly: Dr. Barnes (chief of dental), Dr. Bulloch, Dr. Burton and Dr. Turpin (AEGD resident). It has been a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of work.

(Left to Right) Dr. Angela Bulloch and Dr. Candice Turpin. Dr. Bulloch and Dr. Barnes (not pictured) are our main supervisors at the clinic. Candice is the AEGD resident here.

Anna working hard in the clinic. I actually do dentistry as well, but we've been too busy to take more pictures.

Dr. Thomas Barnes, Chief of Dental here in Winslow

Three of the assistants here. From left to right: Julie, Neshi and Cloetta

Emma, another assistant here at the clinic

Candace, Travis (intern from Arizona Dental School) and Anna in our staff room

Star (office manager) and Dr. Barnes

Amy (hygienist) and Josephine, one of the assistants

Candice, Anna and me

Me, Dr. Paul Burton and Anna

Dr. Bulloch and Dr. Po

No

Autographs

...please

This weekend I went to California to visit Mandy. We went to Beverly Hills on Saturday. We shopped on Rodeo Drive for 6 hours but we didn't buy anything. I mean, sure $14,000 for a Valentino coat or $400 for a Louis Vuitton sweatshirt is a good deal I just didn't see anything I was interested in.

Me in front of the Versace Palace which was unfortunately under construction.

Apparently we looked like we belonged there because we were treated very well by most of the sales people. For instance, in Dolce & Gabbana we were asked by a salesperson if we were "finding everything okay." I said to myself, "I'm finding everything very expensive." They asked if we needed a size or anything, like we could actually afford even a $50 t-shirt, much less the $795 jeans. In Louis Vuitton we were actually asked by a salesperson, "you all didn't buy anything?" Poor Louis...they have to ask poor people to buy their stuff. :-)

A couple of stores treated us like Vivian in Pretty Woman. Those stores were Roberto Cavalli and Armani. Spread the word. One of the very distinguished saleswomen in Armani followed us upstairs then said, "We have some beautiful things, don't we?" Her tone and deameanor led me to believe that this statement translated as, "Get out of our store and away from our pretty dresses you poor people."
It was still a cool experience and I'm glad we went.

A picture of part of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, 90210

On Sunday we went to church at Mandy's church, then to Newport Beach.

Our trip

back to

Civilization

Yes, yes we had a flat tire on the way back to Winslow. Anna knew how to change it so I just basically put the tiny tire on.
Of course we were in a very safe area near a large town...NOT! We were in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. We stopped at the Chief Yellowhorse Trading Post and an Indian offered to help us. There are nice people everywhere. Anna and I made it to Flagstaff in about an hour where we took our car back to the airport rental car place. They gave us a new car.

Anna beside our poor Grand Prix...tear...sniff. That car and her navigation system got us through some tough times.

Grand Canyon and Page
For our first weekend in Arizona we traveled to Grand Canyon National Park. We stayed in Page, AZ Friday night- it's about half way to the Grand Canyon from Winslow. One of the doctors at the clinic we are working in lives in Page and he told us directions. Driving to Page we realized that there is nothing in Arizona but rocks, dirt and beautiful views. It was like driving on Mars! We took the "scenic route" on the way there which I think should be renamed "you better have a full tank of gas route." We drove through a few little villages and through the Navajo reservation.


A view from the North Rim

We drove to the NORTH RIM of the Grand Canyon and it was beautiful. We didn't realize until almost sunset that the most beautiful views were at Point Imperial and Cape Royal. If anyone is visiting the Grand Canyon soon I strongly suggest going to these two points- it was worth the drive.

Anna and me on top of a tall rock overlooking the North Rim

Holiday Inn Express- Winslow

Here is our home away from home... in Winslow at least. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Winslow during our rotation. Pretty nice right?- I know you all are jealous. We don't have an elevator or working laundry facilities, but at least we have free breakfast!

Standin' on the Corner
Winslow is most famous for the line in the Eagles song, "I was standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see." We have learned since being here that the songwriter was actually standing on the corner by the Wienerschnitzel in Flagstaff, Arizona, but that Winslow sounded better. Either way, no one would really know about Winslow if not for the song. :-)






Here I am standin' on the corner.
















There is even a flatbed Ford parked at the corner, just like in the song...

Here are some pictures we took of the town.

Welcome to Winslow!

Anna and I are in Winslow, AZ for our community rotation for dental school. Winslow used to be a major stop on Route 66 before I-40 came along. It also used to be a major refueling city for transcontinental flights. Winslow is a very small town with a lot of history.