Davis, CA

I'm pretty sure cows are the official mascot of  Davis

Three days after getting back from Nashville I was on to my next trip, flying out to Davis,California, a place that I spend 10 years of my life.  When I went to college at U.C. Santa Cruz I thought Davis was the armpit of California (I loved coastal towns).  When I decided to go to veterinary school, U.C. Davis was the best choice for me because of the high quality education, low cost of tuition, and potential for doing PhD work on marine mammals.  Initially I felt like moving there was some sort of karmic payback for something I did in a previous (or maybe the current) life.  Davis is a small college town with lots of bike paths, parks, and good schools.  The only hill in sight is the on ramp to the freeway.  It is the type of town that you have to obey all traffic laws (even on your bike) or you will get pulled over and ticketed.  Some freshman students living on campus have the pleasure of waking up to the scent of cow manure from the Dairy Barn.  I am happy to report that the Dairy Barn is still there and the cows are as friendly as ever.

Catch poles were used to control vet students

I thought I would slowly die of boredom living in Davis for 8-10 years it would take me to do veterinary school and a PhD, but it ended up being some of my most fond memories.  Many of my classmates were rockclimbers and although I was petrified of heights, I gave it a try near the end of my first year of veterinary school.   I mainly did this because of a crush that I had on one of the guys in my class that was a climber and although things didn't work out with him, the climbing sure did!  Climbing ended up being my salvation during the slow torture that is veterinary school.  It was a great outlet and also where I made many of my lifelong friendships at the local climbing gym, Rocknasium.  Climbing was also the reason I met Nick (he is a climber).  True story:  not long after we got together we went to dinner with a friend of his from when he lived in Utah and it turned out he was the cousin of my climber classmate that I had a crush on!  Such a small world.

The main purpose of my journey to Davis was to see my friend Janice graduate veterinary school and also celebrate her 40th birthday.  It also ended up being a weekend of seeing old friends and colleagues.  

Thursday morning started with greeting from several of Janice's many pets. Janice has always been the person that adopts "special" animals that need homes and veterinary school has only supported this habit.  She went from being the crazy cat lady to the crazy bird lady and now she is just the crazy lady!  (Love you Janice!)

This was my view when I woke up

Can someone please knit Pico a sweater?

After escaping Janice's jungle, I met Woutrina (we went to graduate school together), Spencer (he ran the bacteriology lab at the teaching hospital), and Dr. Hirsh (he taught my class bacteriology and inspired my future career) for lunch.  I had not seen Dr. Hirsh since he retired in 2000.  We had a great time catching up.  Next I headed to the veterinary school to visit professors and friends at the veterinary school.  It was really great to see everyone after being gone for several years.  I also met with a few veterinary students that are interested in public health.  By Thursday night I was so exhausted I ended up going to sleep really early.

Friday was busy with all the graduation festivities beginning at 10 am at the Mondavi Center.  There was a mix of speakers from the Provost to alumni, current faculty, and student speakers.  Dr. Mellema and the student speakers were definitely the highlight for me.  Dr. Mellema gave the great advice to tell your neighbors on an airplane that you work for the IRS, otherwise you will be hearing all about every pet in their family.  The student speakers talked of the memories from the previous four years which really made me miss my classmates.  Although veterinary school was miserable, we did have some good times together.

After graduation finished we took photos outside and then headed to the graduation party at Jane's house and then later that night we hung out with friends from the Rocknasium. 

Two cakes for Dr. Pfeiff!

She looks like I am torturing her!

Saturday was the big reunion of the old school members of Rocknasium.  The idea of this reunion started with someone posting a video from the gym that was shot in the mid 1990s.  Everyone got really nostalgic about the old days at the gym and the next thing you know, I was planning a reunion.  It was as if all the stars aligned perfectly to make this night happen.  Probably the best thing about this night was bringing the original owners of the gym back together after several years.

Squirrel and Mark: reunited and it feels so good

Janice and Garrett

Me, Jeff, and Heather

Fred, Mark, and Dave

Joel was a surprise guest!

Princess and me

Cassie!

Jenny and Ryan

Jim, Heather, and Rick

There are so many photos I can't post them all here.  I'll end the update on the reunion with the group shot.

We got the band back together!

It was a late night out Saturday so I was really exhausted on Sunday.  I did manage to meet up with Garrett to return the kegs from the party and then we decided to walk around campus since neither of us had been there in a long time.  Not much had changed, but we did get to see the head sculptures by Robert Arneson.

I finished off my weekend visiting with Woutrina, my PhD advisor (Pat), and one of my classmates that is a faculty member at the veterinary school (Patty).

Patty and I: double selfie in front of Schalm classroom

I managed to get three runs in while I was there: 4 miles Thursday, 8 miles Saturday, and 5 miles on Monday.  Temps on Thursday and Monday were in the 50s, which was great.  Saturday was a little warmer and sunny by the time I finished running.  I ran through the arboretum on campus and the ag fields west of campus, some of my favorite places I used to walk the dogs when I lived there.

Redwood grove in the arboretum

Olive Tree Lane

I also got to use this trip to say goodbye to my inspiration for running the Chicago Marathon for Team PAWS.  Sierra had been rescued by my classmate from the Yolo County Pound and spent a good chunk of her life in Davis.  Janice was nice enough to spread a pinch of her ashes on stage as she walked down to graduate (yes us vets are weird).  I also took some of her ashes and spread them in front of my old house and at the old dog park that we used to go to.  Sierra loved to go there and pee in holes and water bowls and then run off to the horse barns and eat some horse crap.  Those were the days!

Old dog park

It was a great weekend thinking about old memories and making new ones.  I am glad that I could be there to celebrate Janice's amazing accomplishment of finishing veterinary school