bodies, borders, and baseball

Ok, we arrived in San Diego by noon on Saturday, climbing a really steep hill to finish our trip to the apartment of Molly Moyer (someone we went to Goshen with, and apparently my 3rd cousin). That evening she and her two housemates had a housewarming party with a bunch of family and friends coming over - they only moved in about a month ago.

Sunday was much more relaxed - after a late lunch of egg, etc. scramble, we made our way to the San Diego Padres ballpark for a picnic lunch (amazing sandwiches provided by Karen, Molly's housemate's mom). We then watched the game - they played (or at least tried to play) against the Colorado Rockies (Padres lost 6-1). So, after only going to one major league baseball game in my entire life, I have been to two major league games and one minor league game this summer. Nate, Molly, and I finished the day by visiting a seaside park where we went on an old wooden roller coaster.

Today was even more relaxing. Nate and I went to the San Diego zoo, saw some pandas, etc., and then went to a Body Worlds exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Natural History. It was pretty incredible.

They had taken *real* bodies (donated for this purpose), dissected them, and presented them in different positions with different layers pulled off, different muscles pulled away, etc. It was all preserved by basically being plasticized somehow (they infused plastic into the entire cadaver, so you could see all the surfaces of the muscles and bones and organs, but it was perfectly preserved). I was a bit queasy at first, but it was really neat to see all the body laid out like that. There were even a few displays where they somehow preserved all the blood vessels and used chemicals to remove all the other tissue, leaving only the network of blood vessels. It was amazing - they had the blood vessel network (still in its 3-D orientation/positions) of the entire human hand and head, and then also the network for a rooster and a lamb. Another really neat part was a section talking about human development - they had preserved fetuses of almost every major step of development (4 wks, 4 1/2, 5, 6, 7... 20, 22, 25, 28). It's an incredible exhibit. I believe there are a few more locations for this installation. If you're interested in that stuff it's definitely worth looking it up to see if there's something anywhere close to where you are or may be anytime in the near future. It was even better because Nate was giving me a guided tour of every display (having just finished his first year of med school).

So, I believe Wednesday I get on the train and start my way back to the midwest, but for now, viva la California...