When my son said, "Mom, let's get up early and run that trail you found." I thought to myself, "It's almost 4 miles! I haven't run more than 2 miles in 20 years." But I set the alarm, and the two of us got up early this morning to run. We ran side by side until we got to the trail head, then he took off, while I kept my own steady pace. The trail went through a bird sanctuary, down below the dam, and back along the other side of the lake. It was a beautiful morning with great views of the Front Range. I ran the entire trail except for the long hill coming up from below the dam. I'm estimating I ran at least 3 miles. My son doubled back to meet me after he finished the trail, so he ran at least 4.

I wanted real food when we got back to our motel. I fixed lunch for myself (tuna and English peas out of the picnic box) while the rest of the family had breakfast. We spent the morning in the national park, our son climbing rocks, and our daughter taking pictures.

We met our friend for dinner in Colorado Springs at Giuseppe's, a restaurant in the old train station. I ordered grilled salmon with salad and steamed vegetables, and shared with my daughter. This was the first meat or fish she has had since we left home. She has eaten lots of legumes and lots of salad, plus rice and pasta. She had a soy shake every morning, and soy protein bars for snacks. She takes the Type A diet fairly seriously, and made good decisions overall on this vacation. Salmon is her favorite fish, so even though it was the most expensive meal I ordered on the trip, it seemed like a good choice.

Indeed the salmon was excellent. The salad was good; there were a few other greens mixed in with the iceberg lettuce. The steamed vegetables, however, were the same winter mix that I buy frozen in the grocery store. I ate the carrots and broccoli, but picked out the cauliflower and gave it to my husband. For the price of the dinner, I had expected better than frozen carrots and broccoli.

Yesterday I went through with what I call ‘weather head,' a fullness that I occasionally feel when the outside barometer goes up while the inside barometer in my head is still heading down, or vice versa. Better this morning.

Great day in the office. Eight office calls, several featuring favorite patients who I have tended to for literally decades. What a delight it is to grow old with a good patient! To see their children mature and develop; to see the lines and wrinkles and gray hairs develop on their faces and they on mine.

Dinner tonight will be at my brother's place. He and his wife have a delightful little one-year-old son, Alex.

Ally-Boy, as his proud godfather prefers to call him (as opposed to Andy-Boy, a brand of broccoli) is a true child of the ‘info-toy' generation. By this I mean the battery-operated, push-button, stimulus-response and ‘educational' device toys everybody gives kids nowadays.

Now at age one, Alex thinks everything that looks like a button should produce some sort of computer voice, light or music tone when he pushes it. How insulted he gets when his best effort to twiddle a knob or dial on an unplugged radio or push a knot or whirl pattern in a piece of furniture is repaid with stony indifference!

On my way out to my office (which sits behind my garage) Martha passed me a news article from the NY Times about a man who is suing the estate of Robert Atkins and the company that promotes his dietary products.

A group with the improbably highfalutin name ‘Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine' (PCRM) but who are actually a veganism and animal rights support group is actively assisting the plaintiff. The lawsuit seems more of a publicity stunt and is not surprising, since the PCRM has maintained an ‘Atkins-watch' website for several years now, where people can report adverse reactions to the use of animal products in their diet.

Apparently Mr. Jody Gorran, a wealthy manufacturer of solar panels and swimming pools, and who ate quite a bit of cheese and cheesecake while on the Atkins Diet, had his cholesterol increase from a rather low 146 to a potentially hazardous 230. This resulted, he claims, in a 99% blockage in one of his coronary arteries, requiring angioplasty.

From what the article said, most law experts do not believe the lawsuit would get anywhere, and even the plaintiff said he contacted the PCRM ‘because they are familiar with publicity.'

So I guess this is where the Great American Diet Debate eventually winds up.

In court.

Not that I believe for a second that this will end matters. In fact, I'm certain that the heavy-handed manner of the PCRM will eventually boomerang badly, since they in turn leave themselves open to litigation from any ex-vegan who goes on to develop cancer or some other ailment supposedly prevented by their vegan diet.

Blades cut in two directions.

But who knows? If one-year-olds can eventually adjust to their lack of results in expert knob twiddling and button-pushing, then perhaps there is hope for Mr. Gorran and the PCRM.

My son has run the past couple of nights. Since he was a baby he has showed this Type O characteristic. He needs lots of exercise, especially after a rainy afternoon like we had yesterday. I was interested in running with him last night, but my husband really discouraged it. He was right. My son would have quickly outpaced me and left me in the dark.

I knew that our vacation activity for today was a mostly sedentary train ride, so I set the alarm for 30 minutes early and ran this morning. I started toward downtown Estes Park, but spotted a trail along the Big Thompson River, and turned onto it. What a lovely run! The air was cool and the other people out early walking their dogs and running were friendly. I was pleased that the altitude didn't bother me at all. There was one hill, where I had to slow to a walk, but other than that I ran my regular pace. I don't know how far I ran, probably close to the 2 miles I run at home. On the way back to our motel, I passed a trail junction for a 3.75 mile loop around Lake Estes. My son wants to run that tomorrow morning.

We rode the historic Georgetown Loop train with a long time friend who lives south of Denver. Afterwards we ate at Mama Sannino's Italian Restaurant in Denver. Everyone was ordering pasta. I chose an Italian sandwich with thin sliced beef covered in grilled peppers, onions and Mariana sauce. I put the bun in the bread basket where it was quickly gobbled up by others. I was feeling proud of myself that I had found such a delicious Type O meal in a restaurant full of wheat…then our friend ordered cheesecake for everyone. I could have protested; I could have called the waiter back and said, "None for me;" but I didn't.

We took a 4 hour horseback ride through Horseshoe Park. It started out as a beautiful cool, sunny day. At the half way point we got off the horses to stretch our legs and have a snack. I had packed walnuts, pumpkin seeds, dried pineapple, and prunes; plus a bottle of water. As we ate our snacks we saw clouds forming over the mountains. We were glad we had started our ride at 8 am, and that we would be back at the barn before a storm hit.

But this was not an ordinary summer thunderstorm. The clouds turned black, the wind picked up, and light rain started falling. Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder, and the horses shied. The wrangler tied the horses on one side of the trail, and sent us to the other side. We were caught in a hail storm. We had raincoats, but only our daughter had a hood. Our clothes stayed fairly dry, but our hair was quickly drenched. Lightening was striking much too close for comfort.

Finally the hail stopped and the lightening moved on down the valley. We got back on our wet horses. Our hands were so cold we could hardly hold the reins, but the ride was even more beautiful in its own way. The hailstones turned the ground white, and it looked like fresh snow.

Before we could picnic, I had to go to the grocery store. I was standing in line with cherries and oat bread, wanting something warm to eat. I thought of sweet potatoes. There is a microwave in the motel office. I got out of line and picked out two sweet potatoes, one for me and one for my son. They were so delicious. I had brought sushi nori wraps from home. I had one wrap with roast beef and one with sesame butter. My family is curious about the seaweed, but not curious enough to try it yet. They had their sandwiches on oat bread.

An old hymn is running through my head, "I've seen it in the lightening, heard it in the thunder, and felt it in the rain. My Lord is near me all the time."

We took a 5.4 mile hike from the Wild Basin trailhead to three waterfalls. Most of the way we were within the sound of rushing water. It was physically strenuous, but emotionally peaceful and relaxing. Copeland Falls is in two steps: an upper and a lower falls. Calypso Cascade takes a long drop, then tumbles down further over rocks. Ouzell Falls has lots of water and creates lots of mist. All three were beautiful in their own way.

My daughter and I were ahead on this trail. We had a really good conversation about high school issues - the kind of conversation that is hard to initiate at home, but comes natural on the trail.

Dinner was at Timberline Steakhouse. I ordered liver & onions. It came with three side orders: a salad, a steamed vegetable medley (fresh green beans, carrots, yellow squash and zucchini) and potatoes. I was not going to eat the potatoes, but someone else at the table couldn't stand to see them go to waste and snatched them.

It would have been an ideal Type O dinner, except they cooked the onions with bacon. I discarded the bacon, but could do nothing about the bacon grease that was on the onions. This was the first major avoid food on the trip. It was disappointing because I had tried to order carefully.