Sometimes you just feel stupid when you realize who is in the room with you, and last Saturday at breakfast was just such an occasion. Well, maybe not stupid exactly, but it was quickly apparent I was on the shallow end of the intellectual gene pool.
It all started when D’Aun and I flew to New York City because a long time friend, Dave Dolan, was to be honored by the Explorers Club of America at their 114th Annual Banquet. In addition to the banquet, Dave invited several of his friends to join him and his wife Nancy for breakfast on Saturday morning.
Thus we found ourselves having coffee and croissants with an amazing group of people. There were just fifteen folks in the room, but they included one of the leading heart and lung surgeons in the world, an explorer who has climbed Mount Everest and many of the other highest peaks, a Harvard professor with a best selling book and TEDTalk, the chief of the US Geological Survey’s groundwater studies, a bestselling author and national politics correspondent for Newsweek, and the world’s leading authority on cheetah research and conservation.
So yeah, I was definitely NOT the smartest one in the room. And that’s before Dave Dolan himself, his wife Nancy, and our friends Steve (Harvard MBA) & Robyn (MD) Stong. I wasn’t even the smartest one at my end of the table, much less the room.
We had fascinating conversations, made new friends, and were treated to a tour of the Explorers Club headquarters (we had breakfast in the Teddy Roosevelt room). Later that evening we joined our new friends (and a thousand other attendees) at the Explorers Club annual banquet. After sampling appetizers like boiled scorpions and fried tarantulas (while bidding on bottles of Shackleton’s whisky and an actual piece of rope from Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki), we heard from an amazing group of speakers. Jeff Bezos of Amazon was honored, as was Edith Widder (one of the leading oceanographers in the world). A special moment was when Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell was recognized.
Of course the biggest moment for us was when Dave Dolan was honored for his life of exploration and serving others. It was all the more poignant because of his bravery during his recent double lung transplant. We’re proud of Dave! And a Westmont College shoutout during his video profile, no less!
Special thanks to Steve & Robyn for inviting us. It was a weekend of amazing people and created incredible memories we will treasure a lifetime.
All dressed up for the big event.
Dave Dolan being honored.
Edith Widder gave an amazing talk.
I hear this guy owns a bookstore.
Jim Lovell, a true American hero.
Appetizers, anyone?
