experiences

last may, my family went on a camping trip up at tumbling waters in NC. it was the most beautiful place i had been to in a while-- shortly after this trip i went to africa, so it got one-upped. the terrain is lovely, the sky was lovely, the air was unpolluted loveliness, and the people there were lovely. all in all, a super wonderful experience. what could mess it up?

there were 3 families up there: mine, the morrison's, and the ... crap, i'm blanking on their last name... oh well, we'll call them the other family. we took the first day and went tubing down this freeeeezing cold creek/river/glacier.

blissfully ignorant

so we head down the c/r/g, and after the first trip down, once we got used to the subzero temperature, someone had the "brilliant" idea to lay our tubes next to each other and hold on to each others handles aaaaaall the way down. "... ... THAT SOUNDS GREAT!!!!" (it should be noted that our bodies were in shock from the cold water which resulted in our thought processes being low) and we're off.

there we go, all smiles...

 we grab hold, and at the beggining it was really fun. we were laughing, and then we remembered the rapids...

death

okay, so they weren't that terrifying, but when there are 8 tubes that are being pulled in 8 different directions, it felt that scary. one of the girls, leigh ellen, got ripped from her tube and was being thrashed between rocks. i got this crazy surge of motherhood protectiveness-- must have still been under the influence of cold water--  and jumped into the water to pull leigh ellen out. her poor little face, bless it. i could tell she was watching her life flash before her eyes. i saw all kinds of terror. her brother, on the other hand, was laughing at us. looking down from his protective tube, laughing at our pain. my foot started to get lodged between two rocks in the middle of a rapid. i was freaking out, but i had to save lellen. as i am trying to get her out of the water and into her tube, i feel my foot go one way and my ankle pull the other. i somehow get lellen out of the water and pulled myself out. it was most definitely the most scared i've been whilst in water, and that's including the time i almost drowned in CO white water rafting; i still don't forgive you, john.

do you see our determination? holding those handles till death do us part.

we made it out, almost unscathed. most of us had some nasty bruises, but no bones were broken.

we needed a pick me up, so that night we went up to tellico gap to climb the fire tower and watch the sunset. the hike was about a mile or two and we were racing against the sun. btdub, when you're running up a mountain to beat the sun and watch it set, a lung will collapse. just a forewarning. well, once i learned how to breathe on one lung, and after i climbed to the top of the fire tower, conquering my fear of heights, we saw this:

worth it

and then, by default, this happened:

on the way home, we saw lightning bugs. all the girls went, "awwww". then we turned this corner and saw a field that was lit up like christmas with lightning bugs. we jumped out of the car and sat on the side of the road for about 30 minutes just watching them. it was magical. as a joke we played the song "fireflies", but then we realized that was dumb and turned that trash off. that day ended up being pretty awesome... now on to the next.

so i had to work on monday, and my famjam wasn't going to leave until monday afternoon, so scott and i left sunday after lunch. scott had been kind of ill the whole trip, but was such a trooper to join us on everything, and laugh in my face as i was saving his sister's life... not bitter...
so we get on the road. i'm almost completely worthless on road trips. i either get car sick or fall asleep. my body chose the latter, and about as soon as we hit the interstate, i was gone. so scott's sick and i'm passed out cold. recipe for disaster.

we get to atlanta and stop for a drink and to change drivers. scott is feeling worse than he had all day, so i think out of guilt i step up and drive. i grab my bag to go get something to drink and it is dripping wet. no joke, the whole bag is sopping. the passenger side floor board is covered in liquid. i go in the store and buy paper towels. scott, in the meantime, met a new friend. i'm going to call him bubba because it is the only name that can describe him perfectly. bubba is wearing a talladega super speedway hat, a shirt with the wolf howling at a moon, and some work boots. he kindly offers his help to these two confused souls that can't figure out why the floor of the car is now a pool of liquid. i'm standing back watching this whole thing play out. B: "well now, whut's wrong, son?" S: "umm, i'm not sure. we don't know what this is and how it got here. it looks like it's draining in from the engine." B: *puts finger in liquid, and licks said finger* "well, it t'ain't an-tuhfreeze."
scott and i both drop our jaws... uhhhhh... did that just happen?!
B: "see now, son, i usta work in uh car shop down the road... bin dealin with cars fer twenuh-two yers. i'd knowd an-tuhfreeze if i tasted it." S: "oh, okay. well thanks, sir. we should probably get going. we still have a long drive." B: "better get that car into uh shop when yous get home now, ya hear." S; "yes, sir. thanks again."

so we head out. scott and i are still reeling from the events that transpired. he falls asleep... the car starts to fail. no lie, less that 15 miles down the road, every single light on the dash comes on. there is some massive engine failure going on. i felt like sandra bullock in "speed". i kept telling myself not to let it drop below 65 mph for fear of exploding. as we exit to get to my house, the car almost completely stops. we pull into the entrance of my neighborhood and the car dies. completely dead. i have never in my life seen scott so angry and i've known him for about 13 years. he tells me to stay in the car to steer and he'll push it until it gets to the hill. the car goes down the hill, around the pond, and my neighbors stare. not a single person tries to help; dear neighbors, oh, you are the worst. i get out and start pushing it myself. <--- something i NEVER want to EVER do EVER again for the REST of my life. scott joins me and we get to my house. he is fuming with frustration, illness and rage. i give him the rest of my starburst and drive him home to sleep. i tell him he'll laugh about it soon... to this day, i don't know if he's laughed, but i certainly have. the car was fine. leaves had clogged the air conditioner thing and the water flooded the inside of the car. cost nothing to fix. what a happy ending to a wonderful weekend. just lovely.