Recharged!
Well my mini vacation was fantastic! It was exactly what I needed to recharge my batteries, not that we spent that much time lying around relaxing.
We left about 8:30 a.m. Friday morning and made the 5 hour drive to Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri. It was a pretty nice drive, albeit a little boring. There just isn't too much interesting scenery driving through Kansas. The last 30 minutes of the drive started to become quite hill-y. At first this was exciting, as being so used to driving on super flat terrain made the hills feel like a mini roller coaster ride. But about 10 minutes into it I felt my stomach start turning, so much so that I ended up just closing my eyes and taking deep breathes to prevent a pre-arrival mishap. Plus by this point it was nearly 2:00 and we hadn't eaten lunch so I was beyond starving and just feeling sick. It was such a relief when we finally got there!
We had a quick lunch and immediately got out onto the lake where we all took turns wakeboarding. There were eight of us on the boat all together: Shawn and I, Blessy, Nick, Kari, Krista, Brooke and Kari's sister Katie. It's Kari's parents who have the house on the lake and two amazing boats. A Mastercraft and a pontoon (aka-the booze cruise boat). Anyways I got up pretty quickly. I had done it several times before but that was years ago, so I was excited to see I could still do it. This made me feel a little ambitious so I tried to do things a little more daring, like jump the wake, and ended up wiping out and landing smack on my face more than once. It felt like being simultaneously slapped in the face about 30 times, but actually getting up there and doing it was such a rush that it's addictive and I just wanted to keep getting back up and trying again. After everyone in the group had had a go and only Krista was left, the rope somehow got caught around the engine, which was bad. At this point most of us had been downing beers left and right and were all a little drunk. Katie ended up jumping onto a boat we had flagged down to take her back to shore so she could get Kari's parents to tow us back in the pontoon boat. In the meantime we had to prevent the boat from floating towards the shore. I was swimming like a mad woman at the front of the boat, trying to pull as I heard the others from the back yelling "1....2.....3.... PUSH!!!" Because I was a little drunk I probably was busting my ass to do not much of anything. I think my only contribution was determining which direction the boat would go when they pushed. Finally her parents arrived and towed us back to shore.
When we got back to the house we were STARVING. There is nothing better than being out in the sun and water all day, coming back home and just then realizing how hungry you actually are. Food tastes dramatically better when you are THAT hungry! Anyways we had a nice meal and then birthday cake for Kari's birthday, which was Thursday. Before we actually sat down to dinner I had started making margaritas and by the end of dinner was feeling pretty good. Shawn wasn't feeling good so he ended up just hanging out at the house, while the rest of us headed down to the dock to go swimming. At this point it was dark, so the water felt incredibly warm! It was like being in a warm bath and was wonderful. We just floated around on our fun noodles, drank more beer and acted silly. At one point there was something about 50 feet away from us that looked like a flashing light. Krista points it out and we all look, wondering what the hell it is and right about that time it slowly sinks down into the water. We all started screaming and swimming back to the dock. It was so much fun being drunk and freaking ourselves out by talking about snakes and fish and whatever else was lurking in the water. Good thing nothing actually surfaced. We probably would have trampled eachother trying to get up the dock and to safety!!!
I woke up Saturday feeling a little beaten up. Those wakeboard wipeouts are hard on your body! But we went back out for more for a couple hours before going in for lunch and then heading out on the booze cruise. It wasn't so much a booze cruise as a nice hour long scenic ride around the lake. It is HUGE and just gorgeous. It was so relaxing as we boated along, listening to Bob Marley and nursing our drinks. After about an hour we stopped at "the cliffs" which is an area of cliffs (obviously) that thousands of people climb up and jump off of into the water. We had already decided we were going to do this. When we finally arrive it doesn't look as daunting as I expected. There is a cave about midway to the top of the cliff where you can enter to jump from if you don't want to go all the way to the top. So we jumped out of the boat and swam to shore to begin the ascent. Kari's parents had brought several pairs of shoes for the climb, but they were size 11s and so i had to hoof it barefoot. It was so scary!!!! I felt like I was in some adventure film, grapsing onto rocks and roots and tree trunks on the slippery mud path. It was terrifed of slipping, knowing I could injure myself quite nicely if I were to slip down the hill. But I kept going because as dangerous as it seemed, it was really exciting and I pushed the danger thought out of my head. So I finally get to the cave and when we have all made it and look down on the water we start freaking out! What looked like a minor jump from the water looks like a terrifying free fall from the cave. It was probably about 40-45 feet, off a CLIFF! into the lake. Katie, Ms. Brave, went first. I was shaking so badly that I knew I had to go next. So I ran and jumped and felt my stomach leave it's normal place in my body and make it's way to my throat. I can only compare it to those free-fall rides at carnivals, when you get to a point where you feel like you can't stand it anymore so you grip the bar of the ride with all your might. Only there is no bar. As I was about to scream I hit the water and swallowed a huge amount. But I emerged from the water feeling so exhilirated that I don't think anything will match it for a long time. And watching everybody's reaction, we all felt the same way. It was awesome!!!!
That night we were all pretty drained so there wasn't a whole lot going on. I had water in my ear that wouldn't come out and I think something popped in it when I hit the water after the jump, so I was in some pain. Plus my equilibrium was off as well so I just felt dizzy. I ended up laying on the couch at about 9 and falling asleep shortly after.
Sunday we went out on the water for awhile for one more round of wakeboarding and water skiing before heading home. Every single part of my body was aching but I knew it would be awhile before I would have the chance to get to do any of that again, so I did some more wakeboarding, more wiping out, more being slapped in the face by the water! But all of the aches and pains were totally worth it. It was so much fun and I didn't think about work. Not one single time! It's was so nice to replace all of that stress with doing things that actually made me feel good for a change. And doing things that were challenging and rewarding to me that nobody could take away.
Today I slept in until 8:30 and then got up and took out my puppy. She stayed with my parents while we were gone and was so excited to see us. My mom told me she had cried for awhile after we left and everyone had to pet her and shower her with all kinds of attention until she calmed down. Awww, poor little Syd. Anyways, it was obvious she missed home because she fell asleep in the car, which she never does. And then she just slept for about 20 hours. She is back to her old self now.
I went over to my parents to swim and get a little more sun before I returned to the real world. I just hung out with my little sister in the pool and chatted and then my mom made tacos for dinner. It was the perfect end to a perfect mini vacation. I will post a few pics tomorrow, but most of the good ones were taken by Kari and Blessy (like the infamous cliff!!) so I will post those when I get copies. Shawn is now insisting we get a new camera because of the poor performance of mine. I concur!
We left about 8:30 a.m. Friday morning and made the 5 hour drive to Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri. It was a pretty nice drive, albeit a little boring. There just isn't too much interesting scenery driving through Kansas. The last 30 minutes of the drive started to become quite hill-y. At first this was exciting, as being so used to driving on super flat terrain made the hills feel like a mini roller coaster ride. But about 10 minutes into it I felt my stomach start turning, so much so that I ended up just closing my eyes and taking deep breathes to prevent a pre-arrival mishap. Plus by this point it was nearly 2:00 and we hadn't eaten lunch so I was beyond starving and just feeling sick. It was such a relief when we finally got there!
We had a quick lunch and immediately got out onto the lake where we all took turns wakeboarding. There were eight of us on the boat all together: Shawn and I, Blessy, Nick, Kari, Krista, Brooke and Kari's sister Katie. It's Kari's parents who have the house on the lake and two amazing boats. A Mastercraft and a pontoon (aka-the booze cruise boat). Anyways I got up pretty quickly. I had done it several times before but that was years ago, so I was excited to see I could still do it. This made me feel a little ambitious so I tried to do things a little more daring, like jump the wake, and ended up wiping out and landing smack on my face more than once. It felt like being simultaneously slapped in the face about 30 times, but actually getting up there and doing it was such a rush that it's addictive and I just wanted to keep getting back up and trying again. After everyone in the group had had a go and only Krista was left, the rope somehow got caught around the engine, which was bad. At this point most of us had been downing beers left and right and were all a little drunk. Katie ended up jumping onto a boat we had flagged down to take her back to shore so she could get Kari's parents to tow us back in the pontoon boat. In the meantime we had to prevent the boat from floating towards the shore. I was swimming like a mad woman at the front of the boat, trying to pull as I heard the others from the back yelling "1....2.....3.... PUSH!!!" Because I was a little drunk I probably was busting my ass to do not much of anything. I think my only contribution was determining which direction the boat would go when they pushed. Finally her parents arrived and towed us back to shore.
When we got back to the house we were STARVING. There is nothing better than being out in the sun and water all day, coming back home and just then realizing how hungry you actually are. Food tastes dramatically better when you are THAT hungry! Anyways we had a nice meal and then birthday cake for Kari's birthday, which was Thursday. Before we actually sat down to dinner I had started making margaritas and by the end of dinner was feeling pretty good. Shawn wasn't feeling good so he ended up just hanging out at the house, while the rest of us headed down to the dock to go swimming. At this point it was dark, so the water felt incredibly warm! It was like being in a warm bath and was wonderful. We just floated around on our fun noodles, drank more beer and acted silly. At one point there was something about 50 feet away from us that looked like a flashing light. Krista points it out and we all look, wondering what the hell it is and right about that time it slowly sinks down into the water. We all started screaming and swimming back to the dock. It was so much fun being drunk and freaking ourselves out by talking about snakes and fish and whatever else was lurking in the water. Good thing nothing actually surfaced. We probably would have trampled eachother trying to get up the dock and to safety!!!
I woke up Saturday feeling a little beaten up. Those wakeboard wipeouts are hard on your body! But we went back out for more for a couple hours before going in for lunch and then heading out on the booze cruise. It wasn't so much a booze cruise as a nice hour long scenic ride around the lake. It is HUGE and just gorgeous. It was so relaxing as we boated along, listening to Bob Marley and nursing our drinks. After about an hour we stopped at "the cliffs" which is an area of cliffs (obviously) that thousands of people climb up and jump off of into the water. We had already decided we were going to do this. When we finally arrive it doesn't look as daunting as I expected. There is a cave about midway to the top of the cliff where you can enter to jump from if you don't want to go all the way to the top. So we jumped out of the boat and swam to shore to begin the ascent. Kari's parents had brought several pairs of shoes for the climb, but they were size 11s and so i had to hoof it barefoot. It was so scary!!!! I felt like I was in some adventure film, grapsing onto rocks and roots and tree trunks on the slippery mud path. It was terrifed of slipping, knowing I could injure myself quite nicely if I were to slip down the hill. But I kept going because as dangerous as it seemed, it was really exciting and I pushed the danger thought out of my head. So I finally get to the cave and when we have all made it and look down on the water we start freaking out! What looked like a minor jump from the water looks like a terrifying free fall from the cave. It was probably about 40-45 feet, off a CLIFF! into the lake. Katie, Ms. Brave, went first. I was shaking so badly that I knew I had to go next. So I ran and jumped and felt my stomach leave it's normal place in my body and make it's way to my throat. I can only compare it to those free-fall rides at carnivals, when you get to a point where you feel like you can't stand it anymore so you grip the bar of the ride with all your might. Only there is no bar. As I was about to scream I hit the water and swallowed a huge amount. But I emerged from the water feeling so exhilirated that I don't think anything will match it for a long time. And watching everybody's reaction, we all felt the same way. It was awesome!!!!
That night we were all pretty drained so there wasn't a whole lot going on. I had water in my ear that wouldn't come out and I think something popped in it when I hit the water after the jump, so I was in some pain. Plus my equilibrium was off as well so I just felt dizzy. I ended up laying on the couch at about 9 and falling asleep shortly after.
Sunday we went out on the water for awhile for one more round of wakeboarding and water skiing before heading home. Every single part of my body was aching but I knew it would be awhile before I would have the chance to get to do any of that again, so I did some more wakeboarding, more wiping out, more being slapped in the face by the water! But all of the aches and pains were totally worth it. It was so much fun and I didn't think about work. Not one single time! It's was so nice to replace all of that stress with doing things that actually made me feel good for a change. And doing things that were challenging and rewarding to me that nobody could take away.
Today I slept in until 8:30 and then got up and took out my puppy. She stayed with my parents while we were gone and was so excited to see us. My mom told me she had cried for awhile after we left and everyone had to pet her and shower her with all kinds of attention until she calmed down. Awww, poor little Syd. Anyways, it was obvious she missed home because she fell asleep in the car, which she never does. And then she just slept for about 20 hours. She is back to her old self now.
I went over to my parents to swim and get a little more sun before I returned to the real world. I just hung out with my little sister in the pool and chatted and then my mom made tacos for dinner. It was the perfect end to a perfect mini vacation. I will post a few pics tomorrow, but most of the good ones were taken by Kari and Blessy (like the infamous cliff!!) so I will post those when I get copies. Shawn is now insisting we get a new camera because of the poor performance of mine. I concur!