California Dreamin...

In Oregon. Filming site of the goonies!

Lisa and Doug come for a visit to San Fran

Melissa cones to the bay area!

Redhook in New Hampshire...so tasty!


I know it's been awhile and I apologize. I am terrible at sitting down and actually writing a new blog. But I'll give you a quick update on what I have been doing.

For the last 4 months I have been in California, more specifically the San Francisco bay area. I started out at Kaiser Santa Clara on a Tele Med-Surg floor. I was there until the end of August. I met some awesome travelers there and the regular staff was great too. I think meeting people quickly is what makes the frequent moves tolerable. I tried to keep myself busy during my stay in Silicon Valley. I went with several other friends to wine tours up in the Santa Cruz mountains. The views were amazing and the wine was excellent. I also attended the gilroy garlic festival. Gilroy, California is the world's capital of garlic growers. At the festival, everything had garlic in it, from garlic calamari to garlic ice cream. Everything was delicious, but I felt like my pores were oozing garlic by the time we left. The night life was great in San Jose too. Their is never a lack of something to do.

I have found that California is way more expensive then I am used to. Sales tax is at 9.25% and everything seems to have a premium price tag. I went for my first haircut at a chain store and found out that it was going to cost me $70. I was already in the chair so I wasn't about to get up, but I found the price-tag a bit ridiculous for the little bit of hair that I have. It's commonplace to go out for a meal and spend a minimum of $30 a person and it usually was much more depending on where we are going. I am lucky to have my job, as it allows me to still enjoy myself event hough I am spending four times as much on goods and services.

I went on several different adventures during my stay in California. When I first got to California, I went up to Portland, OR and stayed with my friend Allison. Portland is an amazing city and the weather actually turned out to be perfect. I love the very laid back feel and unique personalities of Portland residents. Alison and I went to Astoria and to the beach, which was the site of the movie, The goonies" I was also lucky enough get a chance to visit with my cousin, Tim who I don't get to see very often, and I want to thank them both for an awesome vacation.

My second trip was in July and it was to Boston, MA. I had the trip planned for awhile, and had been looking forward to it even before I arrived in Cali. I was going to be visiting my friends Kris and Liza, and meeting up with my friends Adam and Mindy. These people are all good college friends and we tend to have a lot of fun and get into a little bit of trouble when we get together. The best part was is that my friend GArrett also came out to visit at the same time as a surprise. I was the only who knew he was coming and it made the trip even better. IT did however require a little change in plans. Five people in a Nissan Maxima with no air conditioning in 90 degree is uncomfortable but tolerable. However six people in the same vehicle was downright unbearable. We tried it once for 30 minutes and realized that it was no going to work out unless some of us rode in the trunk or on the hood. We decided to get a rental van, and we didn't want to spend that much money. I volunteered to figure out our best option. I called several different rental companies and finally found a place called budget rent-a-center. It was by far the cheapest option, which should have been my first waring sign.

Kris and I went to go pick up the car which was supposed to be at a repair shop in a somewhat shady part-of-town (warning sign number 2). WE picked up the car and we looked at the quote and it was $150 more than what they told me over the phone. Apparently, they added a $100 deposit and an extra 4 hours to our rental which they did not make me aware of. After a couple conversations we had it figured out. I went to get into the car and the dash was in Spanish and it smelled of velvet cheese. We ended up calling her Wynonna for some reason. It may not have been the prettiest or the cleanest vehicle but it had a/c and 7 seats. It was by far the best decision we made, and it took two calls when I got home to get the deposit back.

boston was great. We went to Maine and New Hampshire and toured several different breweries. Also, we went and checked out several different light houses along the Maine coast. Each was has it's own unique history and most of them has some sort of seafood restaurant nearby and it was delicious. I'm looking forward to taking a contract in the New England area and exploring more of what it has to offer.

I was excited because I have finally had visitors come to see me on my travels. Texas was fun but no one wanted to come to Abilene to visit and I don't blame them. My friends Melissa and Emily came down for awhile. I had the chance to see Wicked in San Francisco and explore the city a bit. It was great catching up with friends and showing them around. My aunt and Uncle decided to visit for a weeknd right before I moved. IT was short but a lot fo fun. The highlights were definitely Muir Woods, Golden GPart and the transvestite dinner show. Sounds odd but it was very entreating.

Finally, what I am up to new. I am currently on the peninsula south of San fran in Palo Alto, CA. I currently work at Stanford University hospitals and clinics on the Intermediate ICU and have been since August 23rd.. It's basically a glorified Med Tele unit but it means the my nurse:patient ratio is only 3:1. I am working days now which is very hard to get used to. There are too may people that want a minute of my time and it all adds up until I am running around like a crazy person. But it's going to be a great experience and I am excited to be in a university teaching facility again. Also the other nurses and travelers I have met have been very helpful and fun to work and socialize with. My goal is to expand my nursing knowledge as much as I can while I travel. IT's hard because I am really interested in ICU and pediatrics but ti is impossible to start a different specialty in nursing while traveling.

My living situation is a bit different this time. As most of you know I typically had my company find me housing. This time, however, I opted to find my own place to live. If I find my own place, my company gives me a set stipend for housing and I get to keep the difference. I flipped back and forth between finding my own one bedroom or living with roommates who had an extra room. I decided to go with roommates, thinking it would be a good way to meet people right away. I started my searc on craigslist. I found several places that looked great but it is very difficult to get people to respond to you when you're interested. I ended up putting an ad on craigslist saying that I was looking for housing and see if that produced any results.

I ended up checking out a couple of places and was terrified by what I found. I felt like I was interviewing people for a new season of hoarders. The one place had someone who was trying to combine three households from previous family deaths and she had 5 tiny dogs that ran around like a heard of cattle the entire time I was there. The second place had a backyard and room full of at least 50 rubbermaid tubs full of stuff that apparently the owner sold on bay. Business must be going slow, because the amount of junk was overwhelming. I was about to give up, but I had one more place to look at. The let place I went to visit was from one of the people who responded to my ad. I prepared myself for the worst, due to my previous experience. Much to my surprise this place was perfect. The place was nice and clean and had a great feel to it. What sold me on the place were the roommates. Pablo and Gina are both awesome people and are a lot off fun to hang out with. The seem to have similar opinions and views on life which makes it that much better. The second I walked in I knew it was the place I wanted to stay. I am happy that they both agreed and am looking forward to the next couple of months.

I've already made some friends from work and I still have friends from my last job in the area so I am very happy. California is great and I am worried that I will end up sating. My family is still a huge pull for me back to the midwest. In fact I am currently on a plane heading back to the bay area from a trip home to Iowa. Spending time with family and friends is one of my favorite thugs to do and it was great to see everyone again. Phone conversations are nice, but don't make up for quality one-on-one time.


Sorry this is so choppy but I did not want to write a novel froth last time I posted. Their area a lot of things I am sure I missed but you should be able to keep up with most of it via Facebook. Thanks again for reading and I will do my best to post more regularly again.

Keep Austin Weird!

Zip-lining through the forest

Downtown on Dirty 6th

My attempt to ride the bull

So I know it's been a long time since I posted anything but there hasn't been a lot of exciting happenings going on in the metropolis that is Abilene. Unfortunately three universities in one city does not equal cool fun things to do.

the bonus of moving to abilene is I have made some great frinds. The people I am working with are very entertaining and the other travel nurses on my floor are great. Allen and Carrie are two travelers that showed up two weeks after I did, which was exactly what I needed because I started going stir crazy. It's easiest to form quick but lasting realationships with other travelers because they are in the same situation that you are.

Carrie Allen and I have been able to hang out several times when we all have some time off and we seem to have a good time when we are all working together. We've explored downtown, some thrift stores and a couple local hangouts together.

A few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to all have 4 days off in a row, so we decided that we would take a weekend trip to Austin, TX. Austin is considered the "Music Capital of the World." We went right after SXSW festival which was probably a good idea because it was still pretty busy. Our first night consisted of a visit to the infamous 6th St. I thought I had figured it all out and we were going to the nicer part of 6th St. We soon realized we were on what is considered "Dirty 6th." It's more of the hangout for the young college kids and has a lot more bars . It was a happy mistake because we had a great time. Each of us attmpted a ride on a mechanical bull at one of the establishments. It's a lot harder than it looks, and there are so me people that are very intense and alot of fun to watch.

We ended up hanging out there till closing. We jumped to a few dfferent places. Each of them had a rooftop bar that overlooked the city and the capital with awesome views. It is amazing how easy it is to talk to people in Texas. For the most part everyone is very friendly and probably carrying a handgun (gotta love Texas).

Day two of Austin was a much more relxed day. Austin has this amzing trail that runs along both sides of the river. The trail goes right under the Congress Ave. bridge, otherwise known as the bat bridge. This bridge is home to tone of the largest congregations of bats. The sleep in the cracks during the day and come out at night. When you walk under the bride you could hear the bats chirping away. After a long walk along the river we sat down by the Congress Ave bridge and awaited susnset when the bats would awake. As we were sitting we accosted by a deaf man who was selling bat buttons and was not amused when we didn't want to buy one.

At about &'40 the bats finally started to awake and it was amazing to watch hundreds of bats start flying out into the city. A few got pretty close, but the flew off pretty quickly.

After that we decided to go the drafthouse cinema and see Hot Tub Time Machine. The restaurant is a restaurant/movie theater. The pre-show entertainent always follws the theme of the movie you will be seeing,, soour pre-show entertaiment was awesomely bad 80's commercials and workout videos. The movie was surprisingly funny and dessert was amazing.

The final day in Austin was a mix of two big activities, zip-lining and opera (well sort, of). We started out the day taking a zip-line tour, across "6" different zip lines (thanks for obtaining that info Carrie) through ancient cypress tress in the middle of nowhere. It a rush, and we were sad we were unable to do the challenge tour. We had to rush back becuase we had tickets to see a touring broadway production of Phantom of the Opera. I've never seen it performed live and the cast did a spectacular job.

That was the end of our trip, or so we thought. On our way back to Abilene we had a run in with the law. Allen and I were talking while Carrie was napping in the backseat. I look in my rear view mirror and notice a cop with his lights on behind me, so I pull over right away. I knew something was off when the police officer came skulking slowly towards the vehicle. He got close enough to the vehicle and I had my window open and he started yelling, " Put your hands up!" and he pulled out his gun as another officer pulled up. At this point we were all confused and did as the officer said. He demanded that I get out of the vehicle. At this point, I am wondering what the hell is going on, and what sort of trouble I was in. I thought he was going to take me to his vehicle and search me for weapons or something.

He finally started explaining to me that I was speeding (52, in a 45) through his town. He said that he had been following me for awhile on to the interstate, and that he called for back-up because he thought I was trying to escape. I told him that I simply did not see him until just now and pulled over right away. What I wanted to say was, "Why on earth would I be running a way from the cops with my cruise control set at 2 miles above the speed limit and why the hell didn't you pull up next to me so I saw you." He finally started being somewhat nice but still gave me a ticket for failure to yield. The whole situation was ridiculous, but I just wanted to get out of there quickly.

I got back into the car and I started explaining what was going on to my friends, and they couldn't believe it either. Neither one of them saw him either. IT was like we were on an episode of Cops or something. All in all it was a great trip and Austin is a great city. I would go again as long as I don't have to drive through Lampasas, TX.

Big Country....little to do

Hello Everyone!

So I have been in Abilene, TX for about 3 weeks. It's in the middle of what Texans call "Big Country." Basically a large expanse of land in Texas that is mostly rural and Abilene is in the center of it. I work at the the Hendrick's Baptist hospital which serves all the rural areas. It's definitely different. First of, the healthcare tech is lacking. They are still using paper MAR's to administer medication which is alien to me. All the other places I have been use a computer system to administer medication which helps to prevent medication errors. I now triple check everything, which takes roe time.
What I do enjoy is the people I work with. They are an older but very nice group of people. And they tend to have food every night so I am not going hungry at work. I am hoping to meet some of the younger employees and try to make some friendships outside of work.
It's hard to find anything to do in this city. It's about the size of Cedar Rapids, but there is no center where you can find entertainment or shopping. It seems that it's interspersed throughout the city. I am looking forward to try the artwalk downtown and there are a couple of shows I want to see and they just opened a new microbrewery downtown which I still want to check-out. I am hoping to find people with similar interests to do these things together with, but it takes time.
The plus of this assignment is definitely the housing. Compared to what I was in before this place is amazing. I am currently in a two bed, two bath apartment. It's furnished for me, and the rental company accidentally dropped off a washer and dryer which they aren't charging me for so it's even better. The place where I am staying has a really nice pool and decent fitness center along with volleyball and basketball courts. It's in a nice quiet area that's not too far from where I work. I currently work 36 hours per week (12 hour/nights). Overall this is a nice quiet experience, and I am looking forward to California in May. I can't wait to go to the beach every day and catch up with friends and family that I have there.
That's all for now. For those of ou who wanted to see, here are some pictures of my new place Enjoy and I miss you all!

The view off of one of my two balconies

The sort of walk-in closet

The kitchen

The living room

Master bathroom

Master bedroom, notice the cheap curtain made of poster board over the balcony door so I can sleep during the day.

My next nursing adventure

Hi everyone. I know its been awhile. My computer went on the fritz, but it's been repaired and all is right in the universe. Since my last entry, which I just posted, a couple things have happened. First off we had another visitor. Mandy's friend Justin came down for a visit and we went to our first Spurs game, and out to a pool hall to play darts. It was a good time although I don't think our Karaoke version of it's my life will be winning an awards anytime soon.

Also, Mandy an I finally got a chance to go to the Tower of Americas for Dinner this week. Basically it's the san Antonio version of the Seattle Space Needle. The restaurant rotates while you are eating so you can see the entire city. It was a really great meal. The best part by far was the raspberry chocolate souffle. My least favorite part was the bill, but it was worth it.

Also, I wanted to let you know that I will be starting a new travel assignment at the end of January. As some of you know, I was unhappy with the company I am currently with. We are by far the least paid travel nurses, and I have been stuck in an extended stay hotel for 3 months. The company itself is very disorganized and has let me down several times. But I am happy to report that I have found a great new company and I am going to Abilene, Texas. I am excited for this experience for a couple of reasons. First off, I will be working on a Neuro tele floor which is basically what I used to do back in Milwaukee. I will have a set schedule and I will be working on one floor so it will be a lot easier getting to know people. Secondly, Abilene is a smaller city. In San Antonio, I currently live right off the interstate and outside activities are hard unless you want to drive somewhere.

LAstly, I am excited to start this new job, because after this job, I am headed to California! I have been in the process of getting my RN license in that state which is a lengthy process but I should have it within the next 8 weeks, and I will be able to take start looking for jobs after my stay in Abilene. Ideally, I would like to do either San Diego/Los Angeles and San Francisco. Of course it depends on the job market but there always seems to be something open in CA. That's about ti for now. I will update you when I get to Abilene and let you know what I think. Thanks for reading!

Christmas Time!

My freind Mandy and cousin Montana


NSSN 2009


My brief brush with celebrities


Family home time

During December I went home twice for Christmas. the first time was for the Wagemester Christmas. It was great to see everyone but it was very short. It was the first Christmas without my Aunt Christi. For those of you who don't know, Christi (Mom's Side) passed away unexpectedly while I was on vacation in Boston. It was a sad Christmas, but one in which we remembered and honored Christy for the life she led. There was crying and sad parts of course, but overall it was better to have everyone together, enjoying each others presence and the Christmas and Christi's spirit.

The kids enjoyed it of course, and I was able to catch up with everyone that I hadn't seen in awhile. It's a big family with at least 15 other first cousins, most of which are at least 15 years younger than I am. I ended up having to head back to San Antonio the next day. It was a crappy foggy day when I left and of course my flight was delayed. My connection was to Atlanta which apparently was worse. I was starting to get nervous when I heard the landing gear come out of the plane and I was unable to see the ground. the tarmac finally appeared when we were about 5 feet above it. Someone two rows ahead of me said "Oh, shit!" which is exactly what I and probably most of the other passengers thought too.

When we landed I knew I had very little time to get to my next flight. About 14 minutes in fact. I was on a mission to get to my next flight over in the next terminal on time. If anyone knows the Atlanta airport you want in and out as fast as possible. I ended up pushing in front of several rows but I was determined. When I got off my plane, the two members of the band 3 Oh! # were sitting right in front of me. 3Oh!3 is a fairly popular band, most notably known for "Don't Trust Me" and "Starrstrukk" with Katy Perry.

I was focused and could not be distracted by the celebrities but Nate from the band started walking in the same direction. I actually started talking to him quick while we were walking and told him I was planning on going to his show in San Antonio the next day. They were apparently trying to get to Oklahoma City for a show that night and then to San Antonio the next day. He was actually really cool to talk to. I told him I was looking forward to his show tomorrow and that I had to run to my next flight. I ran down the terminal, and then ran down one of the moving sidewalks pushing past people. I arrived to my flight 3 minutes early that left 5 minutes early and was defeated.

I re-booked myself on the next flight and decided that I should at least get a picture with 3Oh!3 since I had some time. I ran back to C Terminal and looked around for them. I finally found them waiting in line for Delta customer service. I went up to Sean this time and talked to him for a short while then asked if I could have a picture. I know it sounds cheesy but these were by far the most famous people I have met and I wasn't going home empty handed. They were very nice about it, and I wished them luck trying to get to Oklahoma City. I made it home slightly late but safe.

The next day Mandy and I went to Not So Silent Night 2009. It was an outdoor concert featuring 3Oh!3, The Fray, Owl City, Boys like Girls, Blue October, Jason Derulo and Jay Sean. I was basically there for 3Oh!3 and I enjoy the Fray from time to time as well. The show started at 3pm. I decided we should get there by 2 because I wanted decent position to see the band.

I should have known better but I think every teenage kid was there. We were definitely the older part of the crowd. The line when we got there already had about 1000 people in and stretched across several blocks. We finally get in and I was fighting for my square foot of space with all my might. We ended up staying till the end but I was dying because there was no way to sit down and The Fray started at 9pm so I was standing for the better part of 7 hours. I was glad we went home before The Fray finished because traffic was still good. The show was alright, but never again do I want to go to a concert where I have no where to sit and no personal space.

"Christmas-Take 2" started on December 20th with another early flight home, this time with a connecting flight through Dallas. I thought Atlanta was a terribly designed airport but Dallas is by far worse. It took us 25 minutes to taxi to our gate which was occupied by another plane and apparently we could not get out at any of the many empty gates right next to it.

Our plane sat for another 20 minutes, giving me about 15 minutes to get to my next flight which was in Terminal B and I would be fine. Come to find out when I got on the train to take me from terminal C to B that we would have to stop at Terminal A first. I was thoroughly annoyed with dyslexic qualities of Dallas and was on the train for 10 minutes. I get off my train and run down the escalator to get to my flight 8 minutes earlier.

The plane was still there so I am thinking I am in the clear. I was very wrong. I went up to the gate person and told them I was here. He told me the flight is closed. I pleaded with the man to let me on the plane but he gave me a lame excuse that they needed to weigh the planned which I decided was code for "We gave away your seat." I grudgingly went to the next flight for iowa which was in "another" terminal and was booked for that and made it safely back.

This time I was able to spend a whole week in Iowa It was filled with friends and family. My HS friends and I were able to get together for a Christmas shin-dig and i went to several family Christmases. I had a chance to hang out with my brothers which I was really excited about and I think they were too. all in all it was an excellent Christmas and it reminded me that I will be back to Iowa because I love my family, friends, and Iowa itself, snow and all.

New years week brought my first visitors. Actually it was cousins of mine who were coming down for a vacation but I was excited someone would be coming down that I could go out with. Paul and Robin and their two kids, Montana and Ciera (sp?) came down for a week long trip. Mandy and I caught up with them on New Year's Eve during the day. It was an amazing 73 degrees out and we went downtown. Mandy and I finally had a chance to go on a riverwalk boat tour, which was more entertaining then I remember it. We ended the night going to a rodeo.

You would think a rodeo would be in a fairly well known area. We had the GPS and I knew it was going to be an interesting trip when we started going down a county road. We ended up getting lost and driving through the most ominous trailer park in the middle of nowhere before we found our destination. We arrived a bit early for the rodeo and we were probably the 5th ones there. My cousin Robin already decided to not take responsibility for the whole trip if it turned out to be a bust. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We ate there and they had some of the best hamburgers and a few drinks before the start of the show.

It was starting to get cold and by the time the rodeo started it was in the high 40's. did I forget to mention this was an outdoor rodeo? Don't worry so did my cousin, Robin. We stayed for most of the rodeo huddled under blankets and sticking close to one another for warmth. My cousin Montana (11 years old) went out for the kid corral. Basically they released a bunch of calves with ribbons on there tails and the kids who got the first ribbon won a bike. It was the funniest thing I watched all night. Mandy I went home after that . We decided New year's Eve would best be spent watching a movie and ringing in the new year back at our place. Downtown would have been crazy and cold and we wanted nothing to do with it.

Alright another, even longer post. Sorry about that. I still want to talk about what's in store next for my next destination and this week's festivities. Hope all is well and I miss you all! Unless your a random person who has come by my blog then I don't miss you because I don't know you. Thanks for reading though.

Catching up...

It's been awhile and I apologize. December was crazy month. I was constantly working with little time off so I could make it home for the holidays twice. Now that it's all over I have a bit of free time again to update my blog.

Thanksgiving was fun in San antonio. Mandy and i worked until thanksgiving morning. We woke up around 1:30ish in a bit of tired haze, and decided to venture downtown to find something to eat. We ate at this very nice restaurant in the hyatt hotel downtown called achiote. they were serving a Thanksgiving buffett.

I was excited to have turkey and potatoes, but I was also looking forward to trying some new things. It was all very good and went down very nicely with a glass of red wine. Mandy decided that when she went back for seconds on dessert she would get two of them. Wel she obivously did not finish either. In fact she took a bite of each. I was grateful that our waiter harrassed as much as I did. she tried to force her discarded pastries on me, but I could not eat another bite.

December rolled along and I worked 4 days in a row to start it out. For this job I have to average 36 hours per week, so I was trying to build up my hours to have vacation for christmas. MMandy's sister, Amy came for a visit the first weekend. in december. It was a great time.

We went down to the riverwalk the first night and had dinner at the Iron cactus. We had guacomole which was made fresh at our table, and I had some of the best fajitas ever (minus my own, homeade ones of course). We had a couple drinks, one which included a Texas Tea. Texas tea can be compared to gasoline witha splash of coke and a lime served in a 16 ounce glass. It was strong and it was nasty. being an Eggers though I had to finish my drink.

After dinner we ventured out to coyote Ugly. come to find it is just like the movie except all the patrons are less attractive. There were girls dancing on bars and serving drinks with large bouncers walking back and forth. Iwas able to convince Mandy and amy after several drinks and some obnoxious pushing that they should get up on the bar as well. Apparently I had just the right amount of drinks to try my hand at the bar, but was stopped abruptly by a large bouncer, saying "Women only" We ran into some crazy people on business trips in tiedye shirts and hung out there all night.

the last day amy was in town, we went to Sea World. It hd dropped below freezing in San antonio the night before so when we arrived it was pretty chilly and the 100's of poinsettias were all wilted and sad looking. we went to see al the same shows as last time which were all christmas themed now. The killer whale show was not nearly as cheesy and got some great action photos.

that evening we went to eat at the Magic Time Machine. This is a themed restaurant where everyone who works there dresses up like a favorite character of theirs. I knew it was going to be fun when life size replicas of the simpsons weresitting at a bench in the waiting area. Our waitress was Cruella Deville, and she did quite well. She started by asking us if we would be her puppies and we agreed. Thats when the black facepaint was brought out and we all got our dalmations spots. My name was Spike, Mandy's was Pearl, and Amy's was Lucky. We were then escorted around to the Salad bar which was a maze to get to with some intentional circles and wrong turns. We learned not to ask where the bathroom was unless you wanted the entire place to know what you are doing. We ordered these Magic drinks that come out bubbling, and Cruella convinced Pearl to order the "Ugly" version, which comes with a parade of waitors singing the "You're so Ugly" song. Mandy will not be ordering the ugly drink again.

This blog is officially. long. Stay tuned for follow up to the rest of what has been going. hopefully closer to the actual event. Thanks for reading.

~Zac

The Hidden Passages Tour

So I went shopping again this past weekend. It's true what they say. Everything is bigger in Texas and shopping is no exception. Every three blocks you will see a new shopping center. I think it's a bit overkill to have two malls within walking distance of another with practically the same stores. My friend, Mandy and I went into a Saks Fifth Avenue just to see how ridiculously overpriced stuff would be. I was shocked to the sticker on a button up shirt for $800! I felt it best that we should leave before something accidentally bursts into flames in our vicinity and I have to foot the bill. Another thing that was surprising was the crowds at these places. Cars lined up in the parking lot and the inside reminded me of high school in between classes.
The second exciting part of last week was our "Hidden Passages Tour." This was something I researched before I came here, and was really looking forward to do. We had a free weekend so I set-up the reservations for Sunday. Basically what I signed Mandy and up for was a 4 hour cave excursion with guides, headlamps, and nothing but a lot of rock 230ft below ground level. What I didn't realize about our tour is that I signed up for the "aspiring model" tour. The other members of our group look like they just got done with there Abercrombie and fitch photo shoot and thought it would a laugh to go spelunking. Meanwhile I was dressed in a old T-shirt that had stains on it and hiking boots. They actually turned out to be easy to get along with, which is a bonus when you are all going into a cave together. We explored a cave which has only been open to the outside world for the past 50 years. The tour start out with a 22 inch manhole which you are lowered 160 feet into the cave by a rope and winch. It was a bit-nerve racking getting into the hole. in the middle of the journey through the lightless shaft, the cave opens up to an anteroom, which the guide repeatedly told me NOT to get off at. He failed to mention that I have to guide myself through the whole at the bottom of the room so I can get to the cave we were going through. There was a lot of feet shuffling against the wall but I made it safely down. It was actually more uncomfortable than frightening. Once everyone was lowered in we start our adventure. There was some climbing and rappelling. We also had to do some minimal crawling. There was some really stunning rock formations since this cave has been locked off to the word for the better part of 100,000 years. I almost fell twice. the two tour guides were really interesting. The one just got his law degree and passed his bar exam,a and the other was going to school for something in Geology. We explored for the better part of 3 hours. Once we got to the end we all turned off our headlamps and just sat in the dark. The guides told us some of there best tour stories. We headed back out of the manmade entrance which was up about 50 some steps where the "family" tour stars. It may not sound like a lot, but when you are in a cave that has high levels of carbon dioxide you feel like you are about to have an asthma attack by the end of it. It was a great time and a fun workout. We were a mess by the end of it, but I would definitely do it again.
That's about it for now. We are planning on working a lot again this week except Thanksgiving which I believe we are finding a Buffet to go to. I wishI could be home with y family during the holidays, but I am excited to see friends and family over Christmas.

P.S. It's getting down to the 50's here and it's cold. I am already spoiled....how sad.


The one spot we had to crawl through


The Cathedral Room


The hole we were lowered through