Inauguration Update! January 11, 2009

My plans have evolved significantly since my last post about it. My car is NOT reliable enough to take, so I’ll be taking my dad’s car (the power steering isn’t working, but he says if I put a container of power steering fluid in it every day it will work fine….we’ll see).

I have added several more stops onto my trip and I will now be gone from January 18-25 (maybe the 26th)! I will leave on Sunday the 18th and drive to Kingsport, TN (about 9 hours from my house) and spend the night with one of my Bon Jovi fan club friends. Then on Monday I will meet some more friends for lunch and a movie (Bride Wars). I’ll leave for Missy’s house (my “final” destination) around 2-3 pm (it’s about a 4 hour drive). I’ll spend the night with Missy and leave around 4am for DC. I’ll drive to the Vienna Metro station (that reminds me–I need to buy my pass tonight!) and ride into DC. Then I guess I’ll grab a bit of grass and park it until the Inauguration starts (and try not to freeze to death!). After all that madness, I’ll drive back to Missy’s house and stay there through the 24th when she and I will drive down to Charlotte, NC. We’re going to a concert–Slippery When Wet (a Bon Jovi Tribute Band). Then I’ll head home from Charlotte (which will be 10-11 hours, so I might end up stopping somewhere on the way home). WHEW! It makes me tired to just think about it, but I know the Inauguration will be one of the greatest experiences of my life!

BUNGEE!!!!!!!! December 28, 2008

Well, I can cross “bungee jump” off of my bucket list! And I have evidence! 

sorry it’s sideways–in my excitement to upload it, I forgot to edit it….

and another view, this time from up close so you can see the terror in my face.

This was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I did it. I didn’t think I would be afraid because I don’t have a problem with heights, but there is just a survival instinct that kicks in when you are up there and someone is telling you to jump off. My brain just would not let my foot leave that platform. It was the weirdest thing. I was telling myself to go, using all those brain functions that cause you to take a step, but my brain would just not deliver that message. I finally just had to fling myself off by using my shoulder to gain momentum. I was up there a long time. I made it up all those stairs (I was a bit winded when I made it to the top because I didn’t stop to catch my breath the whole way up), but I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t nervous when the guy hooked me up to the cord, asking me if I wanted to go head first or feet first, forwards or backwards. I said head first, facing forward. And then I walked up to the edge. And froze. It seemed like forever. And then I did it. It was all I thought it would be (followed by an entire body buzz–the same feeling your brain gets when you drink, only it was my entire body feeling that). Now I want to jump from a higher one…..next time I go to Vegas, I will jump–they have a reallllllllly high platform–I think it’s 75 feet. It will be amazing.