Austin Adventures

I arrived home this evening on the 5:45pm flight. It's good to be back home, in my nice tranquil space, but I had a really good time on my vacation, and in some ways I'm going to miss sharing a hotel room with my teenaged siblings. I wont miss the late night TV shows, constant texting, and towels and clothing strewn all over the place, but I will definitely miss the silly inside jokes and having so much time to bond with them. It was so, so good to see my family, especially the extended family I had not seen for 10+ years. I appreciated every moment I got to spend with them.

On my way to Austin, I spent two nights in Olalla, WA with my friend Rebecca. Her little "house on wheels" is coming along very nicely, and I made friends with her cat, Jojo.

I met up with my family at SeaTac--all seven of us were all on the same flight to Austin. But as I was boarding, I was informed that because I had not taken the first leg of my flight (because I had bought a separate ticket to go to Seattle two days earlier), my enitre itinerary, including my return trip, had been cancelled. Great. But they managed to get me on the flight to Austin, and were able to re-confirm my flight from Seattle to Sitka. And eventually I was able to get my Austin to Seattle leg re-confirmed as well. Yikes. Never miss a flight without telling the airline what you are planning to do. Lesson learned.

In Austin we did the "bat tour" which is a boat that takes us under a specific bridge in downtown Austin where thousands of bats have chosen to reside. At dusk, they begin to fly out of the crevices, and as it gets darker more and more bats fly out until the sky is just swarming with them. That's also when you start to feel the random drops of guano hit you. Eew. It was a pretty unique experience though. It's so odd that the bats choose that one particular bridge to nest in.

My biggest adventure in Austin was my first attempt at "tubing." It sounded nice when they described it to me--you just float down a calm river in an inner-tube, relaxing and soaking up the sun. Sounded lovely. Then I got a little worried when I heard talk of the "chute." But everyone assured me that it was totally safe and mellow and that even toddlers go on it all the time. Okay. Then the guy at the counter strongly encouraged that I purchase a floatation thing for my glasses. Why? He said it was because I had a 50/50 chance of flipping over. What?? Still, everyone said not to worry, it was no big deal. Then someone compared it to a roller coaster. What??? I despise roller coasters. I was almost ready to skip out on the activity altogether, when I was informed that there was an option to avoid the chute. You just get off at a set of stairs, walk past the chute, and get back in. Great! I could handle that. So I relaxed, got in my tube, and enjoyed a short float before spotting the stairs and using my flip-flops to paddle over toward them. I got out easily, and carried my tube to a spot where I could watch everyone go down the chute. Watching people, I was feeling pretty good about my decision to avoid it. It didn't look like something I would enjoy. It was like a winding waterslide that spits you out at the end with a lot of spray. Not my cup of tea. So after watching all my family members go down the chute, I went to the stairs at the bottom (right next to where the chute ends) and got back in my tube. I immediately got pulled over to where the water was spraying out from the chute--but I figured it would just give me a little boost and push me out in the right direction. That's not what happened. All of a sudden, my tube flipped over. At first I was laughing to myself, humored by the irony that in trying to avoid the chute, I ended up getting flipped over anyway. I wasn't worried, because sure, it happens, and you just swim and get back on, right? But it wasn't like that. It wasn't like swimming in a pool, which is the only swimming I've ever done. A strong current kept sucking me down under the water. I fought and fought until I reached the surface and gasped for air. I repeated that process over and over--in complete adrenaline survival mode. Each time I reached the surface I involuntarily yelled, or made some kind of noise--maybe it was just because I had inhaled a little bit of water and was trying to get it out of my lungs, or maybe it was an instinctual reaction to yell, in order to get attention. I don't know. I very much felt as if I might drown--I felt completely out of control of the situation. But I knew I was surrounded by people and I knew that someone would see me and help me out. I got a little over halfway across the river, got my head up out of the water and then saw something I will never forget. My 15-year old little brother, Lewis, was running and leaping off a 5-foot (or so) ledge, right into the rushing water next to me. He helped me grab hold of some wood on the side, and we worked our way over to a set of stairs and got out. I was fine, just shaken, and coughing a little. But I had lost my flip flops and my glasses. Amazingly, someone found both of my black flip flops, but my glasses were never found, depsite the ridiculous neon floating device I had attached to them. So I spent the next few hours hanging out with Alex (my stepdad) not being able to see a thing. But he helped me get a new pair at LensCrafters and I was able to be functional again (thanks Alex!).

I don't want to make this a bigger deal than it is, but I would count it among my percieved "near death experiences" along with being lost on a mountain in a blizzard for a day and a half. This one was shorter, and maybe less dangerous overall, but it felt much scarier and more intense, because the need to breathe is so powerful and immediate. I certainly learned from the experience, and I was also very moved by the bravery and selflessness of my little brother. I'll never, ever forget that.

I would like to try tubing again sometime, but I will definitely be more cautious about the areas of rough water, and will probably wear a life jacket, no matter how much I get made fun of. Totally worth it! Taking some swimming lessons might not hurt either.

The most fun I had on the trip was the wedding reception. After a very beautiful ceremony on the golf course, we went over to the country club for the reception. After one glass of white wine, I was loosened up enough to comfortably talk to anyone, and once the dance floor was open, I was out there! I had so much fun. After a little champagne, and a little more wine, I even went over to the DJ and asked him to dance with me! He graciously declined, (as he couldn't because he was working). The night was over before I knew it, and we were blowing bubbles at Mike and Mollie as they made their grand exit.

I flew to Seattle, spent one more night with Rebecca, camping out in the loft of her unfinished little house, and flew back to Sitka, via Ketchikan, the following afternoon. Now I'm washing clothes, and getting ready to face the remainder of my work-week.

Time to get some sleep.

Goodnight,
Leeann