Just Another Manic Monday

Well, some of you have expressed the desire to see something other than James' gruesome hospital pictures when checking my blog. I just hadn't posted recently b/c we hadn't been doing anything exciting... But then I remembered. Blogging is not about excitement. It's just about documenting your everyday life and expecting others to be fascinated. So here's what we're up to this cloudy, thundery Monday.

James, sitting on our couch where he has taken up semi-permanent residence. He eats lunch and claims not to be able to do anything else (most notably a Power Point presentation for school) b/c he is too dizzy - except read cycling magazines, of course.

Jonathan, sporting a goatee, contemplating his next Big Idea in his office (he didn't know I snuck in and took this picture...).

Me, spending three hours "helping" James do his Power Point so that he can turn it in and finish his class. This is my overjoyed expression regarding James' declaration that he "holds himself to a higher academic standard than the other students" and purposefully chose a harder, more in depth topic that he was especially interested in. Too bad I had no interest whatsoever in the topic of choice...
Kip. He is looking forlorn and depressed b/c it is thundering- which is apparently terrifying.

So, that's a glimpse into our day so far. Now, is that fascinating or what?

Anne to the Rescue!!

Well, now if this was James' blog, I suppose the title would be something more like,
"James Survives High Speed Cycling Accident!"
but then, it's not James' blog...

Most of my blog fans already know the story but here are the basics:
James was in the Georgia Cup - a stage race near Rome, GA - this past weekend. He is normally a Cat 4, but moved up a category to Cat 3 to race as a semi-pro for this race. He tells me that he did really well on Saturday, finishing in the top 20 out of about 100 riders.
Sunday morning, he had completed one 27 mile loop up a really big mountain and says he was feeling really strong and was in the lead group descending a narrow, curvy road at 40 -50 miles an hour. After that, he hasn't been able to remember anything. The race director tells me that the riders around him say he braked (possibly b/c another rider swerved in front of him, braked, or bumped him) and his brakes locked up causing him to go off the side of the road down a steep embankment. He flew off the bike about 10 ft. in the air and hit a tree. He was unconscious when they airlifted him to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, TN where he was admitted to Trauma/ICU. He had three small bleeds in his head, a puncture near his eye with a branch sticking out of it, hairline fractures in his lower back and various cuts and scrapes.
When I got home from church on Sunday around 3pm, I had a message from the hospital "regarding James Wingo." That was probably the worst, most sinking feeling I've ever had. It took about 30-45 minutes to get in touch with someone at the hospital who would tell me more than "he's in Trauma/ICU." Finally, I got to talk to his nurse who told me what his injuries were and assured me that he was going to be ok, at least. Jonathan and I made a few calls, threw a couple things in the car, and drove up to Chattanooga - about 5 hours. Visiting hours for ICU were over for the night, but we were able to get in to see James, who was conscious but really out of it, for a few minutes before crashing at a nearby hotel.
The next morning when we came by and he was up and able to eat a little breakfast. Jonathan and I drove back to Rome, GA (about an hour away) to find his car which had been left at the race sight and then Jonathan headed back to Columbia b/c he had to catch a flight to Chicago the next day and I went back to the hospital.
James was released from ICU later that evening and moved to a private room for observation. So, that is where I hung out for the next couple of days. He was mostly just really tired and the doctors also took some more x-rays of his neck to make sure it was not broken. After those were cleared, he got to take off the neck brace and could rest more comfortably.
He was released Wednesday around 12:30 and after a detour to Athens, GA to pick up his bike from one of the directors we made it home about 8:30 that night. James was probably never more glad to get anywhere, and got right into our spare bed went straight to sleep. He'll stay with us over the weekend as he is still very unsteady, dizzy and very sleepy, but he is on the mend. Thanks for all your prayers and concern while we were in Chattanooga. It is good to be home!

Girls Night

Last Friday night I had a group of girls over for a "slumber party." I had planned that we would do all of these fun activities. You know - play games, watch movies, etc. Well, we ended up just sitting around the table and talking until 3 o'clock in the morning! I guess when you get about 6 or 7 girls together with a bottle or two of wine and stay up till the wee hours of the morning, just the conversation is entertainment enough! This is Jessica, Sarah Ashlin and Cousin Holly.

Anne of Green Gables

I've started in on my Anne of Green Gables books this summer, and it has just put me in such a good mood. They are such wholesome, uplifting books. Now I suppose I'll have to watch the movies again too. Except for that horrid "Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story." Words simply cannot express my indignation and contempt for that truly awful sequel. I don't know why they even bothered to call it Anne of Green Gables - it has absolutely nothing to do with her story. Oh, and by the way, did you all know that they are in the process of making a prequel to Anne of Green Gables about Anne's life before she comes to Green Gables? I don't have very high hopes that it will be very good at all, b/c there is far too little said about it in the books to make for a whole movie! Well, it's a blustery, rainy afternoon here in SC - lots of "scope for the imagination" and perfect for reading about another one of Anne's adventures....

Want to see more of this little guy?

You may have lost hope that Holly would ever post more pictures of her little boys, but she has decided to rejoin the blogging ranks after all. Check out the Cousin Holly link for more of Sean and his brothers.

Only in Alaska

I don't think any explanation is really needed here...

View from Mt. Marathon

Mt. Marathon Hiking Incident

Ok, so we stayed in this town on the coast called Seward and in Seward they have a tradition of having a foot race up Mt. Marathon every 4th of July. It is a very steep mountain right on the edge of town. So, I decided that Jonathan and I should hike up the mountain one morning while we were in Seward. The brochure I was reading did say, "Not for casual hikers." But I just failed to mention that part to Jonathan. I figured we were better than your average, run of the mill, casual hikers...

If you could really see the signs on this board, you would see that they say hiking this trail is not recommended for the public as it is unmaintained and very steep, etc. It warns people to take extra water, clothes and a first aid kit and to make sure they tell someone where they are going (we did not do any of these). It also says that if you need rescue assistance from this trail, you will have to pay a large fee and to make lots of noise so you don't surprise any bears along the way. I glanced over this sign before we started up, Jonathan apparently did not.

Going up, was very steep. We scrambled up on all fours for a majority of the time, but I was really excited to get above the tree line and be able to look back down on Seward below us.

Jonathan kept saying he was uncomfortable with the steepness of the trail, but I kept urging him on and insisting that we go higher. There were no drop offs, after all. So I didn't really consider it to be dangerous.

Finally, we got about half or three quarters of the way up and Jonathan declared that he was not going any farther. He would wait for me if I wanted to continue up to the top. I had thought that the difficulty of the climb would bother him, but found out that actually the steepness of it was kind of freaking him out. Well, I didn't want to go on by myself b/c I did not want to meet up with a bear, so I agreed to go back down.

Now, I walked back down the path - sometimes having to scoot down in a crab-like position when it got really steep. My suggestion that Jonathan should also just stand up and walk down like I was instead of insisting upon scooting down on his rear was ignored. So naturally I got to the bottom a while before Jonathan did. And when he did get down, this is what I saw....

His front was also covered with dirt. I was like, "What happened to you!?" and he proceeded to inform me that he had been rolling down the mountain. In fact, he was very surprised that I had not heard his curses as he tumbled down behind me, crashing into branches and bushes along the way. He then said that he needed to go back to the hotel so that he could wash the dirt out of all his body crevices. He did not appreciate my observation that I did not have any dirt on me and that he should have walked down like I suggested in the first place.

So, this is me back down at the bottom of Mt. Marathon - giving a thumbs up. Unfortunately we could not post the hand signal that Jonathan was giving.
When retelling the story, he has since declared that I tricked him into going up an "expert" trail for mountain climbers only. But the brochure really just said, "Not for casual hikers." I promise.

Happy July Fourth!

Halibut Fishing

Todd, Kim, Jonathan and I all stayed with my aunt and uncle at their home for the last half of the week in AK. On Friday, we went deep sea fishing with a professional fishing guide who goes to my Uncle Paul's church in Kasilof, AK. He was a great guy and we had so much fun fishing for halibut! It wasn't even too hard to get up at 5:30am b/c it was broad daylight!

Todd, caught the biggest fish of the day - at 70 lbs!! The guide had to harpoon it!

Todd's was the biggest, but Jonathan's was the first catch of the day! After he caught this first one, things really took off... We would get bites literally within 10 seconds of putting down our lines every time!

This is me with Ron, the guide.

Here, we all are at the end of the day with our catch. We were each allowed to keep 2 fish. That big one in the middle is Todd's .

Ron cleaned all the fish up for us and then we took them to a processing place where they will skin and freeze the fish in one lbs packages and then ship them to us. So, we'll be receiving about 100lbs of halibut on July 11 - 50 lbs for Kim and Todd and 50 lbs for us! We'll be eating a lot of halibut this summer... and fall... and winter! =)
Oh! And I also caught lots of fish myself (I caught the second biggest one - about 45 lbs - but it slipped out of Ron's hands as he was pulling it into the boat) but those pictures are on Kim's camera still.

Another Bear Video

Animal Conservation Center

On our way to the town of Seward, we stopped at a very cool non-profit Animal Conservation Center where we got to see bears, moose, elk, bison, caribou, and others in a more natural type environment than you normally see at a regular zoo. Sometimes, it was actually hard to see some of the animals b/c their cages were so big, but I actually kind of liked it that way - I didn't feel as sorry for the animals. Also, I believe most of these animals were rescued from the wild for one reason or another instead of just being captured for no reason. One funny thing though - they had bison at the conservation center, but in their little cafe they also had "Bison Chili" on the menu! I guess they weren't really that concerned about conserving the bison after all! We liked the bears the best b/c they were the most active.

More on our Alaskan Adventure

These are not in any particular order, but I'll try to write a little about each one to fill you all in on our adventures...

This is on the plane on the way there. On the way back, we took an overnight flight, and we were in no mood to take pictures - believe me!

This is where we stayed in Seward. It is the oldest hotel in Alaska it's pretty much like a museum.

In our little rental car, a spiffy Dodge Caliber, waiting to enter a one-way 2 mile tunnel.

We hiked up to this glacier and Jonathan was the first to touch it!

This is a little mooseling that we saw near Paul and Sheila's house. We saw 5 moose in the wild while we were there - mostly around their town.

Jonathan searches the shoreline for bald eagles from the deck of our ferry boat - the Aurora.

This is the harbor in Whittier where we got on the ferry to go to Valdez. That big cruise boat is NOT our ferry, by the way...

Some antlers we found near Majestic Valley Lodge - where we stayed for our night in the middle of the wilderness.

We were in view of Mt.Augustine, an active volcano island, during our halibut fishing trip.

This is the Oscar Gill House, a quaint bed and breakfast where we stayed our first night in AK. It is the oldest house in Alaska - the owners bought it for $1 right before it was going to be torn down and renovated it.

This is Kim, Todd and Jonathan on the ferry from Whittier to Valdez...

Jonathan on the ferry with a view of one of the many glaciers we saw on the trip.

Jonathan with William H. Seward - in the town of Seward.

This little wood stove-heated sauna was at the Majestic Valley Wilderness Lodge - it was pretty much the only form of entertainment at this location - very restful and beautiful.

This was our favorite restaurant - a little log cabin lodge where we ate a hearty Alaskan breakfast of sourdough pancakes and reindeer sausage!

There was no lack of coffee in Alaska! No matter how small the town, there was at least one espresso stand - little drive through places so you don't have to get out of your car in the winter! This was taken in Valdez.

Also, in Valdez at the Harbor.

This is in Seward at the start of the the Iditarod dog sled race that goes all the way to Nome, AK - about 1,000 miles.

Jonathan displays his mushing skills.

On the Seward Highway from Anchorage to, well, Seward. One of the most scenic drives in the world.

On our fishing trip, our guide took us to this little town called Sedovia. It was a little old Russian town that you can only get to by boat or plane. It was our favorite town - I think we want to buy a cabin and live there in the summer!

I made friends with this fisherman in Seldovia.

This was our little cabin at the Totem Inn where we stayed in Valdez. We are going for the "stoic frontiersman" expressions that you see in all the old pictures.