The chase is on

The nights of late and days of short are over now that school is back in session. I had a wonderful time with Melissa. I told her to bring some of my stuff that I left up in the bible school attic. Well good thing because she brought me my snow suit! And my ski boots. She almost brought my huge mary poppins snow coat but I stopped her in time. She didn't really realize that she brought my snow gear. She just saw the sheets on the top of the bag and just grabbed it, but that was pretty funny. The next day we went to swim with the manatees. I'm becoming a pro at this. Well I suggested it since it was such a neat experience and saw one online for only $25. Hahaha..well you get what you pay for. Actually it was an interesting experience and just another one of those Melissa and Lisa episodes that I wouldn't give back for the world. So the guy told me that the place looks like disney world, so I couldn't miss it. Oh yeah, disney world all right. More like a little blue shack on the side of the rode with a fire pit and a cadillac in the yard. Actually I guess it was a little like disney world because of the mermaids, manatees, and octopus on the building.
It was sorta looking like we were the only ones going on the tour and sure enough we were. We hopped in the van and drove to Crystal River. It was like going with family. It was us, the tour man, and his wife (I think). Everytime they spoke Melissa and I perked up our ears to hear what interesting fact he was stating about manatees, but everytime he was only talking to his wife about the errands they needed to run after the tour. We got out to a little cove and we got to the end of the boat to get ready to jump when he told us to. Unexpectedly he said that he was going to poor warm water down our wet suits so when we got in the river we wouldn't feel the cold so much. So yeah...he dumped water on us, and it was pretty chilly I thought. Well one manatee was spotted so he cried out, "jump, jump girls!". So franticly we jumped in the water and started to swim towards the swirls. You have to understand that there were 3 other tour boats out there. So the people, manatee ratio was like 35 to 2. It was so dark and murky so it was sorta frighting to look down towards the darkness and watch for a 2,000 pound cow to emerge. Well we did chase a mom and her calf and Melissa touched the tail or something. We got back on the boat and searched other areas of the river. We spotted another one and swam after it. Another problem was that we were catching them during nap time. So when we spotted one we would have to hover over it for 10 minutes and wait for it to emerge to get a breath. That wasn't really too fun. Then once it started to stir we would hear the tour guide screaming, "Get in front of them!". So we were scrambling to swim ahead so we could cut it off and maybe get a chance to play with it. We never were able to get in front, they were just too fast. One time we spotted one and we were both chasing after a mom and a calf and it disappeared from my sight but Melissa was going full force after them and I was left behind. Actually I heard them shouting from the boat to get another one that they spotted. So I hesitated, looked over to see Melissa swimming further and further away and looked back at the boat. I really hated chasing them all on my own. It was scary in that murky water and I saw big fish with needle noses swimming around..and the sun! The sun was playing nasty tricks on my eyes under the water. So many lurky shadows. Well I swam but couldn't find where the manatee went. Another time we huddle over a manatee for a while as it dozed and more and more people gathered around. Once it stirred the whole swarm of people started chasing the manatee. I got kicked and I think I punched someone. It was dangerous business. No one caught it before it settled back down on the bottom. Well you get the picture. It was a hunting mission and not a very successful one. But really the warm and windy whether was to blame.
The next day we decided to go to the mall and the first minute we walked in, a boy walked up to us and gave us this whole speel of how he lost his money and his i.d. and that he was such a nerd for telling us all this. Our favorite line, "You guys are like my best friends right now." We tossed him a few bucks and kept walking. We still can't figure out if it was a big scam or not..but most likely.
After a day of rest to try to get rid of our colds (Mel especially) we drove up to GA. It was a great rode trip. I brought my video camera and we taped some highlights of our trip like stopping at a citus station to see the 13 foot gator on display and also me accidently driving though a truck weigh station because I thought it was our exit. When we got there we had an awesome little get together with friends and played some mind boggling games. The best part was getting the tour of 3 beautiful houses and being able to stay in one. Then on Sunday I drove back home all alone and got home around 12:30am. The trip was very inspirational in a few ways. One, I'm now inspired to get my video clips hooked up so I can start video blogging. Oh, this is mostly because of a Saturday spent at Brad & Claire's watching some sweet video blogs. It was also inspiring just to be with friends and getting to know people better. It just gives me fresh courage for a new semester of school. The batteries were charged so to speak.
So how about I write about my first day back at school some other day since I have written way over my normal boundaries.