I'm Sick

I have been feeling run down for a little over a week now. At first I dismissed it because of being busy and having a cold. But after sleeping A TON and still feeling exhausted, I finally went to the doctor yesterday.

A consultation, blood tests, chest x-rays and 2 hours later I was told that I have pneumonia AND an ear infection in both my ears. Fan-frickin-tastic....

The doctor put me on antibiotics and told me that I should be better by Monday. The weird thing is that I just feel really fatigued and don't feel super sick. Neither my chest or ears hurt that bad. What bums me out the most is that I am sick when I have a 3-day weekend. What a waste! I have spent the better part of the past couple days sleeping. I hate being sick. Hopefully the drugs will clear this all up and I will regain my spunk.

SCUBA

On Saturday, I drove up to the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth to do my first dive as a volunteer diver. For those of you not familiar with the aquarium, check out its website. Great Lakes Aquarium. One of the main exhibits is Isle Royale. Its in the center of the aquarium and is divided into 3 smaller exhibits. Within each of these 25 foot deep tanks are large trout, pike and sturgeon among other cold water fish found in Lake Superior. Because these fish are COLD water fish, the water is kept around 50 degrees. Great for trout, not so pleasant for humans.

It had a been a couple years since my last dive so I was a bit rusty. The dive instructor walked me through the equipment they use (just a bit different than the stuff I trained in) and then I got into a wetsuit. Usually, there are 2 divers but on Saturday there were 3 of us. Another girl about my age was also getting trained in on volunteer diving. After we were all geared up it was time for the show.

The nice thing about this exhibit is that they have an educator doing an interpretive talk while people are cleaning and feeding the sturgeon. We started our dive by just having a little fun and getting used to the tanks before running through some basic dive skills. I got to feed some sturgeon as big as me. These fish are so used to be fed by divers that they actually come up to you and try to suck on you. I wish I had pictures because at one point I was feeding a sturgeon above me while another was between my legs sucking on my calf. I guess you just have to use your imagination.

It was a really fun morning for me. I forgot how much fun it was to dive AND I get to check another thing off my day zero list - volunteer somewhere.  Now that they have signed off on me diving I hope to get back up there soon!

Day Zero: Update

Awhile ago I started my day zero list. While I may have been neglecting my blog, I have been busy checking things off my list. Here is an update / photographs of the goals I have completed.

Give someone a handmade gift. Check. 

Make a custom recipe book from my favorite recipes. Check

I made my sister a homemade recipe book as part of her Christmas present. It just so happens that I kinda got a 2 for one shot with this!

 Go to a concert. Done.

Lady Danville - one of the opening acts and perhaps my favorite of the night

Waiting for Dashboard to get on stage

While in Denver, I went to my first real concert (i.e. first concert outside of the Wausau Fairgrounds). This Dashboard Confessional concert may have been the longest concert EVER but it was certainly an experience. We got to the venue at 6:30 and didn't leave until mid-night. Yep, five and a half hours of standing like a sardine. If all concerts are like this count me out. 

Dashboard Confessional

Use a snake in an education program. DONE!

This was a big deal for me. Up until a couple years ago, I would high tail it out of the room whenever a snake was around. In the past couple months, I have used Audubon's two smallish snakes while teaching a class. YAY me!! (I don't have a picture yet but I do have several eyewitnesses just in case you don't believe me).

Visit and explore Colorado. Check.

See previous blog entry.

Visit a new city.

Go somewhere that requires a passport.

Done and done. Thank you Vancouver.

Hug a tree. Yep. 

I hugged a fir.

Visit a brewery. Done.

Even though I don't drink beer I thought this would be something interesting to do. While in Denver, we went to the Coors Brewery. I must say that the place smelled a lot nicer than I thought it would just because I HATE the smell of beer.The whole process is rather interesting.

The giant tanks where they make beer.

Packaging

The outside of the brewery

With all of these completed in the past month or so, I know have about 10% of my list complete. That leaves roughly 90 things to do before July 21, 2013. Still aways to go but at least I am checking things off!!

DENVER!

Yes, its been awhile. Time got away from me but I am back from Denver and this will be the first of several updates.

Driving to the mountains!

A friend and I flew out to Denver to visit a high school friend of ours bright and early Saturday morning. Right from the beginning of the trip, we hit the ground running. First up was a fantastic brunch. (Have I mentioned before that I love brunch? There is nothing better than hanging out with friends, coffee and a fantastic meal.) After that, it was a day trip through the mountains up to Vail. I don't ski but we rode a gondola up to the top of a ski mountain to enjoy the view. BEAUTIFUL!

Driving to the mountains!

Ashley, Amanda and I riding the gondola

The next morning, we got up for breakfast and then headed out to Boulder. One of the things I was most looking forward to while in Denver was hiking. The weather made this slightly more tricky than usual. The Denver/Boulder area got 5 inches of snow (and for some unknown reason they wait for snow to melt rather than plow). Despite this, the hike was lovely. Next, we headed downtown for the packer game. It was the first football game I have actually sat though (YAY me!).

Yep, someone is excited to hike....

Ready to go hiking!

Showing off the packer gear

After spending the evening sledding, the next morning we did a few of the tourist things Denver is known for. First up was a Coors brewery tour (more of this in a future blog). It was interesting, especially since I am not a beer drinker. Then, we went to the Museum of Nature and Science. This is one of the larger natural history museums in the country. It was a nice museum for the price but nothing compared to Chicago, New York or DC. The highlight was the health exhibit where you got to learn some basics about the human body in a fun and interactive exhibit.

Outside the brewery

Showing off my antlers in the mammal exhibit at the Museum

Exercising in the health exhibit at the museum

We spent the evening at a Dashboard Confessional concert (more on this later too). The following morning, I finally got to go to REI. I could have spent a fortune and days wondering around looking at things but unfortunately had to go catch my flight.

View of downtown

Walking to REI

All in all, it was another successful trip. I feel like I could have a lot of fun in this part of the country - lots of nature and city all mixed together. Perhaps, another trip out this way will be in the near future!