Kolomoki Festival + Geocaching = Great Weekend

This weekend we ("we" being my dad) learned about a geocaching event at Kolomoki State Park (just outside Blakely, GA). The event was being held during the Kolomoki Festival. My dad and I packed up the vehicle (again, this was mostly my dad as I was still sleeping, after all it was 8:00 a.m...on a SATURDAY!) and headed north. Mom was attending a re-certification conference call for the American Cancer Society so unfortunately she could not come with us this time, and due to many people and dogs attending the Festival, we had to leave behind Allie (she was NOT happy about this).

Though we only saw 3 geocachers at the Festival (and they were the ones manning the geocaching tent), we had a great time! After talking to the 'cachers, we wandered around the festival for a bit taking in the sights, including some 'primitive' booths (aka wild animals, blacksmithing, the making of clothes, etc) and some old tractors. The tractors were really pretty neat!

After wandering around the Festival for a bit, we started our caching adventures. There is a trail at Kolomoki that has about 8 caches on it and the trail is about a mile and 1/4. Our trek was very successful! Well we didn't find one cache that was somewhere around a bona fide outhouse (the cache name was: P U Cache!).

After Kolomoki we headed back home; on the way stopped to find 2 new caches (we were hoping to get the "FTF"s)! And success! Both of us found one!

It was a beautiful day and we had a great time! It is nice to have the fall weather back so we can get out and cache!

Book Review: Unbroken

About 2 months ago, I saw a tweet about the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. Someone on Twitter mentioned that it was one of the best books they have read in a while and highly recommended it. Now, I don't endorse the Twitter-verse as the most accurate place to obtain book recommendations (contrary to what some may think, everything on the Internet is NOT true!), but whoever the tweeter was (I really can't remember now) seemed to have good taste so I figured I would take a shot and read the book. After all, Twitter can't be worse than a review in Entertainment Weekly which recommended Beauty Queens, which was awful!

Anyway, I couldn't put the book down. This story of Louie Zamperini's life and survival as prisoner of war in World War II is absolutely amazing (and when I say amazing, I mean A-MAZ-ING) and inspiring. Laura Hillenbrand has a way of making a non-fiction story quite captivating, and the book was impossible to put down. There are many things to take away from Louie Zamperini's story, such as the human will to survive, overcoming truly dire circumstances both as a member of the military during war and as a prisoner of war, and the sheer power of the human spirit. What I loved the most was Louie Zamperini's encounter with God at Billy Graham's first crusade. Reading Louie's redemption story was humbling and moving. To see his life changed by God working through Billy Graham and seeing the power of God working in Billy Graham challenges me personally.

I now can't stop recommending the book. If I have recommended the book to one person, I have recommended it to 10 people. In spite of the pain and heartache and the tears it brings, it is one of the best books I have ever read.

So, go read the book. You will not regret it. At all. I promise.

Happy Easter!

"For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." Colossians 1:16

March on Lake Seminole

I spent the weekend at my parents house on Lake Seminole. On Monday, my dad escorted me around the lake while I used his camera to take some pictures.

Happy New Year!

I failed miserably last year, but I am trying the blogging thing again. Good luck to me!

Random Work Silliness

Since one of my new years resolutions is to blog every week, but nothing happened interesting this week (partly due to having tonsillitis since last weekend), I shall post a couple of random stories.

The Vending Machine Story

Over the summer (I think), there was a Friday where was no one was at work (practically). I needed an afternoon pick-me-up and so went to the vending machine to purchase a tasty treat. Well, apparently someone had eaten all of a particular treat. However, rather than replace the treat, the vending machine man wrote a note in the treat row informing us that it was out. Because, you know, it just being empty wouldn't be a big enough clue that nothing was in there. So, of course I showed my co-worker Donna. High-jinks ensued.

Tallahassee Museum

When I was a wee lass, I probably took about 10 field trips (at least) to the Junior Museum (the Tallahassee version of a zoo). It was at this magical place I first saw Florida Panthers, sea otters, black bears, and icky snakes. These days, the Junior Museum is now called the Tallahassee Museum.

Andrew was in town last week and rather than go far, far away, we basically conducted a Tallahassee "stay-cation." Our stay-cation had nothing to do with me being lazy and not wanting to drive for over 2 hours to go anywhere, we just wanted to enjoy the sites around the town :). One of the places we visited was the Tallahassee Museum. Though I have not been to the Tallahassee Museum in 19 or so years, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it and reminisced with Andrew about the fond memories I have of visiting the museum as a child.

We were very fortunate, though it was a bit chilly all but about 2 of the animals were out and about. The no shows were on the alligator and bobcat. However, if memory serves me, that darn bobcat was always hard to see; he was always hiding in the big oak tree or something.

Andrew's favorite was the bald eagle and he (the eagle) was quite a poser. He seemed to want us to take his picture.

The sea otter (my favorite) was so cute! He would poke his head up from out of the water and then swim and swim.

The Florida Panthers were huge! And hungry!

We also went to the Tallahassee Antique Car Museum. I was very impressed with this museum. There are probably over 100 cars there, including 2 bat mobiles; way too many golf clubs; antique cash registers; antique guns; antique boat motors; antique tractors; and many, many other things.

We went to the Tallahassee Challenger Center's Digital Dome. I was not as impressed with the dome. My biggest issue was that it was a bit blurry (I felt like I should have been wearing 3-D glasses or something).

But overall, it was a great Tallahassee stay-cation and had a great time.

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