Exploration of the Urban and Natural Varieties

Disclaimer: Any or all of these events may be completely fabricated, and perhaps nothing should be taken at face value. (Is there a "little angel" emoticon? :rofl) Of course if the mods deem this too adventuresome a journey, I'll be happy to take it down. :thumb



How many of the greatest adventures and legends in mankind's history are based on, caused by, or revolve around a girl? What can I say, you girls are alright.

Richard and I woke up this morning to a typical day, roused out of bed for a fire alarm which turned out to be a bad battery (change your batteries folks :thumb). Back at the apartment I fired up the computer and checked my e-mail, glancing over one from Liz. Liz is a former member of our fire department who moved this summer to another town, some 200 miles away. An all-around awesome friend and great person; one of those sorts whom you just don't want to let go of without a fight.

"We should go kidnap liz," I remark off-handedly.

And off we went.

Some 200 miles later and well into the afternoon we find her and steal her away. A couple of unfortunate complications occur relating to "job" and "boyfriend," so we're unable to make this kidnapping permanent, but we settle for a day of adventure instead, and we take off toward where Liz says she's heard there might be an abandoned building to explore. Doesn't sound too promising at first, especially in light of the LAST abandoned building we followed Liz to which turned out to be a bust, but it's a goal at least.

We park at the end of the road and wander off into uncharted territory packed thick with moose sign and animal trails. After a while of meandering in a general direction we finally come across what is indeed an abandoned structure, deep in the Alaskan woods. I don't have a clue what it used to be, so for the sake of adventure we'll call it a former insane asylum. :wink Liz grabs my hand as we slip quietly through the empty doorway into the mysterious darkness within, so I obligingly step in a hole in the floor, lurching over. She gasps. Some girls say I'm mean. :rofl

And then FINALLY I pull out my camera. I bet you thought I was never gonna get there! :rofl

A thoroughly abused Beetle sets the stage, in the heart of the largest room of the building.




We wandered through a lot of dark barren rooms before I noticed a ventilation duct overhead. And what little kid has never imagined exploring a ventilation duct? I followed the little kid in me through several rooms until the duct dropped down into a giant double-turbine blowing machine, where I was able to wiggle inside the massive fan through a small access hole. With some coaxing, Liz and Richard followed, handing the camera through as they came.

Someone already had this idea of course, and the way straight up into the duct-work is practically paved for us!




Liz follows me into a dead-end inside the ancient ventilation system.




We quickly exhausted our avenues of exploration indoors, and migrated to the roof by means of an open roof access port above some conveniently fun climbing, for myself, and a tree outside for the others.

Richard shot this of me. I like to look BACK on some of my decisions rather than ponder them beforehand. :rofl




Autumn advertising.




For some reason we just weren't getting her to do it. :rofl




A nice portrait of Liz in the fall colors.




After using up all possibilities for excitement on the roof, we pondered our descent for a bit. Ensuring my camera was packed away nicely I solved the problem by just jumping into the trees and floating gracefully to earth. Richard followed suit. Liz came down much more slowly.





We wandered on from there to the quiet shores of a small lake hidden in the woods, where we paused for a while to enjoy the evening light.




Liz and the lake. It's quiet here.




That done, we wandered back to the car, drove to town, said our goodbyes, and Richard and I drove home again. A day well spent, I say!

To wrap things up, Liz graces the camera with one last smile.





Hope you all enjoyed my day at least half as much as I did!