Polar Plungin' Into 2008

New Year's Day I awoke with of course.... A HANGOVER!!! Didn't see that one coming, haha. I rolled out of bed around 10:00am and got dressed to drive my crazy roommate and the Walrus to Huntington Beach in Bay Village. Now my roommate was thinking with a clear head when she decided to do this, but the Walrus who has always had a soft spot for her wasn't and agreed without thinking it through.

When we went outside it was frickin' cold. I put on my gloves a headband and grabbed my winter coat and waterproof shoes. I had packed extra towels, socks and fleece clothes just in case. I am getting very motherly in my 30 years. The drive from our house to 90W was the worst part. The roads were covered in snow and a bit icy. I am very cautious in my truck and the speedometer was reading 25-35 mph. It looked like we might not make it. We were lucky though and as we hit 90W the roads were clear so I gased it and ZOOOMMMM! The directions were easy and we found the place with about 5-10 minutes to spare. Even better, know one was doing a warm-up. It wasn't a race. The idea was to get in and then GET THE HELL OUT! There was a TV cameraman standing in the water about knee deep filming everyone as they prepped for the "plunge." I snapped a few pics before the foghorn went off and I watched them run in the water. There was lots of cheering and whooping from us and those in the water. I did not time the "plunge", but no more than 2 minutes later people were moving their asses back to the shore to get out of the water. I grabbed a towel and ran to meet Espeed as she was coming out of the water first. I wrapped her up in a towel and ran back to get another for my roommate. I couldn't see the Walrus. I bundled her up next and then helped her changed into warm/dry clothes. She shook a little and repeated "I can't feel my toes" a couple times before we got her socks on. The Walrus was all bundle up by the time I got to him (good boy). The wind had by then picked up and was blowing the snow everywhere. This was not a place to have an afterparty or socialize, so we packed up and said our goodbyes.

I called my parents on the way home to let them know that yes I had gone to the "plunge", but no I had been sensible and stayed on shore in the appropriate winter attire, but that the walrus and my roommate had been a few cards short of a full deck that morning. In retrospect, I was happy I had called them even though they had teased us because the very next morning we ended up with our picture on the front page of the Cleveland Plaindealer. I even made it in the very far background. What do ya know, even turtles can be famous :)