Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water...

Past few days it has been really hot here. I mean HOT. The day starts out with a quick thunderstorm, then quickly dries off and goes to about 95-100 degrees. Yesterday after class five of us went out in search of a swimming hole. First place we went was an old mill, but the current was too strong. In trying to get to the water, I slipped on a steep rock (damn Tevas have NO traction) and landed on my back. In trying to grab hold of something, I slammed my right hand into the rock. My palm is now purple, which made it a bit of a challenge to hold a chef’s knife today (fortunately I didn’t have a lot of cutting to do.) So we finished making our Espagnole sauces, cleaned up and headed to Inverness (at least now I know where Mad River Glen and Sugarbush are) where we found another series of waterfalls, complete with natural rock waterslides. Once again, my poise and grace (poisoned grace?) emerges, causing me to jam a toe on a rock while wading. Given how much it hurts and how purple it is, I think I may have broken it. Other than slipping on yet another rock and landing ass-first into a small puddle, and slipping yet again and twisting a knee that already hurt, somehow I managed to survive the afternoon. Insert “old person” joke here.

On the way back, we passed a parking area with a path that led back into some trees where there is almost always some form of activity. We pulled over and asked one of the guys standing there where that path went, to which the reply was “bunch of naked guys swimming.” Nude beach. Not having any interest in attending a Sausagefest, we passed. 🙂 This started the conversation of “we should all go skinny dipping!” I was thinking, “no, we should not!” Four guys and a girl in our group, and the girl was the one suggesting this. I was reminded of the scene from Porky’s where the girls tricked the guys into getting naked in the pool, then the girls ran off, still clothed. However, she seemed genuinely into it (guess it’s ’cause she’s from California.) I got the feeling that if pushed into it, she’d actually DO it. Today one of the guys jokingly suggested it to the other girl in our class, who was just not into it at all. I told them I wasn’t either – some of them, I’m almost old enough to be their father, which just is too creepy for words. Something about seeing 18-21 year old boobies just doesn’t appeal to me, especially if I have to be in class with the owners of the aforementioned boobies.

Today, the Chef instructor in Cooking Theory decided to let us out at noon instead of 2:00 because it was just too damned hot. It was 92 degrees in the kitchen by 9:30am, and we could tell that the chef just did not want to be there any more than we did. So we cleaned up and headed off for a beach we had passed yesterday. No incidents today – I made it clear that I was not doing any rock climbing! 🙂 It was so nice to go from a hot kitchen to a swimming hole. (Sweat students, then chill in cold water.) We swam for about an hour, then headed back for Communications class. 20 minutes later it started raining, complete with thunder. Nice timing.

Oddly enough, seems like everywhere we have gone swimming has had rescue vehicles sent out. Someone died at the Devil’s Potholes over the weekend, and there was an ambulance heading for the beach yesterday. Whodathunkit.

No homework tonight! Wooo!