Christmas vacations

Hey everyone. Happy 2007. We just got back from spending Christmas in the States, which turned out to be a much needed break from our time abroad (and each other).

The first thing we did when we arrived in DC was to hunt down a Five Guys and eat the best burger and fries we had tasted in months. It was heavenly. Then, I went home to Wisconsin to see my folks, my brother, and his wife, and Nate spent Christmas in Lexington with his family. It was nice to have a cold(er) Christmas, although the weather was unseasonably warm and weird in both states. Visiting family was the best; they spoil you rotten and stuff you silly--two things we were both desperately craving. And all our talk about losing weight like crazy was true. Nate stepped on a scale to find out he had lost about 22 lbs. I lost a little less, but still enough to be surprising. We did, however, do our damndest to put all the weight back on by feasting on turducken, stuffing and the likes.

After Christmas I flew out to DC where we briefly met up with some friends before heading down to Lexington. Ridiculously enough, a week apart was all Nate and I needed to realize how much we really appreciated each other (and how much we had needed a break from each other!). We visited with Nate's family in Lexington and Charlottesville and continued to eat as much food as possible.

At one point during the week, Ned, Nate's little brother, convinced us to go caving. And by "convinced us" I mean he said "Hey, you wanna go check out this 80 foot hole in the ground?" And that was all the convincing we needed. After rigging up some serious ropes and rope ladders, we lowered ourselves 80 feet in the ground to find the stinkiest, muddiest cave on Earth. The cave supposedly extends about a mile underground, but we only saw a brief portion of it due to the muddiness and the horrible stench. We are positive some kind of animal fell into the hole and died, because none of us had ever smelled anything quite so disgustingly rotten. While down in the cave we made a list of the things we'd rather be smelling other than the cave-smell, and they were (among others): manure, urine, and Nate's farts. Apart from the stench, however, the cave was super cool, complete with little holes to climb into, rocks to climb over, and tiny, cute bats sleeping while attached to the roof. Ascending out of the hole was the second-worst part (after the smell, of course), and it basically involved climbing an 80 ft. rope with little to no assistance.

Here are a few pictures from the caving expedition:

The Oliver boys contemplating the great abyss.Ned and Erin inside the cave. Nate (poor sucker--we made him ascend last) taking his first breath of fresh non-death-smelling air.

P.S. We stocked up on lots of cool gear in preparation for our trip down to Patagonia. Among the things we bought was... a camera! Don't hold your breath, though. We expect it to be stolen, destroyed or misplaced within a couple days or so.