We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck
Yes, it's the long awaited Penguin Plunge blog. I want to start off by thanking everyone who came out and supported me as I braved the cold weather and took the plunge on New Year's Day. We raised over $174 for the Harrisburg Humane Society. Ok, you got me it was $175. Anyway thanks again to all my family and friends whom without the peer pressure I never would have been able to follow through.
It really was not that bad, the weather was below freezing and the water was slightly below freezing at 31 degrees. That meant that the water was actually warmer than the air. So there really was no shock in going in the water. Especially after spending some time standing around in my bathing suit for a couple of minutes before I ran into the river. The worst part was the cold when I got out. I immediately headed to the changing room and then to Flinchys where I was warmed by an Irish coffee and the hot redhead pictured below.
This is a before the plunge picture, in the background is the river. What you can't see is the lovely cement beach calling to me.
The next thing I knew I was half naked standing on a cement beach and some guy from a local radio station with his silky smooth radio voice was yelling at us to run into a large body of water. I pinched myself as I had hoped that I was a dreaming. I couldn't feel the pinch because it was so darn cold. All of a sudden I was caught up in a stampeding heard of crazy people running across a cement beach somewhere way too far north of the equator at one of the worst possible times of the year. In order to avoid being trampled I was forced to run into the water with the crowd. I think I stepped on someone on the way in. I tried to apologize but I was too cold.
I got in a little higher than my waist when the crowd I was with came to a halt and people started running back for the shore. I bent my knees ducked my head under the water and quickly ran out where a towel and blanket was waiting for me. Yeah I'm in the picture above you just gotta look close.
Ok this is one of the few shots people got of me after I got out. I know what you're thinking when you look at this picture: "That Vangie is one lucky girl!"
I would like to close this blog with a video interview of my Mother who is standing next to that aforementioned hot redhead. There is a barrel rolling referance in there for those of you who still have their doubts about my upbringing. We may do this again next year because it was a lot of fun and I believe my father-in-law and Dad may actually join in.
"We rolled him in a barrel for months when he was young, on the advice of a therapist - no wonder this blog is so screwed up." - Mom & Dad
"Given my inherent predisposition to hating blogs and left handed people even more, I was pleasantly surprised that this blog doesn’t suck that bad.." - Anonymous Hairless/Glandless Co-Worker
This is a before the plunge picture, in the background is the river. What you can't see is the lovely cement beach calling to me. 
I got in a little higher than my waist when the crowd I was with came to a halt and people started running back for the shore. I bent my knees ducked my head under the water and quickly ran out where a towel and blanket was waiting for me. Yeah I'm in the picture above you just gotta look close.
