The Calm

Before I get back to where I left of on my last blog I just want to comment on one of my favorite TV shows Ghost Adventures! I don't watch much TV but I love watching documentaries on paranormal stuff! I have always been fascinated in ghost stuff, I have no idea if it is real or not but I don't care it is so mysterious to me. I have had a few past experiences that have kept me curious. Im actually watching an episode right now!

 

Ok back to the story! For a quick recap the Waldo Canyon Fire, that is the name of the canyon the fire started in, started around 12pm on Saturday, June 23rd. I was evacuated from my place of work which was only a mile or so from the fire. Now I am just waiting to hear if I still have a job.

The fire grew very rapidly in size and began to threaten several communities, the towns and neighborhoods of Green Mountain Falls, Chipeta Park, and Cedar Heights were evacuated immediately. An intense column of smoke hovered over the City of Colorado Springs.

The Colorado Springs Real Estate Connection - From Flying Horse Ranch East of Colorado Springs

I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep that night and I kept a constant eye on the news which wasn't very helpful because they where not getting very coverage of the fire. My manager called me and said that she would kept me posted on what was happening with the property. I actually opened a Facebook page for the rest of staff so that I could keep them updated as well. It was about 2 am and I was laying in bed watching the news when suddenly the reporter cut back to the anchor who had an urgent update. The entire town of Manitou Springs was being evacuated because the fire was coming down the big canyon that led into the city.. Well that Canyon is Williams Canyon, where Cave of the Winds sits. My heart dropped and I thought for sure that we had lost our buildings (gift shop, snack bar, pavillion, and ropes course) to the fire. The reassuring thing was that the cave would always be there since it was a cave, but the gift shop was a very old and historical building and it would have been very sad to lose. Along with the buildings we would have lost all of the beautiful scenery in the Canyon and that would have just been awful..

Well, my manager called and told me that they wouldn't let Grant, the owner, go up the highway and check the property. It was an erie night for sure, the part that got me the most was the evacuation of an entire town... I have heard of it before but it has never been so close to home. I couldn't imagine what the residents of Manitou where going through. The next morning came and I watched the news anxiously for any source of information I could find. Finally my boss called and told me that we had gotten lucky and that the fire stopped just at the mouth of the canyon but the fire marshal said that it was going to be a few days until it would be safe for us to return and that the would keep us posted about the fire and if the property was still in danger or not. I was glad to hear that we had made it through the night and I decided that it would be nice to have a few days off so that I could see my friends and be with my family. Monday I went up to Denver to visit the Aquarium with a few friends which was great since I hadn't been there in FOREVER... That night my family went to our neighbors, who's son actually works with me, house to watch the fire burning in the distance, another friend of ours who is also a fire fighter was there and he said that he never thought that the fire would ever reach the city limit. The mood that night was so relaxed. The calm before the storm...

Needless to say..

Today is the first time in a very long time that I have opened my blog. According to my dashboard, the last time that I posted was back in March..... Needless to say I got a little busy!

I really really want to get blogging again because I like how I can express feelings, discuss touchy subjects and complain a little every now and then. It is like having a Journal! I'm sure that all of the Gentlemen are thinking "what kind of guy writes in a  journal!" Try it sometime guys, it is extremely helpful especially if you need to vent a little!

I'll try to pick up where I left off. After spending spring break at Disneyland with my friends I finished out the semester with less than pleasing grades.... Ok, really awful grades. I failed my math class and my Aircraft Systems Maintenance class. I suck at math, always have. I was bummed though, I actually did study hard for the final and I thought I did great on it! But of course as is my luck, every time I think I do good on a math test I actually do horrible, I cannot explain why. So I got a 50% on the final and I am back in the class this semester, with a horrible teacher and a ton of freshmen I might add.. My other class was such a roller coaster. I have a lot that I could say about the class and the teacher and how horrible he and the class where but im not. Ill just say this. The average test score on any test in his class was around 48% with a HUGE curve and I usually scored above that. As for the final, the majority of the material was not ever taught in class or included in the study guide. I am also certain that some of his test questions had incorrect answers seeing as some of them conflicted with what was taught in my other Aviation Classes. I walked out of the class with a group of people and one of turned to the rest of us and said "well, i'll see you all next spring in this class again," I was not the only person who failed the class Ill stop there though as it would not be fair for me to continue on a pointless rant.. Whatever though I was ready to get that semester done. It was a long, depressing, and cold semester and I wanted it to be behind me. 

I hung around Utah for 2 more weeks so that I could finish my Private Pilots license... And I did... Sorta. I flew home (back to Colorado) on the 19th of May and my check ride was the 18th. I was so ready to get done, but of course on the day of my check ride it was raining. Well, the check airman and I decided to finish the ground portion of the exam and since I had to come back to Logan for a week for my Greek Ambassador duties at the beginning of June we would finish the flight portion of the exam then. While I was bummed that I didn't finish before I went back to Colorado it was very nice to be home! The plus was that I got to look forward to visiting my friends in Utah in a few weeks! June rolled around and I flew back to Utah to finish my check ride. It was such a fun week and to top it all off I passed the test with flying colors! It was such a breeze and I actually had fun doing it! The best part was when we landed, the check airman turned to me and said "I have one last question for and it is the one that will determine whether or not you pass, so park here and take a second to relax and clear your mind because it is a very difficult question." After shutting down he turned to me and asked "how does it feel to be Private Pilot!" I laughed and said "damn good!" I didn't want to leave my friends in Logan but I was excited to get back to CO and get back to work!

I work at a place called Cave of the Winds in the mountains above Manitou Springs, Colorado. It is a big cave in which we give tours! At the beginning of the summer I was promoted to Head Guide which was really cool and I really looked forward to doing that for the rest of the summer! At the end of June I got a big suprise! One of the Assistant Supervisors had stepped down and the job was offered to me! I was super super excited for the job! Of course life has its way of being cruel.. About a half an hour after I was promoted, we received a call that a wildfire had started in the canyon next to us and the it was headed right for our property. The other Head Guides and I had always joked about how cool it would be to evacuate the Cave but of course we never thought it would happen. As a side note, I worked there for 2 years previously! Well, we had an hour before we where in any real danger so we slowly began to take people out of the cave, refund as many people as we could, and evacuate the property. Well we where almost done when suddenly the winds began to really pick up and the fire marshal called up and told us to get out ASAP. We quickly rounded up the last few visitors, and got them out. We moved all of the computers and money into the cave and then proceeded down the mountain ourselves. As Head Guide I was one of the last people out. I shook hands with the owner who had come up to help out and wished him good luck and walked out thinking full well that I would not have job in the morning. The fire was getting really close as I got in my car and drove off. It was a very surreal day for sure..

My poor mom had called to check up on me because she could see the smoke from where we live and from there it looked like exactly where I worked and really it was. I couldn't answer though because I was very busy. When I had a second to spare I called her really quick and said "hey I can't talk but im ok, we are evacuating right now, ill call you when I get down the mountain, I love you." Waited for her to say ok and hung up. So im sure she was freaking out! I went through the list of texts and missed calls and let everyone know I was ok! I got home and a co worker sent me this picture. The red arrow is the approximate location of Cave of the Winds..

Yeah, it didn't look good. Some friends of mine who work at a camp not far from the fire where also evacuated. We met up and talked about how it felt to be jobless.. Little did we know it was about to come alot more than just jobless.. More to come.