The Journey gets a sunburn...

First I must apologize for not getting a post up last Friday. My goal for this blog right now is to have a post each Monday & Friday. We kept a pretty busy schedule while on vacation, and I just didn't get to it on Friday. Today's post is later than normal too.  And the only reason I have time to do a post today is because I've stayed home from work.

I was actually looking forward to getting back home and getting back into the routine with work and the gym and church.  Vacation is nice, but usually by the last couple of days I'm ready to get home. I love my life.  I don't go on vacation to hide from my life. I go on vacation to enhance it. I refuse to be on of those people who constantly whine & complain about their life and are just living for their next escape from reality.

So why am I not at work? Because I'm an idiot. I have very fair skin, thanks to my Scandinavian heritage. Which makes the sun my natural enemy. Seriously... I can sunburn just by hearing the song "You Are My Sunshine". So why in the world would I go to Hawaii? Well, Christy & I have an agreement: She'll live with me where it's cold if I'll let her vacation where it's hot.

Because of my fair skin, I know I need to take precautions. Which means putting on sunscreen. Which I hate doing. It's greasy and slimy. But if I don't use it, I fry. I did really good for the first part of the trip. My arms got a little toasted, but nothing too serious. But then on the second to the last day we went on a snorkeling cruise. It was an awesome trip. We saw spinner & bottle-nose dolphins. We also saw humpback whales, which is rare this time of year in that area.

On the way back in is where my stupidity shines. It started out innocent enough... I was sitting on the back of the boat, talking with this guy from Chicago. He was pretty interesting to talk to and I wasn't paying attention to how much sun I was getting directly on my feet. The sunscreen applied earlier in the day had apparently worn off and after an hour or so I realized my feet were FRIED. I'm talkin' crispy red.

And if you've ever had a bad sunburn, you know that the pain and heat builds over the next day or so. They also swelled up. I couldn't get socks or shoes on. I could only barely get flip flops on a little bit and then walk in extreme pain. We spent most of the next day in water which felt great. But then Saturday evening we started the journey home.

It was a miserable trip. My feet were swollen and red and burning. I had to walk barefoot everywhere. It sucked. Most of Sunday and all of today I've had to keep my feet elevated with cold wash clothes on them. If I swing my feet to the floor the rush of blood to them is excruciating. If I'm standing I have to constantly shift my weight.

But, I'll have to go to work tomorrow. My boss has this silly policy... He only pays you if you actually work. I know.. It's crazy. Doesn't he know this is America, where people expect to get paid for doing nothing?

Other than the fried feet, we had a great trip. So I guess it was worth it. I think...

Oh... An update on the Journey: I managed to drop 3 more pounds while in Hawaii. That puts me at 317 pounds. Tomorrow's number probably won't be so good. All I've done today is sit around an eat. And at one point today I had the most intense craving for a Coke. I could taste it in my mouth, and feel it bubbling down my throat. It was crazy. It's a good thing I couldn't walk or I may have been headed to the store...

UPDATE:
And for your viewing pleasure, below is my fried feet and a blister, which I've named Bobby.