An Irish Fright

“You can go in groups of three.” The man says jovially, like what he is offering is just a lighthearted romp through a field of flowers. Instead though he is urging all the guests of our tour group a trip through their haunted house. Mom and I both decline the offer, the idea of going through a haunted house is not exactly our idea of fun. The three Australians in our group decide to go along with it. Two of the guys are excited at the prospect of entering a haunted house, the third however, is a little more reluctant.

So mom and I watch, laughing as the two men who are excited about entering force the third to stand in the front of the group. Our tour guide opens the door for them and explains to us that they go in groups of three because the first gets the surprise, the second can still be shocked, the third might not be as surprised but they can still get the third person. Any group larger than that then the fourth and fifth and so on won’t get scared at all. Just as he explains this we hear a bang and a roar on the other side of the wall followed by a scream and loud laughter.

I look around at the displays of the history of Ireland during the potato famine and try to concentrate on the sadness the displays attempt to convey and fail miserably. The bangs, screams, and laughter continue as the three men make their way through the haunted house. I give up and find myself staring at the black wall as mom, the tour guide and I follow the screams, groans, and hoots of laughter. We briefly discuss the woes of how early advertisers start on Christmas advertising. Our tour guide says, “They barely wait until Halloween is over before they start to stuff Christmas down your throat.” We can relate, and tell him that at least in Ireland there aren’t any major holidays between Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving is pretty much overshadowed by Christmas. The conversation quickly fades off as the three men in the haunted house suddenly get louder just before they break through a door and onto the walkway where we are. They are red-faced and guffawing as they try to convince mom and myself to complete the haunted house. We briefly argue that if the other goes first we might consider going but neither wants to give in and be the one scared first. In the end we were a couple of wimps but it sure was fun listening to those Aussies. 

Tiny Plane Rides

Here we were. Ready to take off in a little tiny plane. I was heading to Idaho Falls from Denver in a baby plane, a planelette if you will. Nerves bumped a bit higher than normal at boarding when i saw people checking bags that would normally fall under "carry-on" status but were now too big to fit. if you don't believe this plane was tiny, let's put it this way. It is 13 rows long, 2 seats on each side of the aisle, no first class (not enough room), 1 bathroom, and 1 flight attendant. After we boarded, I settled, determined to relax. Then my nerves bumped up again when the crew asked for one passenger to move from the front to the back of the plane to "balance the plane load."

I mentally worked to calm myself and had nearly succeeded when we began to taxi. That's when my brain kicked in. An internal argument warred between crazy unreasonable me and sane reasonable me both shouting to get my attention. First thought, "Wow, I can feel every bump & hear every noise." Interesting observation until unreasonable me chimes in with "Yeah, but how do you know which noise and which bumps are normal?"

We zip down the runway and normal me thinks "This is safe, you rarely hear news stories on plane crashes anymore." Crazy me: "Yeah, the only one's you hear about now are the crashes with little planes...like this one."

As we hurtle down the runway, eventually lifting away from the earth, the cabin rattles, something behind me squeaks with every bump. Thankfully we level out and the squeaks and bumps stop. However, I swear the plane jiggles a bit as my seatmate jiggles her leg. Also, I think I just heard a conversation from the front of the plane?

Eventually, the one attendant makes her way up the aisle handing out snacks and drinks. It doesn't take long to reach the back of the plane where I am. I guess that's the upside to a small plane. Hey, I was thirsty.