Polar Plunge 2009

On Saturday, the 17th annual Polar Plunge was held in Virginia Beach to raise money for special olympics. CC and my brother Mike raised funds as part of teams for their respective employers and we went down to show them our support.

It didn't hurt that a February "heat wave" hit this past weekend and we had temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s. The dramatic 30 degree rise in temperatures in less than 24 hours didn't have an impact on the 38F degree ocean water.

They had ice sculpting, games for kids but probably the best was the costume contest. People were dressed up like Christmas trees, the cavemen from the Geico commericals, smurfs and The Blue Man group to name a few.

Katie, our friend from Charlottesville, and I stopped one interesting character for a picture.
We went up to Mike's company's hotel room to get a bird's eye view of the festivities.

Here is the staging area a few hours before the official plunge.Here is the same area during the plunge.Many of you know I love my new camera because it can zoom, zoom, zoom and low and behold, who did I find in the crowd of 3,270 plungers but CC!

I felt like the paparazzi because she had no idea I was taking her picture from a sixth floor balconey. Can't see her? Look again. Plus here. I think she's saying, "The water was cold!"