We can go ice climing now!

In my last post, I wrote about us watching the Iditarod from the roof of a three story building and promised the tale of our having to climb an emergency ladder to get down. This is that story.

Kyle and I arrived about half an hour before the start. Alex and Jamie took us to the roof to have a look around and see if we needed to shovel snow. (We didn't.) While waiting for the elevator to take us back down, I noticed an emergency ladder in a box.

"Why do you have a two story emergency ladder for a three story building?" I asked.

"Well, we're only two stories up because the bottom floor is lower, you know?" Jamie replied.

We laughed about how funny it would be if we had to use it and how we'd only use it if the building were on fire. Jamie said over and over and over that she would never get on it.

We took the elevator down and stayed in her office until it was time for the actual start. We went back up to the roof, four more people in tow. We watched a few teams take off, took lots of pictures, and froze our booties off. We decided to go back downstairs and watch the rest of it from the comfort of a vacant office.

The elevator was taking a long time. A really long time. I can't feel my fingers or toes. My gloves weren't doing anything anymore. And why didn't I wear a hat?

Jamie was on the phone trying to get a co-worker to come up the elevator just to make sure it was working. It wasn't. The maintenance man wasn't answering his phone. At this point, Jamie refused to admit that we were stuck on the roof.

Then she all but sprinted by me, grabbed the emergency ladder, and said, "Come on. We have to use it."

So we did. All six of us shimmied down this ladder (only one story!) It was icy and unstable and I was suddenly afraid of heights. But afterward? Afterward I thought about what an awesome story that is. Years from now Kyle and I can say, "Hey, remember that time we were watching the Iditarod from the roof of that building downtown and then had to climb down the emergency ladder because the elevator broke and we were stuck? Yea, that was fun."