ISO 100 | 70mm | f 8.0 | 1/250 sec

It started off like any other beautiful Thursday morning.  The sun was out, the birds were singing, and I was on my way to go see the annual county-fair balloon launch.  The event was a favorite of many of the locals in the area, and there was usually a big turn-out.  Wanting to avoid the crowds, I’d picked my vantage point at the top of a grassy hill on the southern end of the launch area, far enough away to avoid the hustle and bustle, and high enough up to get a great view of the entire event as it unfolded.

Lost in thought and a little too preoccupied with the morning’s happenings to pay attention to where I was going, I suddenly felt the ground give-way beneath me and instantly I was airborne, plummeting down into the depths of a rabbit hole.  I tried not to panic, this had happened before, and it had proved more of an inconvenience than anything else.

The rabbit hole I had just fallen down was not unlike the one in the story of Alice in Wonderland, though, contrary to the story, the hole I fell into did not lead to any magical place full of oddity and adventure.  It merely dropped 6,847,326 feet straight down, circumnavigated the earth’s core, and meandered its way back to the surface again.  When I finally stopped falling, I found myself lying on my back in an open field near the town of Dervock, Ireland.  I hastily boarded a plane and made my way back home, only slightly annoyed.

Since that escapade, I’ve tried to keep my eye out for rabbit holes.  I’ve found that it’s really a simple process of taking one step at a time and paying attention to where you’re going.  If you’re not careful, you could end up on a rabbit trail, and as we all know, rabbit trails inevitably lead to rabbit holes.  While these holes may have their place (if you’re the adventurous type whose greatest dream is to wake up stranded half-way around the globe, then you might affirm this point), I find them to be nothing but trouble.  They steal your time, transport you to places you don’t care to be, and scare the wits right out of you.

If it’s all the same to you, I prefer to keep my feet on solid ground.  Alice can keep her rabbit holes.  Without them, Lewis Carol wouldn’t have anything to write about…