Monday, June 20, 2011

Planes Parachutes and Pools

Crossed a couple more items off the old bucket list this weekend....

First off, early Saturday morning,   I JUMPED OUT OF A FREAKIN PLANE!!!



Yes, that is really me! And it was AMAZING!

 Skydiving was not an item on this summer's bucket list.  It has been an item on my lifetime bucket list since I was about 18.  It was one of those thing that I never thought I would really be brave enough to do, but the opportunity presented itself this weekend, and in a moment of insanity, I thought, why the heck not?

There were two days in between when I committed to go and when we actually jumped, and during those two days I really thought I was going to die.  I was definitely going to throw up on the way down too, and probably pee my pants, if not worse.  What if my tandem jumper guy forgot to fasten all the hooks?  What if the wind came up at the wrong time? What if the jumper guy on my back had a heart attack on the way down and passed out?  What if I chickened out at the last minute?  I was awake the whole night before, dreaming up disastrous scenarios.  I'm good at that.
No worries.  Scott promised to push me if I couldn't jump.


But I jumped.  Once you get up there in the plane, it's kind of too late to back out.  The guys that jump with you are really good at just pushing you along and making you think you can do it. It was about a 20 minute ride to get up to 12000 feet, where they jump from.  By that point, I was scared, but not as scared as I was the night before.  There wasn't time to worry about anything.  Before I knew it, we were at the edge of the plane, and then we were out.  I just remember looking down and seeing the ground coming up at me rather quickly.   Then  I realized I was free falling, and it was ME heading for the ground, not the other way around.  It was freezing cold, and we were falling at 120 mph, and the wind was hitting my face so hard I couldn't breathe.  If I opened my mouth, my cheeks would flap around and my mouth got all dry, but it was impossible to breathe through my nose.
Then after about 90 seconds, the parachute opens and whips you up and the wind and the noise dies and you can breathe again, and all of a sudden it's so peaceful and gorgeous and warm, and you know you're going to live, so you can relax and enjoy the ride and the view..  We did a couple  of spins and dives, had an amazing view of the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island, and all of Ogden.
Landing was a breeze.  All I had to do was put my feet up, and it was like sitting down in the dirt.  I was expecting a little more impact, but it could not have been smoother.  And I didn't lose control of even one bodily function.  Other than all that screaming  that happened during the free fall.

And here is the hero shot with the two other brave souls who jumped at the same time as me.  We couldn't decide if we wanted to be Charlie's Angels or the guys from Armageddon.


And here is the whole crew that jumped with us that day.   Probably the most fun I have ever had.  Scary and exhilarating and inspiring all at once.  I would highly recommend it.


After that, we headed to Cherry Hill to make some headway into our goal of finding the best swimming pool in Davis County.  We had free passes from a radio contest we won.  Dan also got to compete in a Father's Day game of musical chairs, to win  $1000 and a barbeque, but he got muscled out in the fifth round by an enormous Tongan dude.




The kids had a great time swimming there, but we didn't get any pictures.  The pools and slides are really fun.  There is a huge pirate ship, and some rapids and some fun mermaid stuff that Olivia really liked.  There is one good sized regualr old style pool just to swim in. The lazy river is WARM and the tubes are free, both of which are worth a lot of points in my book.  It's pricey though, and I'm not sure the extra bells and whistles are worth it.  The kids would probably have just as much fun at a city pool for about a third the cost. So our search for the perfect pool continues.

No comments: