Ever been skydiving? I have! What a rush! It almost seems like it never happened. Like I had an out of body free falling experience.Jim and I went with a group of people from his work. If we had enough people we got a discount. We're cheap thrill seekers. On the drive over to Skydive Oregon, we were both really excited and anxious at the same time. Peri wasn't even a year old yet. I kept thinking, "Crap, what if our parachutes don't open. We never wrote out a will, who gets Peri? Guess we can't die."
Once we got there we had a LOT of paperwork to fill out. Every third disclaimer was a re-wording of "You realize there's a chance you'll die and you're okay with that. We aren't responsible if you die." Yeah, if you weren't nervous before that, the paperwork will scare the crap out of you.
After the ground school on free falling, we picked our tandem partner and headed out. One of the experienced divers sat back and just stared at the group as we ascended. Most of the men I was with were scared to death. It was probably the longest flight ever for them. The diver looked over at me and said, "Wow, you're as cool as a cucumber." Actually, I've been in a LOT of small aircrafts so it wasn't a big deal. Also, I was at the edge of the bench with my tandem partner already strapped to my back. I had about an inch of the bench for my butt to sit on so I was really anxious to get up there and get out.
It was the most surreal experience. The door opened and we didn't even hesitate. I had this feeling like, hey, let's go! We dropped out of the plane and were free falling. It was amazing! We dropped from 13,400 ft and we were free falling at 129 mph for almost a minute. I could feel the air temperature change from freezing cold to warm and summery as we fell.
The free falling was one of the coolest things ever! I was bummed when we had to pop the parachute and slowly wind our way back down to earth. I took in the scenery and just the reality of it all. Once we were down I met up with Jim and the first thing we said to each other was, "Let's do it again!"
I can't believe we didn't take any pictures, we were too distracted with the whole experience. I only have a certificate that proves I suffered from temporary insanity. Oh well. It's an expensive thrill ride, but one that I highly recommend you try at least once. And if you think about it, do your best Tom Petty impression when you fall out of the plane.... "Yeah I'm freeeeeeeeeeeee, free fallin........................."
10 comments:
I'm going to have to do that sometime. I've been parasailing, which was awesome, but not nearly as amazing as this sounds!
Awesome, Yeah for you!! I hope I get the nerve up to do this one day.
You are a brave woman! I am deathly afraid of open heights. I have a hard time on a ferris wheel! If I ever did it (after a LOT of drinking maybe) it would have to be tandem, only I really don't think any professional parachuter wants to be strapped to me while I pee my pants the whole way down.
Sounds like fun - I've never been skydiving, but I did go paragliding once, which was a blast.
Wow - that sounds like it was awesome!
Just so you know in advance... I will NEVER EVER sky dive with you. Never. Not ever.
Wow! You are so brave! What a thrilling adventure! I don't know that I would have gotten past that paperwork. Now, hot air ballooning, the kind where you do a champagne breakfast over vineyards .. that I could go for! :)
That is awesome. I think I would have to have someone strapped to me to actually make me jump out of the plane :) I wouldn't be able to do it willingly...
Awesome! Looks like fun.
Wow... that looks amazing! You are so brave. One day I'd like to try it... still feeling a bit chicken though.
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