So, I have some major catching up to do. At least I can say
I was having great life experiences and adventures even though I have not been
documenting it. In college I had
roommates that felt like they needed to catch up on their journaling because
they had not written what they intended for months on end. Some even left blank
pages between entries to leave room for the entry they really wanted to write;
but did not have time for. I now know how that feels. I am famously good at my
personal journal and keeping that up to date. I like having something to prove
that I really did something every single day. But with my blog I am terribly
behind. Rather than apologize for it I’ll make amends; and document those
adventures that I really wanted to include.
The great life experiences are thus: Sprint Triathlon,
Skydiving, and a Hot Air Balloon Ride.
First off the Sprint Triathlon which we did in Anthem,
Arizona. Firstly, both Jogie and myself completed the course. We are so stoked
that we did it. The race was a reverse triathlon which means that the order of
the race was running, biking and then swimming. The race was disorganized and
when it came time to start I could not find any of the runners or even where
the starting line was at. It was behind the trees and across a bridge. Luckily
with some panic I made it.
The running section wasn’t too bad. It started easily enough
with a gentle downhill jog. I definitely felt like I was Miss Awesomeness. Then
half way through it slopes uphill. Yeah. My running skills are really not up to
squat like I had envisioned. Jogie similarly was no enthused with his running
ability.
The biking was the opposite experience. It was really fun.
It had a huge downhill that with our super awesome bikes allowed us to push
faster and faster. It was so exciting to be passing people on the cycling
course. I thought I was doing so well because I passed more people than passed
me.
The last course was the swimming. Of course Jogie rocked it
and loved it. I did not. But I finished. I suppose I can’t expect to be an
amazing swimmer when I had never tried lap swimming until this summer.
In each of our age groups we ranked 9th. This was
not enough to place; but it is enough to brag about. So yeah, we got ninth; Yeah!
Just prior to our Triathlon we tried out Skydiving. Jogie
particularly was excited to be doing this. His brother had done this and
recommended it to him; and Jogie became a believer based on his brother’s
testimony. When we got to the airport they had us put on ugly jumpsuits and
dorky helmets. I would have felt more self-conscious but Jogie was wearing a
pink jump suit and I had lucked out with yellow. Jogie’s mom came to watch. She
was really excited to have a front row seat. As we were waiting and watching the previous
jumpers land someone called my name. He introduced himself as the person who
was going to jump with me. So I followed him around. After grabbing the
backpack that contains the chute he leads me out to the little plane in the middle
of the runway. We walk underneath the plane and then he pulls out a bunk bed
ladder for us to climb into the plane. Climbing this ladder was the scariest
part of the whole experience. I thought for sure the plane would start rolling and
try to take off while I was climbing the ladder! Inside the plane instead of
seats they have two benches in the middle of it. The idea was you straddle the
benches in the order that you will jump. I was the second to last to jump out.
Jogie was the last. My fellow jumper sat behind me and alternated between
asking me if I was scared and singing Willow Smith’s song “I whip my hair back
and forth” to me. I think he was jealous of my pony tail. That or he was
nervous to be eating my hair during the entire fall. 
Jumping out of the plane
was a cinch. All you do is squat down at the opening and when you lean forward
the wind will pull you right out. Freefall was boring. You try to see or hear
stuff; but it is going so fast you really can’t tell anything. My jumping buddy
pointed out an airplane during freefall which is significant because a plane
was not to be flying through the same airspace as the jumpers; I’m assuming
because if you are falling you can’t exactly stop yourself from hitting a plane
if it is right in your path. But, I don’t
worry about things like that. When the chute opened we were able to have some
real fun. I really enjoyed getting to spin in circles as we descended. My
jumping buddy asked me several times about my stomach. I thought he was being
weird asking irrelevant questions. As an afterthought I think he was worried
that I would lose my cookies and because we were drifting downwards it would go
up instead of down. We came in fast and sat down in the gravel to stop. The
plane ride was about 30 minutes. The falling and parachuting was maybe 10
minutes. It is sad that you have this once in a lifetime adventure and it is
over so quickly. 
For Thanksgiving while some of Jogie’s family came to visit
us we took them on a Hot Air Balloon ride. I have long had a secret desire to
go up in a Hot Air Balloon. When I was a little girl one of my grandma’s had
gifted me and two of my siblings with books that had swapped out character
names for our names. In the plot of the book where I was the main character I
see hot air balloons floating outside my window and express wonderment about
what it would be like to go up in one. I talk to my sister about what she
thinks it would be like to be in one. I ask Grandma if they would let me go up
in one. Of course the children’s story continues with me getting a chance to go
up in a hot air balloon and I get to take Grandma, my sister and my brother
with me. On this day in 2012 it was not
just a story about me getting to go up in a hot air balloon; I really did it!
Despite being only a couple miles from our house the
experience felt like a vacation with its romantic, easy going leisure. We embraced
the vacation atmosphere by taking pictures of everything including the sunrise,
of our shadows, of our vehicle, and of the houses as they appear from google
earth. The balloon itself was huge! I think our house could fit inside of it. It
is built to hold 40,000 cubic feet of hot air. The fabric for the balloon fits
into a bag the size of an economy car. The basket is that size as well. It took 30 minutes at least to roll out the
balloon fabric and get it ready to fill up. The balloon was lying on the ground
when we start to fill it up. When it had plenty of air in it they turned on
burners to heat the air so it will rise. Just like the science project my Dad
and I did in the garage when I was little, the heat going into the balloon caused
it to rise up in the air. The balloon rising in the air also up-righted the
basket. The basket held 10 people. When the basket was upright everyone piled in.
The balloon lifted slowly and without feeling any sort of engine
startup we had lifted up into the air. Once everyone was in we were at the whim
of the balloon and wherever the breeze took us. It was quite relaxing to drift
along without a destination at all. The world was so beautiful and peaceful
early in the morning as we drifted along in the balloon. From the balloon we had no perception of how
fast we were going. As we were descending the balloon operator dramatized just
how quickly we were going by tossing out a folded up business card. It floated
upwards and away. We were descending faster than a folded up business card was
falling.
The landing was rather adventuresome. We bumped a tree
branch and then hit the ground. The balloon wanted to lift off again. Since we had our balloon chasers acting as
brakes our basket tried to tip us out onto the desert.
If I had to choose what was more enjoyable skydiving or hot
air ballooning I would say the hot air balloon. Of course that means that Jogie
would say the skydiving.
