Bucket List

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 9^th. 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.