Oahu, Hawaii: Parasailing

I really wanted to try parasailing. Just once to see what it was all about.

I tried to convince Mike to go with me, but he isn't a fan of heights so I went with his dad. We went with a fairly small group of us - 6 in total - 3 couples. We were the first ones to go. I really wasn't sure what to expect and they didn't give tons of instruction. Just, "Slide your legs through these holes. Now sit here." And off we went.

Our ride was for 5 minutes and our line was 500 feet. I think that if I were to do it again, I would go to the max line/height allowed. When we came back everyone asked, "How was it!?" I said, "It really wasn't what I expected. I don't know what I expected, but it was more than that. There wasn't an adrenaline rush. Basically you sit on the back of the boat, the boat takes off and they extend the line until you are sitting in the air at the designated height. Then after your time has elapsed, the begin to retract the rope, dip you in the water, and you end up sitting on the boat where you started. It't definitely not like sky diving or bungee jumping where you have to be brave and take that first initial step. (That first initial step is what gets the adrenaline pumping.)" I think it was just more smooth than I anticipated I guess. No bumps, no landing in the water, just sit to take off, sit in the air, and sit back on the boat.

(Getting dipped into the water:)

It probably sounds like I would never do it again, and of course, I would. But I would definitely want to go higher to make it more worth it. Otherwise, it's not really worth the money to me. I do think that it would be the perfect amount of adrenaline rush for someone who is afraid of heights though. I really hope that if I do go again, that Mike will go with me ... <3

It's always nice to be on a boat in the water. The ocean and the shoreline are so picturesque.

It was fun. I am glad that I went and experienced it for myself. :)

Yasika Adventures Zip Lining the Dominican Republic

Zip lining in the Dominican Republic? Why not? I heard about zip lining and that was it. I wanted to do it. There are a few different places we looked at and we narrowed it down to Yasika Adventures Zip Lining and the Monkey Jungle Zip Line Adventures.

The Highlights of Yasika:
- They come pick you up and drop you off
- 10 platforms/8 zip lines
- Reach heights of 985 feet above the ground (speeds up to 30 mph)
- Fruit Cocktail at the end

The Highlights of the Monkey Jungle Zip Line Adventures:
- They come pick you up and drop you off
- All proceeds go to charity (100% of your purchase goes to an on-site medical/dental facility)
- 7 Stations, 3 suspense bridges and a descender into a cave
- If you are worried about safety, this is the only ACCT certified zip line on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic.
- For a combined donation you get to visit the Monkey Jungle & Zip Line Adventures which means you get to feed monkeys and check out that area.

As you probably guessed from the title of this post, we ended up going to Yasika Adventures Zip Lining because it fit into our schedule better. But I would love to go back and check out the Monkey Jungle Zip Line Adventure sometime. It just sounds awesome. Descending into a cave!? Feeding monkeys!? It all sounds super fun to me.

The Yasika Adventure team came and picked us up in a Safari truck and drove us approximately 30 minutes to their course where we suited up and headed to the first zip line.

I love riding in Safari trucks. No windows is my favorite thing ever!

The ride up to the Yasika Adventure Zip Line Course was beautiful!

10 Stations and 8 Zip Lines

Me and Jen suited up and ready to go.

First person to test out the zip lines and make sure they are safe ;)
(nobody else wanted to go first so I didn't even have to fight for it) I was stoked at this point!

Mike giving it a go!

One of the 10 platforms on the Zip Line course.

The engineering behind the zip line course.

I really wanted to zip line backwards or something and add a little more thrill to the ride.
Most people have something like Jiminy Cricket in their mind telling them what to do and what not to do. I have Mike to tell me what's safe and what's not.

Home Base aka the Last Platform

Our mouths are open and it's the only group picture we got. This is an example of why you should say CHEESE when someone tells you to say ZIP LINE.

Mike was awesome! He does not like heights yet he did every single zip line like a champion. No hesitation just maybe closed eyes ;0) He said it wasn't too bad - he just didn't look down a lot. Before we went I asked him on a scale of 1 to 10 how excited he was. He said a 0. I said, "Mike! You have to at least be a 1 or a 2 because you are doing it and you know you don't have to do it!" I don't know if he will ever zip line again - but I think he enjoyed it this time around.

This little Yasika Adventure helper climbed up the passion fruit tree to get us some fresh fruit. It looks shorter than it was because I was looking down on him, but it was a pretty tall tree and he scaled it like it was nothing. (To be young and live in a jungle.)

The fresh Fruit Cocktail at the end of the course.

We laid some fruit on the bar of the hut and lizards(?) started coming out of the woodwork to eat it. (Seriously in a 5 foot span I counted almost 15 lizards at one time.) In the top right picture, can you see all three lizards - they are awesome at camouflage.

The course went by super quickly! I feel like all 5 of us did it in around 30 minutes. I was bummed. I wanted to go again. I am excited to try out other courses though because I will be zip lining again :)

Paragliding at the Point

The Saturday before the first snowfall, October 29, Jordan, Vanessa and I all went paragliding at the point of the mountain. I am so glad we were able to do it before winter came. It was cold when we went, but once we were up in the air of course we didn't notice. It was so much fun, but nothing like sky diving (which I think I prefer).





We went paragliding off the South Side of the Point of the Mountain. We had no instruction because we were going tandem. We simply signed a waiver, went to the edge of the mountain, strapped on all the gear with the pilot and took off. The air simply lifted us up.




My pilot said that the Point of the Mountain is the best place to go paragliding. He said that the wind is always very consistent and very smooth. So people come from all over the world to go paragliding at the point of the mountain. I love that Utah has so many amazing things to offer!

Paragliding has a larger "wing" (parachute) than skydiving and is more steady. So I took that to mean that it is safer. You can get really close to the ground and then get right back up in the air. I was really impressed by that and at some points the pilot took us so low my feet were hitting the weeds, then we went back up again.

It wasn't scary at all. It wasn't really an adrenaline rush either. It was just fun. It was fun to look out over the valley and see the beauty all around. The pilot said that for a little more dinero we can go on the North side of the mountain and go a little higher in the air. I think that next time I would like to try that.





I think that the most intense part of paragliding was the landing. We were trying to land on the top of the hill, from where we took off, but other paragliders kept getting in the way. So we ended up just landing at the bottom of the hill. We had to lean right so that the wing almost hit the hill, then left and again, the wing almost hit the dirt, then back right and back left again and again. We were going fast and feeling drastic movement - it was fantastic.

Jordan & Vanessa got to paraglide together:
Jordan:

Vanessa:

Jordan & Vanessa together in the sky:


I am glad that we were all able to go. We had a lot a lot of fun and I am glad that my mom, Mike, Alisha, Annika and Adalyn were all willing to come and bear the cold to watch us!

Thanks guys! It was fun to spend the morning/afternoon with you.