#11 Try Hang Gliding

I remember the call.

Me: Hey Dad, I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay.
Dad: Why wouldn't you be okay?
Me: Oh well, I just got back from skydiving.......

This took place back in 2001 when I was living in British Columbia, Canada. I was only a few weeks away from being accepted into their socialized medicine system. Not that it would have mattered anyways.

Skydiving in BC was a little different that it is in the US, at least from my experience. I did what they call the First Jump Course instead of Tandem.

Basically, you crawl out onto the strut of the plane and hang like Superman until they tell you to let go. At this point, they release a mini-chute which then activates your full parachute within 10 seconds or so. But from the second you crawl out of the plane you are all alone and hoping like hell those "in case of..." instructions do not have to be put to use.

I tell you all of this because there have been numerous suggestions to add skydiving to the list. So instead of having a skydiving part 2 adventure, I opted for something entirely new, hang gliding.

I was a tiny bit nervous at this point

Hang gliding is awesome and could possibly become my new hobby. There's something peaceful about soaring through the sky like a bird.  Even better, I was able to convince my brother to come along. (David was along for the journey, not the adventure but we still appreciate his camera skills).

The rest of the weekend in Chattanooga was a lot of fun. We had an delicious but interesting dinner at Easy Bistro (interesting because a couple was breaking every PDA rule and perhaps several state laws as well). If you go there, have the Cinderella Pumpkin Ravioli. And just because, you have to See Rock City.

It's a bird, it's a plane...

Resources:

• Lookout Mountain Hang Gliding
• Easy Bistro
• See Rock City

And one final note.....

No trip is ever complete without a sock monkey appearance. I really wanted to wear the sock monkey costume in Rock City but that would have been a bad idea on many levels - not fitting through Fat Man's Squeeze, falling off Lookout Mountain, getting attacked by moonshine drinking gnomes......You get the point.

Now on to the next adventure.....