Diving into Life

So, today I turn 26.  The first 1/4 of my life is over.  I had to think of some amazing way to celebrate.  Then it came to me!  Skydiving!  There is no better way to celebrate my life than to hurl my body out of an airplane at 18,000 feet.  Last Saturday, that is exactly what I did.

I just got my harness and I was ready to go!

I was so pumped!  That is my instructor, Mark, sitting behind me.  He was so amazing.  Mark pointed out all the landmarks and he even let me steer the parachute on the way down.

This was my first look out of the airplane.  If you look in the bottom left corner you can see how far down the ground was.  18,000 feet is the highest tandem skydive in the world, but it doesn't really hit you exactly how high that is until you're about to jump out of the airplane.

This was the view I saw.  Monterey, CA is so beautiful.  It was the perfect place to jump.

There we go!

The free fall was 90 seconds.  That doesn't seem very long until you are falling and falling and falling at 120 mph.  Then you start thinking, "Shouldn't the parachute have opened by now?"

But just then, the parachute opened.  Thank God.  After that I could just really enjoy the ride down.  It is so peaceful and quiet up there.  The world is so beautiful from this perspective.

Here i am drifting back to earth.

The landing was a lot softer than I thought it would be.

I didn't get nervous about what I had done until it was all over.  I had both feet firmly on the ground when it hit me...I just flew through the air at 120 mph!  Whoa.  The whole experience totally blew my mind!  Even as I write this, it is still blowing my mind.  I can't imagine anything that could top my 26th birthday.

The Quote for the day:

"...and once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you long to return."

-- Leonardo da Vinci

Flying Trapeze

This is something that I have been wanting to try for quite some time.  I found a place where you can learn how to perform all sorts of aerialist activities.  You can take a one-on-one lesson and its actually really affordable.  Of course there is a harness and a net so I won't seriously injure myself.  Which, I will probably manage to do somehow despite all safety precautions.  But I'm so excited to finally get to do this!

Now I'll have to run off and join the circus!

The Dead...reunited AND on tour!

I'm trying to contain myself...but I'm just so freaking excited!!  I just found out that The Grateful Dead (minus Jerry Garcia, of course) is planning a tour in 2009!  Ok, now for the best part....they are making the very last stop of the tour right in Mountain View, CA!

I have a list of bands that I want to see before I (or they) die.  The bands on this list are older classic rock bands that were waaaaaay before my time.  But, some of them do still perform from time to time and I have been lucky enough to see a few of them in concert. The Grateful Dead is on that list and I had given up all hope of ever seeing them in concert.  Until now!  

You can go to their website to see if they are playing in a city near you.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.  I know you are as excited as I am :) 

Now, if I can just get my hands on a pair of those tickets.  It would be a miracle.

*This image was taken from the Grateful Dead tour information page on their website.*

I Fly!

I went to the vertical wind tunnel last night! It was SO MUCH FUN!  I'm planning on going skydiving in February for my birthday and I wanted to get a little idea of what it would be like.  That wind tunnel is incredibly powerful! The staff was so nice, and my instructor, Matt, was fabulous!

I got two turns to fly, but on my second turn my goggles came loose, so I got to go in a third time.  After everyone in my group got their turns, our instructor did a little demonstration of what you can do in there when you are really experienced.  The acrobatics were great! He put on a really good show. It definitely made me want to go back and do it again!