Fear of Heights: Check

I was up late last night and got up at 6 to get ready to head out to the zip line excursion by 7.  After picking some people up at different hotels and a 45 minute drive on a chartered bus, we finally got to Xplor.  It's a new complex built around some natural caves with stalagmites, etc. that you float underground on a raft through the caves, paddling yourself.  You also drive a 'Gator' amphibious vehicle through the woods on these rough terrain paths that go underground through the caves and through water.  And of course, the zip lines that I mentioned before.  We were fortunate to meet these two twenty year old guys on our bus and hung around with them the whole day, which made it fun... and they turned out to be really great guys.

My fear of heights is a little different than most in that it's not so much looking down that scares me... it's looking out and seeing height in perspective to something else... and moreso, when I look up and can't see what I am standing on any more.  Don't get me wrong, looking down isn't a picnic for me either, so you can imagine my trepidation in agreeing to do the zip lines to begin with.  I try to push through my fears, and this goes down in history as the most progress I've ever made on any one fear.

We decided to do the zip lines first.  There were two sets of seven... and some of them landed you right in pools of lagoon water.  After getting your harness strapped on you and climbing the first platform, probably 100 feet in the air at least, you have to walk out to a slanted edge where they hook you on to the cable.... then they have you sit down and put your feet up and then they let you go.  Let me tell you that this is a biblical experience, and not because I suddenly found Jesus and began praying for my life.  As you glide hundreds of feet over trees and roads and buildings, it's a huge mind-fuck for you not to have a heart attack thinking about falling the whole time.  On the other side is another tower with someone waiting to 'catch' you, unhook you, and send you up a few more flights to the next pod.  You literally went gliding from pod to pod, sometimes overtop a pit with jaguars or aligators in it.  Anyway, we did both sets of seven and went back to do the first set again.  I was so scared at first that the attendants all remembered me hours later from my screams and shrieks and tantrums.  But, by the middle of the second set, I was going first... and by the third, it was second nature.  I craved it and laughed in the face of fear.  Speaking of faces, I'll never forget the look on the face of a cat that was on a roof that I was gliding over... the look of terror was priceless.

27 lines later, an amphibious vehicle ride, a cave rafting trip, a very nice buffet and two new friends (that we are hanging out with for dinner tomorrow night to get all Mike's pictures that he purchased (they randomly take your picture throughout))... we had an awesome day.  Truly a once in a lifetime experience.  I'll be posting more of Mike's pics of him tomorrow from the zip lines... I didn't buy mine because my face was blocked by my white knuckles holding on for dear life or I was in mid-shriek with a stupid expression on my face.  This is an experience that I am not only proud of my accomplishment, but that I will remember for the rest of my life.  I'm thankful that this was on Mike's bucket list and that I went and did it.

We're exhausted and I'm heading up to pass out.  Another great day to be alive.