Day 15: EXTREME ADVENTURES

I'm going to start off with a little quote that pretty much fits perfectly with today's chosen activities, and sums up the day (and entire trip) if any one sentence could...

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." Neale Donald Walsch

But of course, I'll elaborate for you and share TONS of pictures from today. There's too many to choose from and I couldn't cut it back to just a few, so enjoy.

So today, Shane, Zane, Sanford, Jason, and I went skydiving! It was AWESOME! I really kinda thought it'd be a one time thing, but I will definitely be going again (sometime). The day started off with some logistics, waivers, and training videos, and then we were set. Zane and Jason went first, I went next, and Shane and Sanford went third. The people there were obviously crazy, in a good way...I mean you kinda have to be to be a skydiving instructor for a living. But after today, I'm pretty convinced they're living the life.

Before take-off, and the first of many thumbs-up.

You get all suited up and hop in the plane with your tandem partner skydiving instructor. The plane ride was about 15-20 minutes, taking you up 10,000 feet (about 2 miles). The views were like no other. My jumping instructor, Ben, pointed out a ton of sites - all the different canyons, national parks, rivers, and whatever else popped up along the way. During the flight you also get all connected and hooked together so you're ready to go once you hit the right elevation.

I was shocked I didn't get cold feet. But, I think I was so excited and had so much adrenaline going that not much could have phased me at that point. I think it also helped that Ben was clearly a pretty experienced jumper and I felt pretty safe and confident that he would get us back to the ground in one piece. He had just done his 4,000th jump before we got there. After some jokes, conversation, pictures, and pre-jump interviews, the time came to jump out of the plane..

First time feeling the wind, not knowing quite what to expect...

WOW! What an unreal feeling. It's unlike anything I have ever experienced and there really are no words to describe it. It is DEFINITELY something I would recommend trying. So when the door popped open, Ben put his one foot out, I put my two feet on the platform, and from there the next thing I knew we were out and free falling at 120 mph. AH! I am literally trying to find words right now and I really can't. All I can say is WOW and that I loved it. I even got to steer the parachute for a bit on our way down, and we did some spirals too. Really, really amazing. I think you'll be able to tell in the pictures I was having a great time. I am soooo glad we decided to skydive. It was awesome.

The extreme adventures didn't end there. After some rest and coming down from that rush, we all went on on a Hummer tour through some of the canyons from 7-9 pm. Now, I've been off roading before, but this was on a whole new level. I think I was still on some sort of adrenaline rush or another one started, but once again I was astounded. I cannot believe what these cars are capable of climbing up and driving through. And once again, knowing that this was our driver, Ammon's job and that he had been doing it professionally for 4 years, made me trust him quite a bit. The views were unbelievable again and we sat and watched another sunset from the canyons. He also provided us with a lot of history and theory behind the canyons and the surrounding areas.

So if you're ever in Moab, UT hit up Skydive Moab 435.259.JUMP and High Point Tours.

A huge thanks to all the guys at Skydive Moab - Instructors: Ben and Chris, Crew: Jordan and Eula, Pilot: David, and Eli who dealt with all the logistics. And another thanks to our Hummer driver Ammon who got us through the rock crawling portion of the day.

Obviously today was a rest day and we'll pick up tomorrow on I-70 where the group left off on Sunday. But before we begin the trek to our next stop, Grand Junction, CO, we're still going to squeeze in a trip to the Arches National Park in the AM.