Off the Bucket List: Ziplining

One of the items on my bucket list was ziplining.  I've been slowly crossing things off of my list over the past two years, since my new life began and I've unfortunately had less mommy time and more me time.  I've filled my time with running, friends, family, and dating.  I've become more social, more adventurous and have forced myself to step outside of my comfort zone, to try new things, see new sights, meet new people.  I'm slowly crossing things off my bucket list ... some big; some small.

The boyfriend and I have similar interests and have both been discussing ziplining since we met last winter.  With our busy schedules, we've had August 11 on our calendar for quite awhile ... ziplining was going to be tackled one way or another. 

I looked online for different places in Wisconsin to try this out.  There were places in Door County and Wisconsin Dells ... and then I heard that it was also offered in Lake Geneva.  Door County was too far of a trek from Madison.  And, Wisconsin Dells just didn't seem epic enough for me.  If I couldn't travel to some scenic mountains or glide across the bays of some tropical scenery ... I wanted to be ziplining through some beautiful woods.  We ended up making a reservation at Lake Geneva Canopy Tours (HERE).  It was going to cost $100 each (a little steep for my single mommy budget).  But, I had saved up some money from coaching and thought that this would be well worth it ... and it was .....

We showed up for a 2pm excursions with three other couples.  The 2.5 hr trek was upon us.  We checked in, used the restroom for the last time and got on the scale.  The owner thought he was funny when he stepped up behind me and put his body weight on the scale and I was asked if I really weighed 225+ lbs.  Nope, funny guy.

I never participated in extracurricular activities or sports, because I was always worried I'd embarrass myself in front of my peers or in groups of people I didn't know.  I was worried I wouldn't know anyone and that I wouldn't know what to do.  So, setting out in an adventure like this with a bunch of strangers was more intimidating to me than the heights.  But, I did it.  I embarrassed myself, yes.  Goofed up a bit.  But, who cares.  I really realize that running has given me more confidence to do things like this.

We had to write nicknames on our partner's helmets.  I wrote Steve on The Boyfriend's helmet.  He wrote RDM on mine.  There were lots of questions about what RDM stood for.  I still don't think they got it.  One of the other gals had a race shirt on and we got to talking a bit.  After the excursion, she looked up RDM online and reached out to me.  She's currently training for her first full marathon (one that I've completed).  So, now I'm excited we are in touch online and keep eachother posted on our running excursions, too.  Running just connects people.

We were anywhere from 10 ft to 75 ft off of the ground.  It wasn't the heights or the speed that scared me.  I was just worried I wouldn't be able to stop or would goof up and embarrass myself.  But, after a few smaller runs (they gradually got longer and faster), I was more comfortable.

I believe the two faster runs had us going 35 MPH and 50 MPH.   We ziplined from tree to tree and walked across long, wobbly bridges and up several spiral staircases.  They were just too cool.  There were a lot of fun animal sculptures hiding throughout the canopy tour.  The last line was a double zipline, where you raced your partner.  You literally had to jump off of the platform and it was exhilerating. 

Our guides were hilarious and totally made me feel comfortable and safe. They definitely had that personalities for this. "Sean" and "Kevin" (not sure if that was their real name or not) were awesome and I'd love to have them as guides again in the future.

I really thought that this bucket list item was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But, The Boyfriend and I both agreed that we will be back in the future. Not sure if we'll zipline at the same location or maybe I'll get to go to some tropical island someday and actually fulfill my dream of ziplining in the rainforest. We'll see. For now, this will do, and has fulfilled the adrenaline rush. So glad I did this.