Aspen - Part 4: Ian's Surprise

So, Ian has told me many times that he would love to try Paragliding and I arranged for us to go while we were in Colorado. On our way from home to Aspen, we stopped for dinner at Outback Steakhouse in Grand Junction. I couldn't keep it from him any longer. I told him about it and he was so excited!! We were supposed to go the next morning, but it was too windy. It was too windy the next couple of days as well. It seemed as though we would lose our chance to go. However, Saturday came along with the perfect weather conditions and we stopped in Glenwood Springs one last time to run off the top of this mountain:After all, we had been around a mountain, on top of a mountain and inside of a mountain; might as well run off the edge of one! :)

Paragliding is when you are strapped to a harness which is connected by 30 ropes to a parachute. (Each one of the ropes is strong enough to hold a person.) Ian and I each flew tandem with a certified paragliding pilot. They were each from South Africa and had awesome accents which made the experience even more adventurous! I flew with Pine and Ian flew with Manoo (my kids couldn't stop giggling about that one!)

First, you sign your life away on 6 different pages. We literally had to copy down the sentence, "I understand that Paragliding has inherent risks and could cause injury, paralysis or death."

Party Poopers!

We drove up to the top of the mountain and got instruction from our Pilots on how to take off. I went first. Ian kissed me goodbye and Manoo called out, "That's not your last kiss!"

I got strapped in and we started running for this edge:

(That's Ian getting strapped in.)

As the parachute caught the wind, it pulled us back a couple of steps and then we were able to keep moving forward and ran ahead until there was no ground underneath us. The wind carried us up and I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. It wasn't scary or intense. It was peaceful, graceful and so surreal. There was no sense of falling out of the sky. It felt very controlled and relaxing. The scenery was just beautiful and both Ian and I were able to each get a 30 minute flight. (They say it can last 10-30 minutes depending on weather conditions. We were glad to get a "long" one.)

I had the camera and took most of these pictures of Ian while we were both flying.

At one point, Manoo let Ian take over their controls and fly the paraglider. He said it was freaky knowing that he was in control, but also thrilling. Both of our pilots did a maneuver where they spin the paraglider around and around really fast; like you're in a nosedive headed for earth. (See the picture above. I'm taking the picture straight. It's Ian who is horizontal!) Pine asked me, "You like roller coasters?" I said, "Yes!" and it was so fun! If I didn't trust him completely, I would've been screaming in terror instead of delight, but he assured us on the way up the mountain that his company - in 7 years of being in business- had not had so much as a sprained ankle for anyone. So, I had faith in him.

Here are some views while we flew in different directions:

Then, it was time to land. Here is the landing zone: It is just below the football field.

We came in kinda fast, and touched down , running a few steps before the parachute gently fell to the ground. Ian did even better and simply landed - didn't so much as wobble forward; just plop, and they were down. The other instructor there said he'd never seen such a perfect landing before, and there was a couple who had been watching him fly and land who clapped and cheered for him when he touched down.

We were exhilarated and felt so happy and alive. Ian wore a perma-grin for quite some time. I'm pretty sure I'm up for "Wife of the Year" because I not only gave him that gift, but was willing to do the experience also! (After the Swing Shot, the Alpine Coaster and the Climbing Wall, I wasn't even nervous to run off that cliff!) It was such an incredible experience to share together. We hope we can do it again.

This is my favorite picture (above). I focused so much on the beautiful green mountains, but after a long time, I noticed the beautiful blue snow-capped peaks in the distance and then there was my man: floating thousands of feet above the earth; having the most incredible experience that he'd always wanted (You'll have to click on the picture - he's in the top right corner.) This picture just brings a lot of emotion to my heart. It made me so happy to see him SO happy!

There was a photographer who offered to take pictures for us on top of the mountain for a screamin' deal (I'm all about the screamin' deals!) and so we should get more pictures by the end of this week that I will post.

We had such an amazing vacation. It was so special for us to get to spend that quality time together. We'd go back and do it all over again in a heartbeat!

SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!!