Our next destination in California was zip-lining in Occidental which is close to Santa Rosa. We ventured into the forest and found Sonoma Canopy Tours. This is also a Christian camp and is open year round. I recommend you make reservations because there isn't much around the area to keep you occupied if the time slot you arrive for is full.
The zip-line tour is about two hours long. You zip over and through the coastal redwoods. I won't give you every detail about the course because that would ruin the fun of you approaching the zip-line in the course where you can't see the end point, but there are bridges and also a set of steps that reminded me of the Ewoks houses! I will also warn you that even though these trees are ginormous and perfectly anchored in the ground, they do sway as you land on the platform! That can be a bit nerve wracking if you aren't prepared for it! Our guides were Luke and Andrew. They were full of safety information, tales of the trees, and most importantly zany and corny jokes to put the nerves at bay.
See that cable? Can you see the end? Nope me neither!
These trees are so massive I can't see the top even when I am more then half way up!
We had one woman in our group who was terrified of heights, but had let her 21 year old son talk her into zip-lining for his birthday! The things moms will do for their children!! She got up the first platform and I thought she was going to have an anxiety attack! Fortunately, she stepped off and flew safely across to the next tree. I was so busy trying to talk her out of her fear that I forgot my own!
Zip-lining is so much fun! Come to think about it, it may be a good idea to put a zip-line down highway 1! The motion feels very similar to parasailing. You can go fast or slow depending on how you position your body. I had a hard time keeping my body going straight on the zip-line and for the first few lines I twisted around! That was a no no, but I have to say it was super fun even if it was a little scary! I also didn't stop well for the first one and ended up stopping myself with my feet against the tree. No big deal, but I think I scared the guide a little with how fast I was approaching! I would have loved to keep going and going! At the very end you have to rappel down a huge tree. I definitely felt nervous then! I was worried I would bang into the tree when I stepped off the platform, but thankfully I wasn't as clumsy scaling down a tree as I am walking on the ground!
The descent was smooth and not too slow. When I reached a certain distance from the ground Andrew told me to put both hands on a different rope. Of course I blindly followed his instructions and he sent me free falling toward the ground! He stopped me before I hit the ground thank goodness. Wow! That was an adrenaline rush if I have ever had one!! I highly recommend going zip-lining and if you are in this area seek out Sonoma Canopy Tours! They have quality employees and equipment!
Lola and Tyce love to play dress up! They like to put on the princess dresses, their brothers' clothes, my shoes, and even adorn themselves with objects like buckets or weeds! When left to their own devices you just never know what they will get into next!
I also like to play dress up. (get your mind out of the gutter - that is not where I am heading with this) My dress up is more of the actual dressing up. You know, putting on the fancy dress, the nice jewelry, and the high heels to go out on the town for a rare childless meal and evening. I also enjoy dressing up for Halloween and theme parties. It is fun to do something different once in awhile. There is nothing wrong with that!
Starting your day at 2:15 am is one thing. Driving in the pouring rain is another. Driving through a lightning storm in the wee hours and having all of the street lights turn off because the sky is lit up like it's high noon with a cloudless sky from lightning is yet another.
Plink, plat, plop, plink This is the sound I woke up to this morning. My first thought was that this cabin was really creaky. I wish that was what was causing the sound. It was actually the sound of pouring rain.
I had a fun thought of tent camping for this trip for about 2 seconds while I was planning it. I am so relieved I discarded that idea. It would have been an adventure, but we would have been miserable!
The kids started to stir around 5:45am because of the time change. These two boys of ours can't stop from goofing around and causing a ruckus. I'm chalking it up to some good sibling bonding-even as Ry tells them to knock it off because we know in another five minutes someone is going to get hurt.
We were ready well before our targeted time so the kids had a chance to watch The Lone Ranger and Father Knows Best before heading off to Mount Rushmore.
The writing on the wall!!
People are now paying me for my opinions!!
Here a Bike there a Bike EVERYWHERE a Bike!!