Treetop Trek

My mom took the boys on Saturday afternoon for a day of swimming, the movies and dinner.  J and I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to check out the new Treetop Trek zip line and adventure challenge at the zoo.  Several weeks ago I bought a two half-off groupons for the challenge and they were burning a hole in my pocket.

We thought we would go and it would end up being 4 or 5 zip lines in the trees.  Cool but no big deal.  Oh, how wrong we were!

It took us four hours to complete over 50 challenges on two courses.  By challenges I mean a crazy series of suspended obstacles.  We did everything from riding a hanging skateboard between two platforms to zip lining across a lake to…

… swinging out on a rope swing tarzan-style onto a cargo net!  It was way more physically demanding that we thought and so much more amazing!!!

I loved how the trek took us all throughout the zoo.  We were literally walking above the animals and zoo visitors.  It was amazing.  People kept looking up wondering what the heck we were doing.

We also liked how free we were to do our own safety harnesses.  We had a mini training course with a guide at the very beginning where we demonstrated that we knew what we were doing.  Then they just let us go!  We did not have a guide with us while we were up in the trees.  There were guides on the ground at certain points along the way to help us retrieve fallen gloves or make suggestions on how to approach challenges.  But for the most part we were on our own.  It was great!

The next morning I was surprisingly sore from our adventure.  I guess I used muscles that I don’t normally use because I’m never that sore after body sculpting classes or yoga!

I cannot wait to go back and try it again!  Maybe when the weather cools down though…  Mid-July is just too darn hot!!!

Advertisement

Costa Rica Highlights: Canopy Tour

Consider this outing an item scratched off my Bucket List.  Don’t think I didn’t start singing the Go, Diego, Go! theme song because I did.  How could I not?  I have little kids and no shame…  Speaking of little kids, a family on our tour brought their 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter along.  Incredible!  They were fearless!  I am not so sure that our boys would have been so brave.

Experiencing a rain forest canopy tour was at the top of my list of things that I wanted to do on this vacation.  J did a lot of research to find a highly recommended company to go with when we were staying in the La Fortuna area.  The staff was extremely professional and very safe.  As you can see, we got our training on the baby zip line before we headed up the mountain.

J brought along the little video camera that he uses to take kiteboarding and other extreme sport footage.  Luckily the sexy blue helmets had holes in them so J could strap the camera on top.

After we all took a turn demonstrating our skills on the baby zip line, we jumped in the back of the truck to head up the mountain.  Of course the trail that we ascended was rugged.  To say it was sketchy would be an understatement.  More than once I looked over the side to see that we were just inches from careening down our deaths.  My adrenaline was pumping and we hadn’t even reached our first platform!

Our driver expertly navigated the trail and delivered us safely to the top.  Our little group of 12 hiked up a few steps to the first platform and gasped at the beauty of our surroundings.  Lush, green, tropical beauty.  I have never seen anything like it.  Then, as if in a dream, I found myself speeding over and through the treetops with nothing above me but blue skies and nothing below me but rain forest.  It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.  I will never forget the sound that the apparatus makes on the cable.  It’s kind of a loud “zzzzzzzz” sound.  Do you see that leather thing on my right hand?  That’s how you brake.  You pull down on the cord to create enough friction to stop at the next platform.

J and I took turns with my trusty point-and-shoot.  I think it did a pretty good job capturing our verdant adventure.  There were 15 zip lines and one Tarzan Swing that we all got to try on our way back down the mountain.

The Tarzan Swing was essentially a bungee cord that was attached to our harness.  They attached the bungee cord to us while we stood on a platform then they walked us to the edge and let us go!

We swung high up into the trees then back up to the platform.  Back and forth like a pendulum.  They stopped us after a handful of swings by tapping our feet to slow us down.  Eventually, we slowed down enough for the staff to grab our legs and help us disconnect from the cord.  It was an insane rush!  I’ve never been bungee cording before but this has to be close.

I am so glad that we had good weather for the canopy tour.  It was an experience of a lifetime!  The headache I got after my adrenaline rush was worth it.  It was amazing!

I’m going to get J to edit some of his helmet cam videos after his flu has passed and when he returns from DC.  I hope to share it with you soon.

Zip!

A couple of weeks ago we invited B’s kids over to swim, play on the zip line and have lunch with us.  B had to run a friend’s mom to physical therapy and we were more than happy to have the kiddos over while she was running her errand.

I got quite a workout helping the children zoom across the backyard on the zip line.  There’s no easy way for them to retrieve the handlebar themselves so I wore a path from the kiddie pool at the end of the line to the starting platform.  Whew!  Was it ever hot that day!

I hope to share some photos from a real life zip line through the Costa Rican rain forest soon 🙂

The kids thought it would be fun to add even more water to the experience by shooting each other with water squirters…

I cannot believe that summer is almost over for these guys!  The first day of school is August 9th!