Fifty

Yesterday, I turned 50 years old. I decided to celebrate by doing something that I had never done before, but that I had been wanting to do for quite a while.

Yup, that's me!I went on a zip line canopy tour at Zoar, in Charlemont, Ma. I was pretty nervous, but I had an absolute blast! It was so much fun!

I was surprised when my husband, who is not fond of heights,  wanted to go, too.

The Curly One, who loves roller coasters, had to be talked into going along.  Bad Mom that I am, I volunteered her to go first. I knew that I wouldn't back down once she had done it. You can see that she had the biggest grin of all of us.

We had five other guests of all ages, and two guides along on the trip. The guides have the white helmets in the picture. They had us do a training zip at the lodge, where our feet were only a couple of feet off the ground. It was very reassuring to feel how secure the harnesses are. That actually got rid of a lot of the nervousness. After that, they gave us a jeep ride to the top of the mountain, and we began to work our way back down.

The course was 10 zip lines, 3 controlled lowerings (sort of like rappelling, with the guide in control), and 2 suspension bridges. Some of the lines were treetop to treetop, some went to the ground, and some started on the ground, ending in the trees. The scariest part for me turned out to be standing on the platform, heels over the edge, getting ready to start the controlled lowering! Maybe it was the fact that I was not the one in control....

The trip lasted several hours, and by the time we got down, all three of us had decided that we want to do this again. If you're thinking about trying it, I highly encourage you to go for it. It's am amazing experience. And definitely a great way to celebrate a fiftieth birthday. Now I'm just trying to figure out when I can do this again, and what other new adventures do I want to experience this year....Maybe whitewater rafting? What do you think?