(#8) Sky Diving & (#9) Wind Tunnel Flying

I had the most AWESOME Birthday! I think everybody should Sky Dive at least once in their life. I did my Tandem jump the same time my oldest son Conan and his wife Jenni and also my Son In-law Josh did, and my friend Rene' did a solo jump out at the Perris Airport in Perris, CA. We were all beginners, except Rene' who does this all the time. My Tandem Pilot (the guy they strap you to who knows what the heck he's doing) was named Vinnie. He is a real character and if you go out there to try this I hope you get him, he'll definitely make it fun. Although all the people who work there seem like fun, so you probably can't go wrong with any of them. After he did the initial somersault out of the plane and spun me around a few more times I convinced him to just sorta let me float the rest of the way down. Then he played tour guide and pointed out all the areas of interest. Did you know you can see Big Bear Lake a couple thousand feet above Perris, CA? I was amazed at how calm I was when I watched the DVD of my jump later on. It was truly a wonderful experience and I strongly suggest trying it once at least. I don't think I'd ever be able to throw myself out of a plane, so I admire those who have. But I sure would do another tandem dive with a big strong guy strapped to my back pushing me out again. I would be dangerous doing a solo jump, I'd start looking around in awe and forget to pull the cord (ouch!).
My son Doug was upset that he was to young to jump (you have to be 18), so we went to the Wind tunnel and flew there after the Sky Diving. It was harder that it looks, but I managed to stay up a few times unassisted. I also crashed into the side of the tunnel a few times to be honest. For that they give you a helmet, but dropping out of the sky a few thousand feet you only get goggles. What's wrong with this picture? I guess a helmet really wouldn't help much from that height anyway (splat). It was fun too, but not nearly as wonderful as the Jump was. It's probably a good thing to try before Sky Diving just to learn the basics and how to catch the wind right in free fall. They had Sky diving teams there working on routines in the tunnel and that was interesting to watch too.
Well, I hope you all go out and do something fun this weekend. Next weekend Doug and I are going to my first Pro Football game. GO CHARGERS!!! Have a great week, Sue