Love on the High Ropes

For Valentine's Day, I thought it would be fun for us to go to the "Extreme Date Night" at Bridges. We've climbed the wall many times, but never had a chance to do the high ropes course. It sounded super fun to both of us, so off we went.

When we arrived, I wasn't even sure they were open because there were only 3 other couples there. What? Rather than high-tailing it home, we decided to go on in and enjoy the no waiting.

The first order of business was getting harnessed up.



The photo above was taken after our first challenge, the bars of death. (They had another name for it, but I forget.) It only took about 2 seconds for me to realize I was in over my head.



The picture above is of people doing much better than we did. By we, I really mean me. I really didn't think I could even get on the first tier. With Warren's help, I eventually made it up to the second one, but that was all I could muster. I sat and watched as he shimmied up several more levels.

It was crazy!

Next we did the wall. Warren easily went to the top and rang the bell. I hovered about ten feet off the ground for a few minutes and then came down. (I have made it to the top once before.)

I'd like to blame it on being sick and/or surrounded by sickies all week, but I just wasn't feeling it. The bars of death had me spooked.

We did have about a twenty minute wait before going to the high ropes course. Watching the others do it calmed me down a lot, because, well, they made it look easy. Warren and I entertained ourselves with the "get to know you" questions provided by the staff.



When it was our turn to go up the ladder, I decided to go first. I figured that was the only way I would go. Immediately I knew that getting up the ladder was going to be HARD. Hello, total wake up call to my lack of upper body strength.

Here is a really sucky photo of the ladder leading up to the course.



It felt like it took me an hour to get up, and once there, I held on to the center pole for dear life. About 2 seconds later, Warren came bounding up as though it was the easiest thing he'd done all day. (Considering he is a teacher, maybe it was!)

For our first challenge (everyone got two) we decided to do the balance beam, which you can sort of see in this horrible photo.



I told Warren to go first this time, and seeing him cross easily did not encourage me like I had hoped. I simply couldn't make myself take the first step. Luckily, Marci, who runs the program, gave me a pep talk and then basically escorted me across. It was just so much scarier than I ever anticipated! Warren helped me back to the center pole and then I was done.

Warren was not. He did the final challenge--which is the hardest--again making it look super easy.

Here's a crappy picture to prove it.



Look, my hands were shaking and I was sweating bullets--don't expect any good pictures!

I really didn't think I could get down the ladder, and luckily I had the option of just floating down. I have never been so happy to be on the ground!

All in all, it was actually a great night. Even though I wasn't thrilled with my personal performance and the discovery of my unknown fear of heights, it was so amazing to see that guy I married. You know, that super confident guy who seemingly knows how to do everything? I've missed him.

Thank you, Bridges!