The Swing

I am fortunate to have strong determination, or, I'm just stubborn.  My strong determination (stubbornness) gets me into a lot of fear facing situations.  I try to do some things outside my comfort zone, sometimes though, they are so far outside my comfort zone I should probably just skip them.  Today I did one such thing; the swing at Monkey Trunks.

To those of you who aren't afraid of heights a drop off a platform 35' in the air might seem like lots of fun, and not terrifying in the least.  However, I am afraid of heights.  So going off the swing, even hooking people on and sending them off is a scary idea.  Which is exactly why I didn't go off myself until today.

A couple of weeks ago I'd wanted to go off, I even got all hooked in ready to go off, but I got scared and made my friend hold the rope (which isn't light) so I didn't go off for probably 5-10 minutes before chickening out, and not doing it.  Today was his last day so I decided I had to let him send me off, since he'd been nice and held me there for so long last time.

As I expected, I disliked the immediate drop, but it wasn't quite as jerky as I thought it'd be, which was good.  We'd figured out how to send me off so it wouldn't be jerky before I went.  Other then that, it was just as scary as I thought it would be.  The actual swinging was fun though, I knew that would be the case before I went off.

I had a couple of things running through my mind, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go off.  First, I trust my friend, and if that wasn't the case I wouldn't have even gotten attached to the swing in the first place.  Second, I remembered a question my bosses asked me during my first day of training, because I'd gotten so nervous being at heights "Do you really want to be a safety instructor?" That question helped me on day 1 go off the ziplines, which is now my favorite part of the course, and it helped me go off the swing today.  Third, the song Sugar, We're Goin Down by Fall Out Boy was definitely in my head, not going to lie.

Here is a video of what the swing is.  This is a different location, but it's the same kind of swing.  The drop in this video looks fairly smooth, like it was when I went off, though this isn't always the case.

In the end, I'm pretty glad I did it, but I'm not sure I'd do it again, but who knows.  At the beginning of the summer I wasn't sure if I was ever going to do it, maybe by October I'll try it again.

Area Spotlight: Monkey Trunks

This area Spotlight is: Monkey Trunks, the High Ropes Adventure Course located just off of Route 1 in Saco, Maine! 

It is the one I recommend most, though I may be biased, as I work there.

It's the only one of it's kind in this area.  A wonderful, safe climbing experience for whole families! There is a minimum age of 5, but after that it is based on height.  If a child, age 5 or older, can reach over 4' with their arms over their head they are tall enough to go on the kid's course.

On the Adventure Course, the main structure, there are three zip lines.  The two longer ones, going off the third level righ next to each other, perfect for racing with your friends and family members.  The smaller going off the second level to the ground.  There is also the giant swing off the second level where you free fall off the platform and just swing for a little while.  The obstacles on the course themselves are also a lot of fun.

New this year is the Ziptrek course through the woods.  After a short, easy hike through the woods to ground school, where you learn the rules and how to use your equipment, and to the beginning of the course, you head up into the trees.  Most of the things going from tree to tree are ziplines, with a couple of other obstacles thrown in, ending with a big zipline to the ground.  Insect repellant is advised, as the Mosquitos are pretty bad in the area, especially at ground school.  Aside from the minor annoyance of Mosquitos and other bugs, Ziptrek is a lot of fun, it's certainly my favorite of the two courses.

I was afraid of heights, terrified.  I have wanted to get over this fear for a long time, being at Monkey Trunks has definitely helped me a lot.  Partially from being exposed to heights so often, and partially because of all the amazing people who I work with.  

If you do decide to visit, say that you came from my blog, I might be there!

*for more info go to http://monkeytrunks.com/index.php/3-wild-locations/saco-me *