Friday, August 17, 2012

Staycation Day 5: Zip Lining

Today started in a very exciting way. This arrived in the mail!


Seth got me one of the limited edition ice Nike+ Fuelbands. (You can see it's insides -- so neat.)


The Fuelband serves as a watch, step counter, and tracks your activity throughout the day using "fuel", a proprietary Nike tracking system. You set a goal for how much fuel you want to earn during the day, and the Fuelband will track your activity towards your goal. The band uses a set of four accelerometers to track your movements and converts this into fuel.

I love to exercise and love exercise gadgets, so this is right up my alley! Seth has really been enjoying his Fuelband, and I am looking forward to tracking my daily activity too. 

It was very easy to set up the band and link it with the Nike+ account I already have. (I track all my runs using Nike+ Running.) I was able to get my band ready to go in around ten minutes so that I could quickly head out for the next exciting part of my day...zip lining!

Last week, Dad called me and invited me to go zip lining with him; my stepmother, Lisa; and their nephew, Adam. I had always wanted to go zip lining, so I agreed very eagerly. What a treat.


We headed up to Charlemont, Massachusetts to an outdoor adventure company, Zoar, and the Deerfield Zip Line. After getting there and signing some quick paperwork, we got suited up in our gear. It seriously must have weighed at least 15 pounds.


We then headed behind the main office to do a practice zip on the little hill there. The trip advisers gave some instructions about how to break, what to do if you stopped too far away from a landing platform, and how to keep from shifting when zipping. We then individually went and tried a very short zip of maybe 25 feet. 


There were about half a dozen people in our group, and we all were all at least successful enough to not be a danger to ourselves and others -- we were good to go. We headed up the hill and loaded ourselves into a pair of carts to head way up the hill to our first zip. We were doing a few lines -- the trip would total around three hours.

About two minutes into what can only be described as quite a scary vehicle ride, we suddenly turned around. Apparently, there was a thunderstorm spotted in the vicinity. Zip lining for the day was cancelled. 

Because we didn't even get to begin our trip, we were given a full refund and are trying to reschedule. We're hoping to get to go zipping together in early September. The quick little practice zip has made me ever more eager -- I can't wait!

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