Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Zip-A-Dee-A
My oh my, what a wonderful day

Sorry for the long lay off dear blog readers. Things got very busy in my life. Still that’s no excuse. I know some of you have been wondering what happened on our third day on the Garden Isle. Well wonder no more! Here’s the recap!

Sunday was probably the day many of us were looking forward to because Sunday was the day we were going to go ziplining! If you’re unfamiliar with ziplining you’re basically attached to a harness which is attached to a long line that’s hanging over some span. Then you zip down the line and arrive at the other end. I know, I know. That’s a poor description but take a look at the pictures and the video and they will give you a better idea of what’s happening.

Anyway, day three started off with one of my favorite breakfasts. It was an authentic “moons over my hammy” prepared the exact same way Denny’s makes it. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. YUM!

Doesn’t that look ‘ono?

Of course thanks to Russell (who lent us his killer house) we woke up to this incredible view. Can you imagine being able to wake up to this every day? This must be what Heaven is like.

If this is not a million dollar view, I don’t know what is

After breakfast we then headed down to Princeville Ranch Adventures for our day of fun and excitement.

Starting the morning with a large cup of complimentary coffee

So once we signed off on the necessary release forms and paid our money we were taken up a trail to the ziplining course. Over the next few hours we would zip along nine different lines. Safety is one of their primary concerns so we all wore helmets and were strapped in tightly. Aside from skydiving this is probably the closest I will ever come to flying. It’s different from jumping off of rocks because here you takeoff and land in a somewhat controlled fashion (as opposed to jumping off of things where you don’t alway have too much control on the way you land).

Our instructor Drew preparing us for takeoff

Lon got the hang of it rather quickly

Some of us were more graceful than others

Here I am launching myself off the platform

By the second line Dural was already a pro

Our other instructor Kanoe in front of King Kong. The longest and highest line.

This is the view from the platform (the tiny speck in the distance is the landing station)

Now King Kong is the last line of the day so of course it’s the longest, highest and fastest line of the day. It’s so fun that this is the only line in which they let you go side by side. That’s right, it’s a race. You go off and see just how fast you can go. The catch to this line is, however, there is no one on the far end to catch you. As you’ll see in the video below, there is usually one of the instructors at the far end that will brake you and help you come in. But because you go two by two and there is only one instructor you are responsible for stopping yourself and landing.

As the following pictures will show, not everything went according to plan. Dina and I went first and she was freaked out by the height. But like a champ she didn’t chicken out and went for it. Unfortunately for Dina she didn’t exactly grab the stopping rope at the end and therefore she started falling backward. After yelling for help, she slowly backpedaled her way off the platform to no man’s land.

Poor Dina, who was scared to begin with and had to be convinced to even go, ziplined backward out to the middle of the line. When that happens all that can be done is for one of the instructors to go out and perform a rescue (in this case Drew). He then attaches another line to her and we all pull her in.

Here’s our hero Drew in action

We all lend a helping hand pulling in Dina

Poor Dina was so exhausted she just let it all hang loose!

Here are Dural and Lon coming in for landing

The zipliners with our guides Kanoe and Drew

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aVonaGVHyk]

So in a nutshell that was our Kauai trip. Come join us next year for another fun-filled outer island adventure. Which island are we going to? Maui? Big Island? Kauai again? Who knows? Stay tuned for more details!