I skydove!

Super huge thanks to my friend Bess for organizing this skydive trip. I can't believe I've finally gotten to do something I've wanted to do for over a dozen years. It was cooler than I even though it would be and cannot wait to go again!

We had a group of 6 and we decided to go to Skydive Midwest (http://www.skydivemidwest.com/), about an hour east of Madison. First of all, we couldn't have picked a single nicer day to jump. It was sunny, cloudless, and low winds. So nice! The launch area had outside picnic tables and reclining chairs to watch everyone land so the morning was super enjoyable. As we were signing our billion initials, the forms got pretty straight forward:

"There is no and will be no perfect parachute apparatus." 

The plane ride up was a hoot! But very bare bones.

 Our plane held 6 pairs of tandem jumpers. It takes about 15 minutes to reach our altitude of 14,500 feet and there's no door the whole way up! Everyone in the plane was really jovial and joking around. My dude, Chris, was super awesome. He said he quit his post-college job and became a professional skydive instructor, even jumping in Australia. He's from Ohio too, and after complimenting Cedar Point, he agreed to do a bunch of loops and spirals in the air with me. So when it's time to jump out, it's really time to jump out. I was 4th in line to waddle crouch over to the door and flip out. The free fall was way longer than a minute should feel and it was INSANE!! The wind sounds crazy in yours ears and you're going 120 mph but the ground doesn't even look like it's getting closer. After the parachute deploys, everything changes and gets calmer and quieter. Because of the beautiful weather, I saw tons of Lake Michigan and even the Milwaukee skyline! Landing was super easy and I landed on my feet. Jumped out of a plane, literally gently floated back to Earth, and walked away. Holy cow.

SAFE ON THE GROUND

Ground, sweet ground!

 I had to buy one of these shirts for $10 bucks. I'll make the second two a three and I'm golden.

It's true though.

Another woman was talking pre-jump how she heard that skydiving was like getting a tattoo- it's addictingly fun and once you start you can't stop. I have to agree with her!

This guy knows what's up