Anni Adventures

Unfortunately, there isn't a picture to go with this post, at the moment (perhaps I can steal from Niu later), but I just wanted to share my experience today. While it wasn't the first time, it was the second, ziplining, I just had to share it! I bought a Groupon earlier this year for the zip line that would be running at Queen Elizabeth Park this season as part of their 75th anniversary. The Groupon expires tomorrow so I wanted to make sure it didn't go to waste.

Niu came and picked me up after work and we headed to the park. When we got there, the line had, to our disappointed closed already, but after some pleading and waiting, myself and a couple other groups were given the okay to wait in line as well. As we waited, we got to witness the amazing change in the sky that was the sunset. It was truly a sight. To the west you could see a blend of red and orange from the setting sun, and towards the East, you could see a purple aura of the rising moon. I took my turn shortly after 7:15 and had a fantastic 30 sec ride down across the garden. It's really different to do the ride at night, than it is in the day. I'm so happy I got to do this as not only did I not waste my money, but it was something I could cross off my bucketlist as well!

Happy Wunderlust!

There are too many times when you look at the news and there is some sort of disaster going on, or a crime being committed. Rarely do you read, there still is though, on the good in humanity. With the way the world is, I think we as people that are part of it should try to help each other out in whatever way possible. Things that may seem little to us, may mean the world to the person receiving it.

I am so happy to say that I FINALLY get to check skydiving off my bucketlist! This was weeks in the making. For my birthday present almost a month ago, my darling brother bought me a weekday skydive at Skydive Vancouver!

We initially planned to fly the day after my birthday. However, the  weather wouldn't cooperate and ever since then we've had to keep pushing it off. We finally found the time this week to go and the weather was just fantastic!

We took all of our pictures before and after the jump because to the photo/video package would have been another $100+ which was definitely not in our budget.

We got suited up and given quick tutorials of what positions we needed to be in before the jump, and right after the jump out of the airplane. I was overly excited so they had to repeat because I didn't actually take it all in. Once suited, we were brought to another waiting area. There we waited for the airplane to come back after dropping off the last load of divers. While we waited, we got to see the previous group fly in and it was just amazing to see. One tandem in particular did a near vertical drop until the last 15-20 ft I'd say before coming in for a perfect landing.

My instructor, Jesse, was very awesome. We had a quick chat going up and I told him I was up for anything exciting! Once we were up in the air and got to the right altitude, we were the second tandem of six to jump. We did a back flip as we exited the aircraft and proceeded to free fall. Let me just say that that feeling is indescribable. The wind is full on in your face and you see everything below you coming closer and closer. Before I knew it Jesse deployed the parachute. This is when I really got to enjoy the scenery. On a nice day like today Mt. Baker looked extremely majestic in the distance. We did a few spins and drops that just reminded me a lot of paragliding! We touched down for the most perfect landing too! The whole thing, from the plane taking off to landing took us maybe 20 min. It's also the best 20 minutes I've ever had. I told Jesse he had an amazing job, because right after we landed, he and the other instructors ran off to take the next group of jumpers. Imagine skydiving over 5-6 times a day and getting paid to do so!

This experience is one that will be hard to forget and I'm glad I got to do it with someone I love. That made this experience all the better. It's also another thing I can cross off my bucketlist and share with those around me.

Never be afraid to follow your dreams!

A while ago, a friend and I bought a Groupon for Paragliding in Harrison Mills, BC. After some unforeseen circumstances, she had to back out and I ended up going with another friend. I had been looking forward to this for MONTHS, no joke. Unfortunately, because I have such a busy couple of months coming up, we were really restricted on when we could go. This is because the sport is very weather dependent.

We decided on Mother's day weekend and honestly at first we thought our luck wasn't that bad. We stopped by in Aldergrove first at my friend's friend's cafe for breakfast. I had one of the best egg's benedicts I've had in a while! Although it was raining in the morning by the time we reached our destination, the rain had completely stopped. We signed our waivers and browsed their pamphlets. However, it was still cloudy up in the mountains where we'd be launching from, so we were told to wait even more. While we did so, we drove to a nearby lake for a stroll. After a half hour delay, we packed up the gears and headed up into the mountains.

How we made it up to the launch area, I'll never know. The road was so steep and rough, and the truck wasn't the newest and best looking thing. While we waited for the clouds/fog to clear, we suited up.


There was another person with us and he was first to go. It took maybe ten minutes for them to find an opening in the clouds to launch, but as they did, he was pulled back by the unexpected wind force and fell over. He ended up landing on his tandem instructor who was a lot smaller than he was and twisted her knee. Unfortunately for them, that would be it for them. Next up was my friend. they managed to get ready only waited for a few minutes before the opportunity came for them to launch. They succeeded and within seconds of liftoff were out of view from where we were standing.

It was finally my turn to launch. I was pumped and ready to go. We got our sail ready for launch and stood in position. We waited.. and waited... and waited. I honestly thought I stood for ages. All it took was maybe a ten second window for us to be able to launch, but the weather just did not want to cooperate. After an hour had passed, and all of us up in the mountains cold out of our minds, my instructor told me that if we couldn't launch in the next five minutes we would have to call it in and reschedule. I was super disappointed. I prayed up there that the weather would be nice to me just this once. Just when we thought all was lost, we found an opening! Even though it wasn't the best, we went for it. We succeeded in our launch and was up in the air! The ride lasted maybe 10 - 15 minutes, although it felt a lot less than that. The view was stunning and breathtaking. Once we had launched and moved out of the clouds, the entire valley was in view and was gorgeous. At one point, my tandem instructor even let me take over the reins, teaching me to turn right and left. I was awestruck at being in the air. But it ended so soon. My instructor told me on a good day and the weather was cooperating, you could literally be in the air for 5 hrs!


I could really see myself coming back on a good day to try again, although it is slightly far and if not for the groupon, a bit overpriced. But it is an experience I would never trade for the world! :)

For those that are interested, I really recommend this company! They have been in this business for almost 20 years! Check them out at: http://www.flybc.org/

PS Why it was also bad luck too was the power went out in the area due to an accident, and we are still waiting on our flight videos :( which we have yet to see.