N. Carolina - The Best Adventure Park Ever
The boys were eager to do a river experience, and we had spent quite a few days immersing ourselves in cultural/historical activities, so I looked online and found this US National Whitewater Association place. We had no idea what to expect when we pulled up. We thought we were driving to a river and going on a raft down some whitewater. Turns out it's a park setup to promote outdoor activity. The place was amazing! Huge zip lines, rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, ropes courses, adventure courses, obstacle courses. All for one admission fee. We spend the entire day there working ourselves to exhaustion with all the activity. It was wonderful. We also met some people from Manhattan Beach, CA!
Ryan is all harnessed up and ready to climb the wall.
I'm ready too, but the outfit looks a little different on me than Ryan!
This is about as far as I got. That is after warning Ryan not to feel bad if I made it to the top faster than him. I told him that might happen because of my larger muscles and past experience with rock climbing. Literally, I only made it to about where my upper hand is in this picture. My hands weren't strong enough and I am definitely out-of-shape!
Here's Ryan almost to the top!
He made it to the top and is coming down now. He wouldn't let me forget my 'warning'...
We did this obstacle course where you had to go along tight ropes, rope walls, moving tires and boards hung by ropes, and all sorts of other obstacles. Aaron and Ryan were like little monkeys of course. Alan and I surprised them with our agility!
Hanging on for dear life, but I wasn't going to let them know that!
Aaron and Ryan were so adept! I had to keep asking them to wait for Alan and me.
The view from the zip line that Ryan and I did. It was a 'baby' zip line as Ryan wasn't tall enough for the long one.
Ryan right before he jumps off the platform. We were supposed to jump together, but when it came rime I had a bout a sixty second delay. I didn't know I would have a problem, but it took everything I had to push myself off that platform. I was really scared. Not that the line would break or anything - just the act of pushing myself off of the platform over thin air. I almost couldn't do it. My self-preservation instincts are very strong I guess. Ryan didn't seem to have any trouble. I actually enjoyed the thrill once I was off the platform.
A view of part of the whitewater rafting course. The entire river is man-made and runs in two loops. One is class I and II rapids and the second is class III and IV rapids. It's hard to see the details in this shot. You go around the loop, paddling per your guide's instructions and then there is an escalator that takes the raft back to the top and you can do it again! It was a blast and we were sopping wet from head to toe. So, I couldn't take any pics of that!
The end of a long day... of fun.
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