iFLY

Bryan and I tried out iFLY today.  "Flying" in a vertical wind tunnel....it's supposed to give you the feeling of skydiving.  After a quick class instructing us in form and hand signals, they outfitted us with a helmet, goggles, earplugs and a coverall sort of flight suit.  The flying pose was slightly reminiscent of Superman...belly down and hands outstretched.  But that's where the similarities ended.  With an (inverted) arched back, legs bent slightly, and chin pointing up, the sleek lines of Superman were nowhere to be found.  But fly we did.  

Bryan was better at it than I was.  More relaxed somehow, than I, he was able to fly pretty much on his own without too much help from the instructor.  It took a lot more effort for me to hold my form in the intense wind which meant the instructor had to be a lot more hands on with me.  The last half of our second individual sessions, the instructor grabbed a hand and a leg and then spun us in circles up and down the tall wind tunnel.  Bryan being the first one of our group, it took him by surprise.  My turn next, despite knowing what was coming I still couldn't stop the whoop of delight.  Good heavens, what a feeling!

Brandon and Lilian came with us.  Though Lilian was hugely entertained watching the group before ours fly in that tunnel, when she saw us suiting up and realized our intentions, her smile quickly faded.  A look of immense worry clouded her face, despite Brandon's assurances and our thumbs up from inside the waiting chamber.  By the time Bryan stepped into the wind tunnel, Lilian was in tears and hiding under the chair, so concerned for our safety was she.  But seeing Bryan's smiles through the window and watching him come out unscathed made her feel better...to the point that eventually she started giving us those thumbs up signals back.

Brandon was rewarded for his double duty as photographer and babysitter with a couple of climbs up iROCK next door....