Taking the Plunge

 Bet you thought I was going to blog about wedding plans, didn't you? BA-zinga!

Whistler Bungee is the closest place to Vancouver to find this particular activity. It's a jump from a bridge spanning the Cheakamus River, a 160ft plunge, and a lot of bouncing. And I probably would never have gone looking for this experience except for two things. First, came this segment on the Rick Mercer Report:

Once I'd seen Rick Hansen do the deed ... in. his. freakin. WHEELCHAIR. I knew I had to give it a try. Eventually.

Then Katrina came to visit. Kat's afraid of heights but you would think the exact opposite if you were to review her travel activities. When I mentioned that I wanted to go up to Whistler and do the bungee jump, she was all for it. Of course, she practically vibrated with nervous energy for the 24 hours before our jump and couldn't sleep at all the night before. But we did it! Here's the video of my perspective:

And here's me, "hanging out" at the bottom, waiting for retrieval: 

Kat did her bungee jump face-first (but still with the torso harness, not the ankle one) while I jumped backwards. Since I live nearby, I decided after that first jump that I should go back and try it face-first too. So in October of 2010, while in Whistler for Peggy's bachelorette, she and I bussed down to the jump site and a-way I went...

It was significantly scarier going face-first.

To be anecdotally scientific for a moment, I made an interesting discovery after my second jump: a dramatic adrenaline rush can completely negate any subsequent alcoholic effects. Hours later (and we're talking ten or more) as we celebrated Peggy's soon-to-be-finished singleton-dom in the entertainment hub that is Whistler Village, I realized that the substantial imbibing that was going on was not having the same effect on me as on my companions. I still had a great time but drinking was a futile (and expensive) activity that night.

You get a t-shirt EVERY time you jump

A little while later, a Groupon came up for a discounted jump at Whistler Bungee and I bought it, then nearly forgot to use it before it expired. My darling had to drive me up to do the jump and even crossed the bridge despite his own intense dislike of heights. I could've chosen to use the ankle harness this time to change it up again but hanging by my ankles for minutes while waiting to be pulled back up really didn't hold a lot of appeal and, quite truthfully, falling backwards is kind of relaxing. 

Familiarity breeds comfort and I didn't hesitate on this jump like I did on my first. Apparently, the guy on the platform even commented,"Well, she's done this before" after I'd gone.

Well, I did say at the start of this post that it wasn't going to be wedding-related. But, since our photographer, Darko, posted one of our engagement photos from last Friday, it seems just too perfect, timing-wise. So *double BA-zinga*. Here we are at Queen Elizabeth Park.

... and the goofy smiles aren't just due to being deeply in love. He was whispering (without moving his lips) that he was going to throw me in the fountain and I was whispering back (without moving my lips) that if he did, I'd pull him in with me. A nice metaphor for wedding planning really if you think about it.