Boundless Adventures With Yuan.

 Remember Yuan?   He is our foreign exchange student from China.   And he has rarely poked his nose out of his room except to occasionally eat ice cream.   But as the school year comes to a close, and we prepare to send him back across the ocean to his homeland...  I thought it would be cool to send him off with an adventure that he could write home about.  

Boundless Adventure!

Or:  "Zip-lining" for those who are not in "the Know."    

I have had my eye on this place for nearly a year now,  and really had no idea what it all entailed.   I have certainly never been zip-lining.  And, although some of the equipment was similar to  the equipment we used in mountaineering school,  I have never been much of a rock climber.  So... The adventure was also going to be for me.   Kind of like setting out for the new world for the first time with Columbus.

The whole thing started with one of the Pringle nature center's  "Spring Races"   My foot continues to bother me, so I felt running would not be a great idea.   However!  We could just show up and check the place out.   Maybe cheer a few of the people on.   And while I was at it, why not invite Yuan?   He could certainly use a little fresh air.  And sunshine!   And maybe we might find some mushrooms or something.... 

But then I remembered that there is an entire jungle gym of paths in the trees for Zip-lining.  Maybe we could do something like that?  

Upon further investigation,  we happened to get there right at the end of the race and the start of the boundless adventure opening.   We asked a few questions of the helpful staff and checked out one of the equipment classes.   Everything certainly looked easy to follow and even familiar to me from my Glacier Training days back in Alaska.  

So...  We purchased the three hour package and grabbed our harnesses, as we  headed for the tree tops!

 The paths are as follows:  Yellow is easy!  With some crawling for little kids.  Green is average.   With a few challenges and fairly easy climbs.  There is no crawling, but some upper body strength involved. It is about 10 feet above the yellow trails.

Blue is advanced!  And you can't go on it unless you successfully complete a green path.  (I think there were 4 green paths to choose from) The blue paths are a serious challenge with lots of upper body strength required.   It is about 10 feet above the green trails.

And then there was the Black  path.   Also labeled: Insane!   You have to complete a blue path before getting to the black path.  And the black path is above the blue one.   I don't know exactly, because we did not make it that far in the three hour allotment.  

I was impressed with the challenges of the green paths.   You might not think that walking on a tightrope while being hooked in would be much of a challenge, but it was!   I imagine when you get the feel for things,  you could do it with a little more confidence.   In fact,  there were these 12 year old girls who were practically running through the place!  (You have to be at least 12 years old to tackle the blue trails.)  Yuan and I finished the green path fairly easy enough.   And with the crowds of younger kids gathering,  we chose the blue path as our next conquest.  (There were 4 blue paths I believe...)  We clicked in and climbed up to the next level!

It was actually kind of cool up there.   Not many people,  we had the entire path to ourselves. (Until those little girls decided to invade our space...)  Each one of these obstacles were a little more challenging.   I had to spend a few minutes just trying to figure out what I was supposed to do!  One of them calls for you to grab a rope, swing down a slide ( like the zip-line) and land in a cargo net!    Then you have to climb the cargo net, and reach out with your foot to grab the platform.  I don't think there was any "graceful" way to do it.   

But Yuan and I completed every challenge.   Yuan had a little more difficulty on several because I think his "reach" was just out of his physical limits.  ( Then again,  those little girls, though taller, seemed to be able to do it effortlessly...)  

Ok,  If truth be told,  I did not see ALL of the little girls in the group handle the obstacles as effortlessly as the first two that were chasing us.    As with running,  I am dumbfounded when a 12 year old GIRL can either outrun an adult,  or... In this case,   out "Monkey Bar" a couple of dudes!  

Then again, I am at the age where I don't want to show off and break something.   I'm old!   And I would like to think I gained a bit of wisdom back when I fell out of a tree and BROKE MY BACK!   So... Yeah,   a little bit of caution goes a long way.  

In the end,  I think we both had a bit of fun.   And although I was not "showing off",   I did have the added pressure of being first down each obstacle AND not wanting to "Wimp out" in front of the new guy. (Even though I had never done it before either....)  

Other than that,  I continue to look for mushrooms in the forest and parks around here.   I found a couple of nice clusters when we had those warm foggy Days.  It appears the mushrooms love those types of days, because they were popping up in places where I had not seen them the day before. Even Dave found some Lung Oysters on his nature walk.   We fried up the remaining Bluegill on Thursday and breaded up some of those oyster mushrooms along  with them.   Deep fried Oyster Mushrooms are the BEST!   They honestly have the taste and texture of deep fried clams.  (Which I love!) 

As for other things.   I have had some success   I continue to work on my dragon head,   I continue to fly kites near the Lakeshore,   and I have even had some promising leads  for what I may do this summer.   I don't want to jinx things just yet,  but I will continue to keep my fingers crossed.  Because every second counts.