Saturday, March 14

Babe's Bucket List Challenge #3 - Zipline through the Rainforest

Welcome to Babe's Bucket List Challenge, where I'm tackling twelve of the thirty things on my bucket list and writing about the experiences...won't you join me?

Remember my dad (from the Word of the Year post)? Dad's joie de vivre was unmatched -- he loved life! Music, surfing, engineering, strong coffee, and family were part of his core. He loved tinkering with ideas and often worked with his grandsons on projects such as building a siege tower, designing and building a chicken coop, and designing and shooting off rockets...plus going fishing. He lived life with an engineer's precision, a surfer's spirit, and a drummer's soul. Even as his health declined, his spirit, sense of humor, and love for ice cream never wavered.

In his honor, this year I have created a bucket list - a compliation of dreams and aspirations - to work from. My husband (who grew up in our town and interned with him as a teen) has also written down a bucket list, and we're going for it! You can download your own Bucket List template at the Word of the Year post.

Growing up, we spent a lot of time in Puerto Rico, and El Yunque was always one of my favorite places to visit. While I couldn't do the Rainforest Zipline in El Yunque (and you totally should, given the chance) - largely due to weather and the greater economic climate - we did find a place that was second best down in Florida!

We started the day behind this guy, who really looked like a lot of fun. My bestie and I did this one together, along with her daughter. None of us had ever ziplined, but we were on a roll checking things off our bucket lists, and this one was on mine. Said daughter strapped in and jumped right off like she'd been doing it her whole life. Bestie was...a little more hesitant, but we were so proud of her! Finally I got to bring up the rear, laughing the whole way.

We got to zip through multiple lines, between trees, over the canopy level of trees, and see the stunning rainforest-ish scenery below...including gators! No worries, though. The gators were, if not tame, then supervised, since this zipline was at a wildlife refuge. While there, we saw a number of exotic animals, including ostriches (and if you've ever been to the Arbuckles in Oklahoma, you'll understand why we all quickly backed away from them!) and parrots.

Personally, though, my favorite animal was the one-armed monkey at the animal rehab center. This little guy felt like my spirit animal. Partly because he's a spider monkey (an affectionate name hubby uses for me) and partly because you could tell that he just was not going to accept that he only had one arm now, and he was persistent and resilient, continuing to work on movement and having a normal monkey life. I really felt that to my core.... Why? Learn more in next month's Bucket List Challenge!