Today was a day of nerves, adrenaline and total fear (for me). I spent the whole day pretty far out of my comfort zone.

We woke up super early (again). Wayne made us omelettes (for a change) and we got another free shuttle, this time to Grouse Mountain.

It was so foggy, we could barely see what was in front of us which worried us because we had zip lining booked and Ali had signed up for paragliding. When we arrived, we got the Sky Ride to the top of the mountain which was really fun despite having no view. However, the mountain and trees still found a way to be beautiful.

At the top, we went to notify them that Ali was here for paragliding.

When we got to the desk, they weren’t sure if the paragliding was going to go forward due to the weather. They asked us to sit and wait while they got in touch with the instructors when Ali got an email saying that his paraglidning had been cancelled and that he should see guest services for a refund. He was really quite upset (and I was somewhat relieved) so he went to the front desk: but not for a refund.

When he spoke to them, they weren’t entirely convinced that it was cancelled (they hadn’t been told) so they made a few phone calls, sent an email, checked with their coworkers and were able to rearrange all of our activities that day so that when the clouds cleared up (which they did) Ali could paraglide.

Yay…

So we had lunch as we watched the clouds lift and saw the view of the mountain and Vancouver city come into vision. And then we went zip lining!

It was awesome. We got up to 80k per hour as we glided over the top of the mountains with the most incredible views. (we have go pro videos of this so I can’t insert that into this blog but soon I will make a video of our whole trip so check back then!)

We went on five different zip lines, each growing in height and length, and the tour lasted an hour and a half. I’d been on ziplines before but never this high and fast and I tried very hard not to think about the cable snapping, falling out my harness or getting stuck in the middle and dangling there for the rest of my life. (my thoughts wander to bad places a lot…)

We finished at the top of the mountain from where Ali was to be paragliding. I was definitely way more nervous than he was and really hoped there would be some way it couldn’t go forward. But then I knew that if that were the case, he’d find something even crazier to do.

So his instructor greeted us, set up the parachute and kit and took some photos with him and all of a sudden they were running off the side of a mountain. I stood there watching Ali get smaller and smaller, trying not to panic, all while taking a video that he wanted. I waited and watched for about 20 minutes until I could no longer see him, completely content with my decision to NOT paraglide.

I had to get to the bottom of the mountain by myself on a chairlift lasting seventeen minutes : which for me was probably scarier than paragliding was for a Ali. I have an issue with charlifts. But I managed.

Then I took a couple of polaroids and got the sky ride down and there at the bottom was Ali sitting on the steps completely chilled out, all safe and sound.

He loved it! When we were showing photos to family later, Margaret was like ‘He sits on that paraglide the same way I’d sit on a bus’ : just placid, happy, legs crossed. In every photo he looks on top of the world (literally) (lol)