#21 - Complete!

This was a fun one!  I got to give zip lining a try at my company's annual offsite.  We were holed up in Government Camp on Mt. Hood for two days of meetings & socializing.  The events of this weekend were planned by yours truly and I devoted every ounce of energy to planning this retreat so that all would have a great time - so of course I worked some fun in.  :-)

One of our planned group activities was to go cosmic snow tubing after dinner Thursday night.  Unfortunately Mt. Hood did not have enough snow to open the slopes or the snow tubing so we threw in zip lining as a last-minute replacement.  Totally fine by me since zip lining was added to my bucket list weeks ago!

Zip lining was both everything like I expected and nothing at all like I expected.  The actual act of zip lining was more or less as I imagined from getting harnessed, to jumping off the platform, to the thrill of sliding down the cables.  All very cool.  But my first experience was not at all like I pictured.  When I envisioned myself zip lining, it was daylight, I was in a forest - perhaps even a tropical location - and the course was going to be long.  My first zip lining experience was at night (turned out to be pretty cool), it was snowing! (also very cool), and it was a super short run (just two zips).  But it was totally amazing!  And since we had the whole place to ourselves, I got to back and do the run 4 times.  Not too shabby.  :-)

I remember reading about an adventure park somewhere in the Willamette Valley wine country.  They have a legitimate zip line course from what I remember so I think I will have to plan a trip out there one day.  Zip lining is definitely something I'll do again and again and again!

All righty.  Time to wrap things up with progress on #15.  Next up is Madonna's Immaculate Collection.  If you lived through the 80s at all, this is a must-have!  I forget how many of her songs I truly love until I listen to this and am reminded.  I purchased this album shortly after moving to Portland when I realized my music library was lacking in Madonna selections.  This is a great starter to get you a sampling of her hits up to 1990.  And that's one of the amazing things about her - she's timeless.  She has had many more hits since this collection was released.  Her stuff from the late 90s and on may not be my favorites, but she is still going strong.