I have the greatest, most thoughtful and generous friend in the world. We have shared innumerable amazing moments together from sky-diving to birthing her children. We fulfilled childhood dreams of going to Africa and now she's topped even herself by taking me flying.... trapeze flying!
Flight school is held on the Santa Monica Pier 7 days a week for 2 hours each session. After signing your life away and listening to a few rules the staff of really personable people - Ryan especially - go through some brief simulations on the ground. It's a lot to take in so he does a demonstration so you can visualize what to do in the air. When it's your turn you scale the ladder to a platform 20+ feet in the air. I was surprised at how heavy the bar actually is and jumping off the 1st time is a little nerve-racking. The trick we were supposed to do was to put our knees over the bar like we did on playground monkey bars as kids and swing until you are told to land. But since I am so challenged I could never quite make that happen. Since childhood I have struggled athletically. I will try anything but I'm usually lousy at everything. It's probably really easy but I could never lift my legs in unison at the right time to capitalize on the momentum of the swing and get them over the bar. There are instructors shouting commands throughout to help with that timing but I'm a tard. Depending on how many pupils in class determines how many chances you get to try. The capstone flight is one where you take what you've learned and leap through the air to the arms of a catcher on another trapeze. What fun, right?
Even considering the fact that I missed most of what I was supposed to do I had a blast and will try again until I get that maneuver down and can actually call myself a flyer. This is a highly rated activity on the fun scale.
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