Flying!

Back in April I had the opportunity to take a vacation with my Sister in San Diego, CA. We had a blast visiting the San Diego Zoo, Sea World and Balboa Park, I will have to write a separate post about that. As this post is dedicated to how I got there, FLYING!

When I was a little girl I was TERRIFIED of heights, and a long laundry list of other things. I would plead with my parents to not go over 16 road hill,  which is truly just a hill, as I knew my parents would  lose control and send us off the "edge" to our doom. I remember my telling my parents "two hands on the wheel...  TWO HANDS ON THE WHEEL!" I loved (still love) camping in the mountains but I am surprised my family didn't leave me on the roadside with my over-dramatic fear of crashing off  the edge. I can remember almost exactly when I overcame my fear of heights. Camp Red Cloud, eighth-grade, repelling.  I was terrified, we hiked up what seemed like a mountain and then were calmly told that we were going to repel down it. I am sure the instructors saw my terrified eyes searching for the quickest route to the trail and back to safety... and thus I was called to go first. Shaking and near-tears. I reluctantly hung myself over the edge and climbed over the lip. At first I was super tentative, then  I had to get over an indent in the cliff at which I had to  jump a little. This resulted in having me land face-first into the wall of the cliff. At first I thought I was going to die, right there hung up there like a Christmas ornament. But then the adrenaline kicked in and the rest of the repel went much too fast. I was hooked.

My plane! Yes, I was the crazy
lady taking pictures in the airport.

Since about that time I have wanted to fly, both literally and in a plane, but hadn't had the opportunity. Jeremy had always planned on flying with me. But that wasn't in the cards and thus I made my first trip solo. I was more than excited about the idea. I was also nervous I would miss the flight, but it turned out I was super early and had time to be bored and wander the BWI airport. I sat next to a lovely older couple who were flying to San Diego for a 2 week long Hawaiian cruise. The woman was originally from Russia; her first flight was more than 12 hours long. My first flight was 5 1/2 hours long and it felt like it would never end. We hit quite a bit of turbulence, flying over and through clouds. I was giddy staring out the window. Needless to say it was a fun experience. However it is true, the second time you fly (aka the flight home) doesn't hold the same novelty. Regardless it was wonderful to check flying off my list of things to do.