Wild West Virginia

You can call me a rule follower, but I pay attention to parking signs after driving over a 1,000 foot high span bridge (the 2nd highest in the world of it's kind).

Carrie wouldn't tell me what we were doing on the side of a valley after 8:30 PM, but the view was pretty.

I found out shortly. There was a high-rope and zip-line course! Carrie signed us up for a night tour!

It was the sort of thing right up my alley. There was a dual, locking carabiner system to keep everyone safe. I'd seen something similar when we went on a via ferrata run for Matt's bachelor party. Frankly, this system seemed idiot proof.

All it did was slow me down. If Matt and Patrick had been around, we'd probably have made eye contact and started to race.

Carrie and I didn't race, but we had a lot of fun.

Now, while I think the course was safe there were plenty of ways to bang shins or pinch yourself. Also, I have to reaffirm that West Virginia is not a great place for those afraid of heights.

Wednesday we visited the Tamarack in Beckley (good memories!) and drove up to gorge yet again. This time, we went whitewater rafting.

It must have been twenty years or more since I've been on rapids. It's fun, but that's also about how often I'd be interested in going. A good guide makes everything seem easier and safer than it can be (we had a good guide), so I don't get the same sort of adrenaline rush more personal activities would afford (like a kayak).

It's still fun. I recommend everyone try it at least once. Unlike before, this time I got to swim through a level one rapid, have Carrie with me, and watch as Carrie catch a kid's life jacket midair so that he wasn't launched into orbit (his mom was thankful, but the kid looked disappointed!).

The highlight of the trip was 'Jump Rock.'

"It's twenty feet tall, looks like thirty from the top, and will be forty feet by the time you're telling what happened," said Paul (our guide).

He was right.

I ran, jumped off and hung in the air long enough for the exhilaration to wear off and second thoughts to kick in.

It was awesome.

It was also the low-point of the trip for Carrie.

We had to climb to Jump Rock barefooted, because we were in flip flops. Carrie slipped and hurt her left foot near the top. Bare minimum she jammed her toes and gouged one. She assessed one toe as likely broken as she sat and recovered. There was blood on the rocks where she stepped.

Unfortunately, our guide warned us that the way back down from Jump Rock was more dangerous than jumping. The quickest way down was to take the plunge.

Carrie's one tough cookie. She jumped.

Our guide borrowed a medkit and the journey went on.

Carrie would be somewhat hobbled for the rest of our trip. Worse, she was scheduled to do a lot of walking and horse back riding with Grandma in Ireland for a business trip the following week....

...but that was for the future. We rested up after our half day trip and had a pleasant final night in WV.

This trip will always hold a special memory for me, because of the climbing, the rafting.....and it's where Carrie and I started Pandemic Legacy.

Pandemic Legacy quickly became one of my favorite board game experiences ever. If you've played Pandemic and are considering trying Legacy: Do it. Just make sure you have people you can rely on to play it through. Carrie's the type to binge, and without Shane we played multiple games across two nights.