Bucket List #62: Hang Gliding

Apparently, the world was supposed to end on Saturday. We were lucky this time.

At 4:00AM, Spencer and I road-tripped about 130 miles southeast to a town called Trenton, Georgia. It's about 20 minutes from Chattanooga and was torn apart by 4 tornadoes a few weeks ago. The town was in shambles: roofs missing, trees askew, and cement uprooted. Apparently, they lost 30 people on one side of the mountain.

From 2,000 feet in the air, it was a sight to see. You could actually see the path the tornadoes followed from the hang glider. At one point, it even jumped from one mountain to another unexpectedly and you just need to follow the destruction of trees with your eyes. My tandem pilot Dan was a history buff, explaining the history of the mountains and creeks, the town, and Tornado Alley. The actual hang-gliding was probably the most relaxing and enjoyable part of the day!!

In the morning, little did we know, we signed up for a hang-gliding lesson! Imagine this: It is 90 degrees, you are wearing shorts, and plummeting down the side of a hill, by yourself, with a 70 lb hang glider on your shoulders. Yeah, not really my idea of a relaxing afternoon. After balancing the glider on your back/shoulders, you walked, then, jogged, then ran down the "bunny" hill, until the wind caught you. Well, here's the tricky part (you know, if that didn't already sound tricky). If you grip the bar, you eat the dirt. If you don't touch the bar and just hang suspended from the bungee that is strapping you to the glider, you sail. Well, when you're plummeted down the side of a mountain, instinct tells you grip harder. I.E. land on your stomach faster. After some bruises, bloody knees, and a few laughs, they told us the winds were too strong and we called it a day. With 3+ hours to kill before the tandem flight, we headed into Chattanooga for the first time.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo .. sounds like a train. FYI, it's not. It's practically an amusement park - it was once a train that has now been converted into an hotel. It's a neat concept, you sleep in a train car, but it's probably out of our price range too. We walked around a bit, had lunch at a placed called Cheeburger Cheeburger (if you want to hear something funny, type that into a GPS), and people-watched at this public mini-water park that is hidden underneath a bridge.

When we got back to Trenton, the winds were still gusting too high for us to fly. We waited almost 4 hours for clearance, and in the process, made some new friends. Two funny mom's from Nashville, a father-son pair from Atlanta, and a retired pilot from the army. We waited patiently and it finally paid off! No photos unfortunately, but know what we smiled the entire time - hang gliding (when you're not doing it by yourself) is a very enjoyable ride!