Day 131 - Flagstaff to Tusuyan (Grand Canyon) via Cottonwood and Sedona, Arizona, USA

Today is the big day. It is finally here. Time to jump out of a perfectly good plane. Eek!! The nerves are starting to build now particularly for Nat. I know she is feeling it as she has gone quiet!! She doesn't even sing to Bon Jovi in the car en route. Just silence!

It is bitterly cold in Flagstaff this morning. It's a crazy -10 degrees at 7am when we get up but the temperature soon starts to rise. After de-icing the care we soon get on the road to Cottonwood. As soon as the sun comes out it is pretty warm and as we descend down the mountain towards Cottonwood it rises to a comfortable 20 degrees again. 

Now before we have our sky dive there is also another important experience that I need to share with Nat - breakfast at Denny's!  Love this place - it is just a chain of typical, bog standard American diners that I have fond childhood memories of from travelling around California as a child with my parents collecting the free Flintstones toys they used to give away with the children's breakfasts.  

It's the type of place where you hear from 'Shona the waitress' say "Hey Walt, the usual good for you?" As 'Walt the trucker' comes in looking like a ZZ top for his breakfast. 

After breakfast the time is nearly upon us. We head 10 mins further down the road to arrive at the airfield in Cottonwood for our sky dive with red rock sky diving (who we highly recommend)

http://www.redrockskydiving.com

We pull up and get a first glimpse of the tiny plane. 

It's not a great start when we arrive as, being America, we have to sign a ridiculous amount of paper work and watch a video that constantly tells us if we die, the equipment fails blah de blah how they are not responsible. No fewer than 29 signatures late (each) we have sign every single right away (been rights I didn't even know I had) and we are ready to go. By this point Nat is ready to back out. 

We then find out that as there is only one instructor we have to do the jumps separately which definitely puts Nat in the "no way I am doing this" camp.  I convince her to stick with it and go to the lesson about the jump that we are just about to have. Luckily, up until the point of suiting up you will only lose your deposit if you back out so we buy Nat a bit more time by me going first and letting her decide once I am back. 

Time for me to get suited up. Surprisingly I am feeling fine. More excited than nervous. 

We walk out to the plane - easily the smallest thing I have ever flown in. It barely has enough room for four people. It's just me sat back to back with the pilot and Mark the instructor. 

And we are off. It's a bit rocky during the flight due to it being a small plane but we arrive at the right altitude, 17,000 feet (over two miles high), pretty quickly - within 15 mins. 

Still very excited at his point. Can't believe what is about to happen. 

Right time to jump. The instructor manoeuvres me into position and straps himself to my back. The door is literally a flap door that is pushed up to underneath the wing which is above us. Once we are in position the driver opens the door which was probably the scariest bit. We are still going about 90mph so gust of wind and noise is pretty intense and disconcerting at is point. Now it's time to worry. I have an ability (for which I am very grateful for) of only worrying about something when it is absolutely time and necessary to worry. Up until this point I have been absolutely fine - surprisingly relaxed and calm. But now is the time to worry and the heart starts pumping. 

The final position strapped together before I have to swing my legs out to rest on the block above the landing gear...

The next bit was probably the scariest bit. As soon as I put my leg out, the full force of the wind hits it and throws it back. It is a really weird feeling as it feels like it will just drag you out of the plane. It's also very difficult to manoeuvre in such a strong gist of wind but I finally manage to get both feet on the block...

Ready to go. My face is so hilarious here. It is so windy and the air is so cold up there that my eyes are streaming which makes me look like I am crying which I assure you I am not! 

Once both feet are on the block that is all I need to do which is great. I don't need to jump or anything. The instructor does all the work from here on in and uses my feet on the block as a leve and we both just fall out. 

WOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!  WHAT A PHENOMINAL FEELING. We are in free fall and accelerating at one hell of a pace. It is out of is world and not what I expected. No feeling in your stomach like you get on a roller coaster. It is like floating on a pillow of air and actually quite serene. Just very windy - but a constant wind that doesn't make it feel like wind. Oh and absolutely freezing. My hands quickly turn into blocks of ice. 

I have to have my arms tucked in for the first few seconds whilst he stabilises us. Didn't go for the gambol option out of the plane. 

Then he gives me the tap and I can open my arms up into the classic sky diver pose. We are free falling for about 45 seconds which goes by so quickly. 

Then suddenly the instructor pulls the rip cord and the parachute opens. Relief all around. There is quite a jerk as we slow right down from the free fall and then it is time to float back down to earth for the next tens mins. 

Great picture from earth (fully zoomed in) of when the parachute just opened. I am that speck. 

The feeling of floating is amazing. What is also amazing is how easily it is to control the parachute to turn around. You just pull hard on the two levers pictures below and can turn really quickly. Mark let me steer for a lot of the way but I don't quite pull as hard on them as he does for fear of spiralling out of control (which I know is ridiculous). 

On the way down at 4,000 feet we see a Safeway carrier bag floating in the air and Mark, noticing it, grabs the handles and swings us around for a closer look. Really strange seeing a carrier bag so high and then have it fly under our parachute. 

Through the clouds. 

Getting closer to the ground. 

Closer. 

Feet up to land so we land on Marks feet and not both try to land and end up falling over. 

Back on earth. What an absolutely PHENOMINAL feeling. I am buzzing - such an adrenaline rush and such a great feeling. I have definitely just found myself another expensive hobby. I will definitely be doing another sky dive. I wanted to go straight back up!

Now back to the subject of Nat and the "will she", "wont she" saga. I'll pass you over to her now to explain what was going through her mind. 

So.......I have bought myself a bit more time waiting for Aaron to do his jump. Great. 15 more minutes to confirm that I certainly won't be doing this. Have a chat with David in the office. Look around at all the pictures on the wall which double confirm my thoughts, that these people are crazy and have no value for their life. Just hear over David's walking talkie that Aaron has jumped. Sh*t. Go outside. Watch Aaron as a minuscule white spec hurtling towards us. Triple confirm in my head I won't be doing this. Aaron lands. Absolutely loved it and gently encourages me to do it. Fu@k. What to do now? I know what will sort this out, go do a wee in the toilet. It's surprising how a little bit of urination can be great for key decision making. Might try it at work when I get back. Anyway back to the situation, come out of toilet and tell them I'm going to do it. From now it's literally about 5 minutes to get my suit on, refuel the plane and take my seat.....

They make you do this cheesy video to camera before you go in the plane. I know I tried to be funny but have no actual recollection of what I said. 

One of the weirdest things ever is that I went from feeling like I DEFINITELY wasn't going to do this, to feeling surprisingly calm about it. Not being sarcastic, I was actually in great spirits! As Aaron had already done it and told me in a 30 second rundown exactly what to expect, I just felt completely normal. 

When Mark unbuckled my belt and started to get into position, I then thought, oh well, here we go! Once your feet are on the little ledge, you just have to go with it as the next thing you know you are pushed off the edge!

Spot me...

As you all probably know, you are meant to uncross your arms to get a cool picture of you floating through air. As you all probably know too, I am not cool and there no way this 'death grip' was coming loose!!

One of the weirdest bits was that, unlike Aaron's jump, we got some really big clouds. It's such a strange feeling as clouds are really the only way you get a visual appreciation of the speed you are travelling (120 mph for those who are interested), so amazing to see them hurtling past you (or you past them really).

I also found it really tricky to breathe as I couldn't master breathing through my nose (I can in normal daily life, I do have nostrils) so had to breathe through my mouth. As those of you who have put your head out of the window of a car will know (if you haven't, ask your dog) it's pretty hard to breathe when you are moving so fast through the air. Luckily this bit didn't last long and didn't affect my enjoyment. 

Then comes the really awesome bit, the parachute flies up giving you an almighty jolt and then you spend quite a few minutes slowly floating to the ground. The harness hurts your boobies a little bit, but apart from that it was bliss!! 

Wahooooooo!

Down to the ground.......

Proud hubbs.

Show us your best smug face.

Right, that's it from me. Would urge anyone to try this, so very glad I went through with it. I would have felt really regretful and deflated and would have missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime!!

Me again. I must add how proud I was of Nat for doing doing this. I think it was a bigger achievement for her because of how scared and nervous she was. I saw her go on a right roller coaster of emotions from absolute fear and panic, denial, acceptance and then a weird serene calmness once she came out of the toilet (must have been some drugs in there or something). So glad she did it as she would have really regretted it if she didn't and I would have bored her talking about it for the rest of the day. 

Back on the road we head to Sedona for a well deserved drink. 

The countryside around here really is spectacular - they don't call it red rock for nothing. 

The actual town of Sedona is lovely. Lots of little bars and restaurants and gift shops. We have a well deserved Pale Ale in one of the saloon bars there. 

Back on the road back for the two hour drive to a small village on the edge of the Grand Canyon called Tusuyan. 

Back past our lovely hotel from last night. 

We arrive in Tusuyan which is a small town where I don't think anyone lives but is full of motels and fast food joints on one strip of road and a random IMAX cinema. 

We get there early evening and check into the Red Feather Lodge. The temperature is really starting to drop again now. It feels like we are skiing. Quality places to eat are fairly limited in this town unless you class Wendy's as quality but we manage to find a really nice place called Canyon Star Steak House which was one of those typical American saloon type restaurants you only tend to find in small towns like this. 

It has neon signs in the bar and a great selection of beer on tap so I am therefore very happy. 

After dinner we retire to the lobby where they have a gorgous roaring fire. It is weird the changes in weather we are experiencing. We definitely needed to wrap up in hoodies. 

Nat by the fire with her moose. 

Pure bliss. Great end to a fantastic day and one we will never forget. 

Looking forward to our trek tomorrow. Hope it warms up as, as per usual we have no technical gear for if it is really cold.