Flying High with Discover Paragliding

A year ago after we took our one-and-only daughter to college in Texas, we started out the whole "empty nest" thing with an eight-week sabbatical. That was pretty awesome. We had an excellent time traveling and had the extra time to try new stuff.  Jim has always had an interest in flying and has always wanted to try paragliding. He did his research and found a local company with a great safety record and top-notch qualifications: Discover Paragliding. They do towing tandem flights right off of the Oregon coast!

We did our first tandem flights almost exactly one year ago. Our lives have been changed forever...

 

Yes, even though I am pretty darn afraid of heights, I did a tandem flight too. Life on the edge, right??!! No regrets, baby!! Notice we are ABOVE the clouds! We topped out at about 3,000 feet above Sunset Beach near Gearhart, Oregon. Let's just say that JIM WAS HOOKED. 

Brad and Maren are the owners and instructors at Discover Paragliding. We are happy to now call them our friends. They are good people and very good at what they do. Since that first flight, Jim has worked very hard to earn his P2 Paragliding Certification. This meant countless trips to the beach for both flying and classroom time, as well as some mountain flying. The beach is my all-time favorite place on earth so I am quite happy to hang out and look for shells and do some rockhounding. So far, I have only done one weekend of ground-handling training. Still not sure paragliding is "my thing" or not but I sure do love watching and being part of a great bunch of folks. We have met some WONDERFUL new friends! I have also learned that as a driver for mountain flights, I am much appreciated.

Another perk of paragliding for me has been the development of a new love of photography. Don't get me wrong--I am not a skilled photographer by any means. I have no clue how Jim's fancy camera works and the "techy" stuff is definitely not my thing. But I am enjoying shooting the action and think that I have a pretty good eye for capturing the shot. Luckily, Jim handles all the "techy" parts and I get to do the fun part of pointing and shooting. He is also quite talented at the post-processing of the photos and I am grateful that he can clean up my work.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the past year....

Jim is an amazing photographer. I will be forever grateful for all of his priceless photos of Natalie growing up, especially of her riding horses. It is different for me to be on the other side of the camera, but now I am grateful that I can capture my husband doing what he loves.

I am also grateful for this crazy sport of paragliding in our new empty nest lives. It will be fun to see where this adventure takes us in the world. Here we go, ready or not!