Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Adventure in Vermont Continues -- Cliff Jumping!


Many of you may remember from my celebratory facebook and twitter posts that I jumped off of a cliff while I was in Vermont. No, not just while I was in Vermont. On the VERY first day I was in Vermont. It was quite the way to start off the month.

One of the cast members is a Burlington local, so he knows a lot of the great spots to hang out, and he took us to Bristol Falls, a 35 minute drive south from Burlington. It was idyllic, with lush green woods, babbling waters, and...a huge freaking waterfall!

(Photo credit to Walter Rodriguez, a fellow castmate and professional photographer)

Do you see the verrrry small dude wearing red trunks all the way up there in the top left of that photograph? That's the rock we jumped off of. And yeah, we landed at the bottom of that waterfall. A jump of probably 25 feet.

When we first got there, I was like, Hell no, I'm not jumping! I was pretty comfy just sitting on this rock in the sun.

(Photo credit to W.R.)

But then everyone else jumped and said it was so fun and I thought, Well, what a great way to start off a month of adventure...

(Photo credit to W.R.)

So I spent way too long standing on that rock and looking down. WAY too long. If you're ever faced with an opportunity to cliff jump, my friends, do not overanalyze. I promise, it does not get any easier by standing and staring at the fall for a long period of time.

Finally, I thought to myself, If I can go to terrifying auditions all the time and not let that get me down, then a little jump off a rock is not going to paralyze me either. And I went for it.

(Photo credit to W.R.)

It was scary. It was fun. It was the most exhilarating thing I've done in a long time, maybe ever. What a rush, man. I'm not a huge adrenaline junkie, but for a few moments, I understood why people are. 

But sheesh, that water was cold at the bottom! Catch-your-breath cold. And it was a long swim back to the spot where I could climb up again.

(Photo credit to W.R.)

So when Dan and my friends came up the last weekend of performances to see the show and hang out, they had heard about my adventure and wanted to head to Bristol Falls, too!


We are all a little goofy, no lie.

Laura proved what a bad ass she is by walking right up to the edge of the rock and just jumping right off. You go, girl!


Dan took a long time to get warmed up to the idea, but eventually he loved it, too.


And this is my friend Lynde's reaction to the idea of cliff jumping once she saw how high up the rock was:


And she goes skydiving! That gives you an idea of how intimidating this jump looked (and was!).

Have you ever been cliff jumping? What's the most adventurous outdoorsy thing you've ever done?

7 comments:

  1. I wish we'd known about this when we were there on our honeymoon! It looks like a gorgeous spot for lots of fun :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, looks like so much fun! I would totally do that (but not skydiving!).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ahh - this is awesome! Before we had to cancel our honeymoon, we were heading to a location where you literally could jump off the cliffs anywhere on the resort! I was so excited for it/the ability to show off my bravery...but we had to cancel. Darn!

    P.S. the scenery is gorgeous...and I'm loving your suit!!! Green + polka dots = love! Is it VS?

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Ali: Anniversary trip? ;)

    @Morgan: She wants me to go skydiving with her, too!

    @Katie: Oh, man...that would have been SO cool! Bummer. My swimsuit is Target chic, all the way, baby. Haha.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I jumped off a cliff in Mexico that was maybe 15 feet. The first thing through my mind was "i'm going to die" until I realized it was just water under me. When I emerged I said "i'm never doing that again!"

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes! There's this 60 foot cliff called Chimney Rock in Alabama that I jumped off of once, it was so much fun, but very scary! I would totally do it again!

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Tiffany: WOAH, 60 feet?!? Yeah, I don't think I'd be in for jumping from anything much higher than what I did, haha.

    ReplyDelete