iFly . . . uFly . . . weFly?

My job is big on "team-building" activities. I'm not complaining, we've done some fun stuff in the past (except for that one time we had to go hiking and I got covered in burrs) and Wednesday officially trumped all previous activities. My department headed up to Ogden (affectionately known in my book as O-Town) to a place called iFly which specializes in indoor skydiving. Indoor skydiving, you say? Sounds risky. Sounds dangerous. Sounds terrifying! Well, my friend, it's actually pretty fun.

This is the tube where you "skydive." If you look closely, you can see that the floor kind of looks like chicken wire but a little closer together. Underneath the floor is where all of the air shoots up thus explaining why the floor is mesh . . . so the air can filter up but you have a place to stand. I hit the floor a couple of times while skydiving and actually you just bounce back up. It's springy. The tube continues up for another 20 or 30 feet. So there's a lot more room to rise up. The instructors who help you out are pretty funny. They keep you pretty level the whole time but then they do a show when everyone's done and they get pretty fancy with their tricks. They really know how to shoot up and come barreling back down.

To be honest, when we first saw the tube, and the informational video, we were all a little nervous. I thought I'd just have to go in there by myself and wing it (he he); however, you have an instructor and they help you with your technique and keep you level. I love this picture below because my co-worker Mallory looks totally freaked out. She was not alone, we were all a little nervous until they explained how it worked.

Getting ready to go!

Okay, this picture is staged, although the marks on my face are real. Ha. I fully expected to be afraid while skydiving but it came so naturally. You fall into the air and put your arms and legs out. It's kind of peaceful, that is, until my instructor spun me up into the ceiling of the tube. I'll admit I screamed a little as that roller coaster feeling in my stomach rose up to my throat.