{"id":50540,"date":"2020-11-28T10:50:16","date_gmt":"2020-11-28T17:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=50540"},"modified":"2020-12-01T10:53:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T17:53:20","slug":"we-are-off-to-face-certain-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=50540","title":{"rendered":"We Are Off To Face Certain Death! (Catalina Day Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspecting mirrors is a job I could really see myself doing.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Today was my 5,000th day of being retired!\u00a0 Thirteen years, six months, and five days I gave up working.\u00a0 Mary needs to hurry up and catch up with me!<\/p>\n

We had our morning coffee, probably the last one I will ever have.\u00a0 Then breakfast my last meal.\u00a0 Then off to the zip line adventure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bright and early, the casino sees the sun first!<\/p><\/div>\n

We jumped into our golf cart and headed to Descanso Beach, where the zip line check-in is located.<\/p>\n

When we checked in, they asked if high altitudes bothered us; I, of course, said’ “Well, as a matter of fact, yes!”\u00a0 He replied, “Don’t worry; we will supply oxygen bottles.”\u00a0 \u00a0Now I am getting worried.\u00a0 Then he said we are on the 10:00 AM flight!\u00a0 FLIGHT?\u00a0 What does he mean?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We are checking in!<\/p><\/div>\n

Mary takes good care of me, she brought the Depends again, but this time I put them on the inside of my pants!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

One last hug before we go!<\/p><\/div>\n

The young lady got me all hooked up.\u00a0 There were more belts and straps and gizmos than Carter had liver pills.\u00a0 I will be more likely to trip on the belt or hang myself than falling from the zip line.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Pardon me, sir, but you must weigh in at under 250 pounds!”<\/p><\/div>\n

Then Mary says, “Paul, look up!”.\u00a0 I saw that tower 8,000 feet up the side of the 2,000-foot mountain.\u00a0 It was terrifying, so I volunteered to go back to the hotel and get something, anything.\u00a0 Nope!\u00a0 I had to stay.\u00a0 I was hoping the Depends were the high capacity ones!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

High up on the hill are the wires of death!<\/p><\/div>\n

Now Mary gets all the equipment on.\u00a0 We are going to be safe because I am going to tie us to a telephone pole.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tighten her in carefully; she is precious!<\/p><\/div>\n

They gave us a short class on what to do and what not to do!\u00a0 Then it was on the bus for the journey to the top!\u00a0 We careened around the corners looking down into the canyon.\u00a0 I swear I saw skeletons at the bottom, but I was afraid to say anything.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

If our straps get tangled, we may have to sit together forever… M-m-m-m-m, I have an idea!<\/p><\/div>\n

Here comes Miss Mary…<\/p>\n

http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mary-zipping.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then we tested the cable strength as my carcass come flying down the line.\u00a0 It’s going to be OK as the tour guides informed us that one cable is good for 5,000 pounds and the main cable is good for 18,000 pounds.\u00a0 I did the math, and it has 17,800 pounds of margin!<\/p>\n

http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2020\/11\/paul-zipping.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Fearless Mary sets a new zip line speed record.\u00a0 The canyon echoed as she went through the sound barrier.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Here comes Mary at 45 miles per hour!<\/p><\/div>\n

She is caught and now safe!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Caught!<\/p><\/div>\n

Time to return to the hotel, but dumb old me lost the golf cart.\u00a0 Well, it seems the cart is dark green, but in the shade, it looked blue, so I walked by it five times and did not recognize it.\u00a0 Thank goodness, Miss Mary volunteered to assist me in the search, and after ten seconds, she said, “It’s right there!”.\u00a0 I was more than a bit embarrassed.\u00a0 From now on, I plan to tie my underwear on the antenna so I can find the car.<\/p>\n

Back at the hotel, we had lunch and rested.\u00a0 Mary informed me she does NOT nap.\u00a0 Yeah! Right, she went out like a light.\u00a0 The Z’s were so loud. Three buzzards flew over to check her out. I shooed them away, no snacking on Mary this afternoon!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“I do not take naps!”<\/p><\/div>\n

We had a glass of wine and talked for a while, awaiting Mary’s friends to call.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A cute couple, if I don’t say so myself!!<\/p><\/div>\n

We then did a little shopping in town and visited Mary’s friends who live on the island.\u00a0 I thought they were kidding when they said there are 155 steps to get to their house.\u00a0 They were NOT kidding.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

She looks pretty good after 155 steps!<\/p><\/div>\n

We sat and visited for almost an hour, but then the sun started to face, the temperature dropped, and we could see snow clouds forming in the distance, so we departed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Marry brought her little white bikini in case they had a pool?<\/p><\/div>\n

Going down was easy.\u00a0 I curled up like a basketball and hurled myself down the stairs, barely missing two elderly people and a tiny chihuahua.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Going down was easier!<\/p><\/div>\n

It was getting dark as we found our way back to the mansion.\u00a0 We ordered dinner from the Crab Shack, and Shaun went into town and got it for us.\u00a0 Talk about service with a smile.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We rode into town to check out the nightlife.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mary spotted the Christmas Tree on the top of the casino, so we went onto the balcony and sang Christmas Carols.\u00a0 I did the more traditional ones while Mary sang, at the top of her lungs, “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.”\u00a0 Suddenly, four pairs of shoes came out of thin air and landed adjacent to us.\u00a0 Does this mean something?\u00a0 We decided to stop singing and go inside.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

View from our room.<\/p><\/div>\n

I ordered a boggle of wine and proceeded to reduce its quantity as we watched a little TV.\u00a0 It was an amazing day!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Finally, rest time!<\/p><\/div>\n

We crashed and planned for tomorrow’s adventures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspecting mirrors is a job I could really see myself doing. Today was my 5,000th day of being retired!\u00a0 Thirteen years, six months, and five days I gave up working.\u00a0 Mary needs to hurry up and catch up with me! … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,24,17,189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-food-and-wine","category-friends","category-walking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50540"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50609,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50540\/revisions\/50609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}