Swinging in the Mountains

I have experienced a new joy that everyone should try. Last week I went with a friend of mine and her parents to their family cabin. Wonderfully relaxing, by the way. Anyways, at the cabin they have these swings. You climb up the hill a little from the cabin and you see these two tall tree trunks with a metal pole connecting the two at the top with about 20 foot chains hanging from them. You attach the swing seats on the lowest link so you have the biggest swing (even though it makes pumping difficult because your feet would hit ground). Now, the trunks are at the edge of a small ledge. So, imagine, if you will, walking up the sloped hillside, launching yourself down and over the ledge and above the downward slope. At the peak of your swing you are about 15-20 above the ground heading straight for a group of trees, and then you are pulled back down and up the hillside. Just always make sure you keep your legs straight if you are on the last link; otherwise, you hit your feet on the ledge and they proceed to drag along the ground. (It happened to me. I cursed my lucky stars for something happening, and they cursed me back by having my feet hit the ledge.) Now, all of this sounds magically blissful, but what is even better is doing it at midnight. My friend and I went out with flashlights to hike up to the swings. We got them all prepared, checked for any wild animals ('cause, you know, who wants to bump into a bear or something while swinging?), and turned off the flashlights. Now, there was no moon shining, only billions, upon billions of stars. This made for a very interesting swing because the sky was brilliant with constellations, planets, shooting stars, the Milky Way, and any and all stars within the vision of mere mortals, and it also made the ground and everything around absolutely pitch black. You couldn't see anything, even after your eyes adjusted, it was a vast nothing. After a few moments of gaping at the awesomeness of the scene, we launched ourselves out into the pit of darkness followed by the glorious wonders of the sky. Almost a scary feeling when you fly out and look down and see nothing when you are 15 or so feet in the air. But, then when you fly out and look up you feel like you are about to join heavens shining above you. The most majestic experience I have ever had. We did it every night we were up there.

If you ever have the chance, go swing in the mountains at midnight. One recommendation though, don't use one of those flashlights that you wear on your head. The moths like to crash into your face.