3/11/2011: Zipping Down the Mountainside

I had originally intended for today to be a relaxing day, but of course that didn't happen.

It started out like the normal Montana Trip day, waking up early to get buffet breakfast and such. Then, we split off into two groups: my dad and I, who didn't know what we were going to do, and the others, who were going to go skiing again.

We went to the lobby to try to decide what to do, and looked at all sorts of brochures to decide. Eventually we decided to do a 2-hour Zipline Tour of the mountain.

We went home and relaxed a bit, then got dressed nice and warm to go for our tour. We got to the mountain and strapped on a full-body harness-thing and "Yak-Traks", which helped to prevent slipping on the ice and snow. We hiked up the mountain a bit, taking much-needed breaks as required. Eventually, we got to the first zipline, which was also the highest up. I was deathly afraid because I didn't really know how secure the harness was, so it took me a little while to decide to just go for it. Of course, as with most situation like this, I loved it. We hiked down a little and reached the second one, this one the longest. I went with ease this time, and had a blast again. Finally, we took a two-step "hike" to the next one, this one having another mountain in the background, which the cameraman got a picture of with us in the foreground as we went by. This one gave us the option of using a sled to go down and eventually being lifted off the sled as a result of the zipline. I decided to do it, and it was really fun. I tried to look at the camera the whole way but couldn't quite find it. Regardless, it was a nice picture. We hiked back down after a fun day, and tried to buy tickets for the super-long zipline that goes right over the resort but it was sold out.

Dad and I had lunch, hot dogs, and we met up with the others. We got ready to go to the Concluding Celebration in the main hotel, and relaxed a bit beforehand. The celebration was great, and there were even small party favors. The food was excellent, and so was dessert. We met up with Alvar and a friend and colleague of his, as well as the LCA alum that we had met before. Mr. Feenstra then went to the section of the hotel that had WiFi to check his emails. He got a few important emails, so me and Matt congratulated him and then went home. We went to bed early, because the next day was the last day...