This past weekend I managed to convince a lot of my coworkers to come with us to the High Ropes Course in West Bloomfield. December of last year, there was a buy two get one free tickets deal for the holidays. I had so much fun on my birthday last year, that I figured I’d be able to convince at least two people to come with me – especially for 33% off the ticket price. Katrina and Pat had gone with me to the Howell Nature Center for their high ropes course and so didn’t get to experience the wonderful slew of courses at the Adventure Park so we decided on a weekend to go when Katrina was still in town.

As the weeks passed, I mentioned it to a few of my coworkers and the response was extremely positive. Soon seven of my coworkers had joined including my boss! I was pumped.

The day came and it had been forecast to rain all week on Saturday, but as we drew nearer to the actual day the forecast grew more favorable. It was going to be sweltering though, 80°F when we arrived and about 92° by the time we were to finish. We gathered and went through a quick tutorial for the people that hadn’t been there before.

We had to go on a yellow, green, or blue course before we were supposed to go on a black diamond course. So we started with a green to get everyone accustomed to the park.

After the first course, everyone started splitting into the courses they felt more comfortable in. Matt, Gage, Tim, Katrina, and Ian went on the Blue “Riptide” course. Dan and Scott decided to beat the lines/wait and went on the blue “Waterfall” course. I had been on that one previously so I stuck with the Riptide. Pat went on a green course, and I believe Luke did as well. I managed to convince Sarah and Ellen to come with us on Riptide. Sarah was displeased about halfway through but I was so proud of her, she made it ALL the way through and didn’t take the escape near the end. The final drop was a bit of a struggle though.

We had set our sights on the black diamond next, but the staff member said if we had planned at all to do the double black diamond course we should do it first. It required a lot of upper body strength which made me a little nervous. But as I went through the course I was pretty surprised at how capable I was. Turns out I need to probably work on my triceps now. Dan, Matt, Gage, myself, Katrina, Ian, and Ellen decided to try to tackle this challenge. Scott and Tim headed to the black diamond while Pat continued to conquer the green and yellow courses with Sarah. Luke ended up on a blue course I think. Pictures became more sparse as I was focused heavily on the elements and only really took pictures when I was resting.

After everyone finished, we decided to spend the last 10 min of our ticket time to do a quick green as a “cooldown”. Matt and Gage went on to do the black diamond, the rest of us did yellows and greens.

I was disappointed that I forgot to get a good group picture. But I can’t wait to go back! It was so much fun. I’m going in July with my cousin Nathan during the twilight runs when they light up the park. I am very excited!

-Evilmanta