Oxnard Strawberry Festival frivolities

So the long awaited Oxnard Strawberry Festival photos have arrived, i.e., my friend sent me copies. I think he got sick and tired of my asking. ;-)

I may have recalled this story to a few of you, but let me say it again. We arrive, after having a relatively easy time finding parking, so the day was looking good. lol We enter through the back gate, near the children's rides. LOADS of kids everywhere. We finally make our way through the swarm, er, kids. And there, facing us is the bungee jump crane. I nervously eye it. I believe this is where he catches my eyes. He then proceeds to say, "Hey, you mentioned that you've never bungeed, and that you'd be interested in it." I hesitantly say "Yes." He then says, "No better time than now. We're here. It's here. Just do it." Nike would be proud. I hemmed and hawed a bit, considered the price, and oh, death! And he was right. No reason to say no.

As soon as they started suiting me up, my stomach did a few quick flips. Thank goodness he wasn't nearby to see the hesitancy in my face. He had gone off to stake out a good photo spot. :)

Well when I'm in the cage at the very top. The guys says, "Ok Miss. I'm going to open this door, and you''re going to step out on this here platform. No matter what you do, DO NOT LOOK DOWN. 60% of the people that look down at this point, do not end up jumping." So what does this bonehead do? Yeap. I catch myself a glimpse of the tiny people far, far, far below me. My stomach does some more flips at this point. The guy continues, "As you step out on to the platform, you're going to place your hands on these handles, and I'm going to close the door behind you. I'll then unlatch the safety harness from the cage, and you're only be connected by the bungee. You're going to lean forward and when I count to three, just let yourself go. You don't have to jump, just let gravity do it's thing.". Bonehead looks down again. I sudden have to pee. lol So he continues, "Ok, Miss. Ready? One. Two. Three!" Pause. Bonehead doesn't budge. "Miss, you were supposed to let go when I said 'three'." I say, "I know, but I wasn't ready yet." He then says, "Ok. I'm going to count down again, but you really need to jump this time, we can't stay up here forever." I look at him and say, "Don't rush me! I'll jump when I'm ready. Besides the girl that was on here before me took like a whole 5 minutes!" Yeah, that was me rationalizing my fear of jumping. I should have apologized to the guy for snapping. He then says, "Will it help if I push you?" At that point I realize I was being lame, and I just needed to let go. I say, "It's not necessary. Let's count." In unison, "One. Two. Threeeeeeeeee!" I'm now free falling. I have no solid ground below me, well yes I do, but far below me. I hear rushing of air. I feel my hair flailing. I open my eyes because I realized they were practically sewn shut. I then instinctually bring my hands to my face to cover the fact that I'm falling. It all happened so fast, yet I felt like I could count the minutes of my descent. I then told myself to remove my hands from my face. That I was missing the best part. It was awesome.

The rest of the day was good. Very hot. I think we almost melted. We had a few frozen lemonades, some yummy treats, of course the mandatory kettle corn, and lots of interesting people watching.

Nothing beat the bungee jump. IT WAS AWESOME.