Up in the Trees

Trees are great places to gain perspective. I've always loved trees for that reason. They can be crazy old, super tall, and often scraggly and intricate, homes to hundreds. Rainforests fascinate me, but I'd be a little terrified to go into 'em. I like Planet Earth's DVD depiction. Whenever I spend time up in a tree, I come away with new perspectives on life. Trees bear fruit too, which is pretty great. And fruit trees often seem to be some of the best to climb. I always loved picking oranges and grapefruit at my grandparents' house in Florida. Grabbing mangoes in Zambia was a lot of fun too, until a falling fruit gave me a black eye. Then I saw the Tim Burton-esque Baobab trees in central Tanzania and felt again like a kid, tiny against their mammoth trunks. I hope to one day walk through the land of giants in the redwood forests of California.

Because of this curious interest in trees, I was quite pleased to discover that throughout the provence region of France, ropes courses in the trees abound. Along with the other Americans that work in our association, we took to the trees last week. The champion of the afternoon was Sawyer, whose intensity and ability went way beyond his couple years of age. Photo and Video logged below.

Intense. And Ready.
First element. Might as well have been a sidewalk.
Mama way up in the trees.

Walkin the wire. No concept of the possibility to fall.
Our buddy Ryan, getting primal in the trees.

After tearing through the kiddie course, Sawyer headed straight for one of the adult ones. Why not?
Don't you dare tell me I'm too small!
Elsie watching, proud of her family and friends.

Another great moment in this day came when one of our new interns got stuck in the trees (she was really an all-star, had taken on the hardest courses and conquered all day long, just ran out of steam in a tough spot). She yelled for help and a rescue worker came running, and climbing. He impressed us by zipping up a zipline, then crossed trails and traversed wires in seconds that had taken us lifetimes. All the while she was proclaiming her love and gathering a small crowd of onlookers. He arrived and helped to get her back on track and to the next step. I stood about 10 feet away, 80 feet up in the air, hugging a tree and making jokes. That's chivalry.