It's Out of the Comfort Zone

Mr. T used his persuasive way with words to lure me into a gondola ride up a HUGE mountain in a place called Whitefish. “It’ll be great!” he said. “Just think of the great photos from the top,” he said. And I believed him—much to my dismay.

I remember riding a tram up the side of San Jacinto back in ’66. The memory was only vaguely unnerving and we rode up that mountain in total darkness. I had no idea what it’s really like in a gondola (I don’t care if it’s made in Switzerland) until he pushed me in, the martinet running the operation slammed the door closed, and the cage rocked off and up.

TERROR! That little bubble started up the mountain—not just a few feet off the ground but so high up I expected oxygen masks to drop from the overhead at any minute. It also didn’t help that a few minutes into the ascent Mr. T said, “Come sit here next to me—I need to KILL something.” The “something” was a wicked looking, brown, hairy spider the size of a half dollar. Oh pass me mah salts and a strong drink. Kudos to Mr. T for his try at slaying the monster but he only managed to knock it off the ceiling and it scurried into some crevasse known only to the spider.

(I didn't have a picture of the spider but here's a picture I took of a dead snake back in Wyoming.)

Then the dang gondola simply stopped! Midway up the mountain we stopped. Is anyone reading this old enough to remember the monster movie “The Crawling Eye” from the late Fifties? (UP THE HILL! IT’S COMING UP THE HILL, PROFESSOR!!)

We finally reached the top and I nearly trampled Mr. T to get out. First stop—the bar. No way to get down except to walk 5 miles or ride that piece of bubble wrap down. Even though there was a perfectly good dirt road they refused to have someone drive up to take me down. I will hold a grudge for a long time.

Meanwhile, small children and young adults were flying down a narrow mountain bike trail called The Runaway Train. It was steep, fast, and contained both man-made and natural obstacles. I’ve decided I don’t need to get out so often. It’s too frightening.