Compare and Contrast: Outdoor Play Part 1

In one of those strange twists of fate (or one of those every day occurrences in the Family of Bad Planners), my dad spent the summer in Europe while we were in the US. Seriously, how can this sort of thing happen? Unfortunately, it's easy enough if you are not the sort who can commit. I had been resistant to a US trip at all (hello! we live in Europe! Why exactly would we not spend the summer traveling in Europe?), but life intervened.

There were (many) family members and friends we really wanted to see who couldn't get here, there were a few regularly scheduled maintenance appointments (for both us and the car) that we were really better off addressing with our regular type mechanics. And so, reluctantly, finally, and way after my dad had scheduled his trip, we booked flights.

The problem was that once we started adding up dentists and physicals for everyone, eye appointments, an orthopedist for my wonky knees (which are just fine now, thanks for asking), and all the girl stuff women over 40 have to do, plus traveling south to spend some time with family, suddenly, we were in the US for weeks.

While my dad was in Europe. Like I said, bad planning.

The good news was that we spent some time with him in Ireland, and then he was planning to spend a few days with us in the Czech Republic on his way off this continent and back to North America. And all of that was a long way of saying that I thought it would be nice to make the few days we had together memorable.

He'd been to Brno already, and while the Clock, and the Dragon, and the Castle are all just about more than the average tourist heart can take, he'd already seen them. Twice. Maybe even three times during the week he was here. It was time to shake things up a bit.

And so I scheduled a trip for the four of us to "Jungle Park" a place described on their website as "a rope center." The general idea seemed to be climbing. And ropes. I didn't have any more specific information than that, but really, do you really need more than "ropes" and "climbing" to think "awesome family fun??" 

I had been meaning to get the children to this little corner of Brno for months, but bad weather, bad backs (actually, there are people for whom "ropes" and "climbing" aren't top of the list) and other odds and ends have always gotten in the way. But Dad arrived on Thursday, and Friday morning I announced that we were going to go "do something with ropes! And climbing!"

He actually requested more information. Clearly, he does not spend enough time with us. Since other than "ropes" and "climbing" and that you were required to bring one adult for each child under 140cm, I didn't have any more information. I punted and said something along the lines of, "I don't know exactly, but I am sure it will be fun!"

And as it turned out, it was ropes, climbing and awesome, awesome family fun.

Here we are kitted up for climbing. You arrive at a wooden hut on the edge of a tennis court where you are fitted with your gear: helmet, climbing belt, gloves. From the wooden hut, you can't see the climbing area, mostly because it is a zip line ride through the forest and across the river away.

As we were checking straps, insuring good fit, and snapping helmets my dad asked again for a little more information about what it was we were going to be doing with all of this equipment. What could I say? I'll let you know as soon as I find out?

It soon became apparent.  The fun begins when the guide attaches you to a zip line over a river, gives you a good push and sends you over to the climbing side. Truth in advertising, this is actually Hope on the way back. But I thought you might want to see the river. It's a small river.

There is a short orientation, whereupon you are left on your own to follow the climbing pathways. The tree stations are numbered, and the paths are obvious, so other than watching children carefully to insure that they are following the rules and are always attached to one safetly rope or another, it seemed like reasonably safe fun.

The climbing courses didn't take up too much space in the wooded area; probably around an acre in total, and there were three possible routes to chose from. The baby route was for children age 4 to 120cm in height. The route we took was for the middle range of children and if you were 140 cm and taller, you could go on the most advanced route which included zip lines between tree stands.

The children were a little disappointed to not be able to zip through the trees, but without more direct supervision, I could certainly see the logic in not letting them attach their own zip lines.

There were twenty stations on our route and they ranged from "hard for a six-year old to execute" to "dang near impossible for a six year old to execute." You can see here she is attached with two safety lines to a wire, but she has to climb across this web to get to the next station. The safety lines only stop you from hitting the ground if you lose your grip and fall; they don't help you with the actual physical work of climbing at all.

Small-bits-of-wood-attached-to-rope-so-they-swing-when-you-step-on-them were another high-light. Tom probably had the easiest time of the lot of us, although my dad and I had height to our advantage, Tom has more agility and flexibility than both of us put together.

Hope had a minor meltdown at one point when she was sure she was over-faced (and I wasn't so sure she wasn't over faced). I was right behind her, though, so I could talk her back, she took a minute to re-compose herself and set off again, successfully.

There was a ladder on site, so if you called out for help, one imagines they could send someone over to pluck you down, but overall, the incentive to keep climbing was that it wasn't clear you would get home for dinner if you didn't.

And the verdict? The children were over the moon. My dad and I had a terrific time, too. Although I think it was just as well he didn't really know what he was getting himself into.

It was hard, hard work to climb around (there were quite a few area that required that you really use your upper body), it was a little scary at times (mostly for those under 140cm who were afraid they were hung up and weren't going to make it back down), but the one question they asked over and over was "Can we go back?"

To return to the car, you had to zip line back over the river. There wasn't anyone to help get you going, so I went first to test the waters (ha!), and had my dad supervise the children's zip attachments and give them a push.

Ooops. Tom didn't *quite* make it. Hope went second, so she got a big enough push to get her all the way across.To get the boy down, he had to hand over hand until I could reach his foot and pull him over. Still, he wants to go back. Truthfully, me too. But I want to do the zip line route: WHHHEEEEEEE!!!

Tomorrow: Part 2, How We Play in Parks

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Monica]

Tom and Hope were so brave! It suree was a lot of fun!

[hire a website developer]

Wow....Thats really a nice experience. Hope I too could have enjoyed the adventure.

[Jennie]

Next time, Ellen, try it with TWENTY kids! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1816278176290.2081138.1520187333&type=1 (I think you will be able to see that - it says it's set to friends of friends...)

[Gwynna]

I <3 high ropes courses!! There's one here that goes coursing along through the woods, including a VERY long zipline. Someday...someday...