I was thinking about posting in this thread, but I quickly realized that my contributions would be completely out of place. That thread is for the real thrill-seeking adrenaline junkies. Skydivers, bungee jumpers, fighter pilots, etc. I tend to stay away from that kind of stuff. I mostly sit quietly in my room. I mean, I’ve certainly never jumped out of an airplane with my pants on fire, or wrangled live alligators.
But then it occurred to me that a lot of Dopers are probably the same way. And you know what? We do have experiences in our lives that get the adrenaline flowing. They’re just of the more mundane sort. The baseline is different. But for us, by our standards, they’re thrilling and scary.
So, I figured that there should be a thread for the total pussies among us. What non-thrilling things have thrilled you? Keep in mind that to qualify, a certain mundaneness is required. Otherwise, post in the other thread.
In my case: Probably taking a girl’s bra off. Certainly back when I was a teenage boy. And especially if it was with her permission.
Also, the time I walked through a herd of peacefully grazing cows. They didn’t chase me, or pay me much mind. One of them mooed. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t scared!
We were at a camp in Africa and had dinner at the main lodge. As we started back to our hut, we realized that the entire area in front of the lodge was full of wild antelope: gazelles, impalas, boks, you name it. Seems they would congregate there after dark because big cats were unwilling to approach the bonfire kept burning in the compound. It was eerie to walk among wild animals, but not scary in the least.
Hiking trails in rough country. They’re state and federal lands, and the trails are maintained, so you know they’re safe. But they will still have steep bits, and cliffside bits, and places with incredible overlooks and deep views.
Some of the Grand Canyon overlooks are “thrill rides” even when you’re just standing still!
Driving along a winding mountain road can be fun. Same deal: immense vistas, out over monumental drop-offs. The Tioga Pass out of Yosemite Park is a thrill ride; the Merced River drive up into Yosemite is another.
Horseback riding! You go to a stables, rent a cayuse, put on a helmet, and a guide leads you and your friends along a riparian trail. Oaks and willows. Watch out for the poison oak! The hosses are pretty tame, so you probably won’t get thrown…
Harbor excursion tours. (“A three-hour tour!”) You get in a big, Coast Guard certified tour boat, and poot around the bay for a while, looking at the Marinas and Navy Ships and all the big buildings downtown. Great view! Bring a jacket, 'cause it can get cold out there.
I went for a walk today and there was this woman walking a small dog, like a Boston Bull or something. It kept looking at me with those bulbous eyes. It didn’t bark or growl or anything. I just kept walking.
Was this still back on Mars, or after you arrived here on Earth? Makes all the difference. Mars girls are easy!
BTW, not wanting to induce any retroactive paranoia or anything, but as I mentioned in the lottery thread, the chances of being killed by a cow here on Earth are (IIRC) about 200 times greater than the chance of winning a Powerball jackpot, so the mooing cow thing was really not as mundane as you might have thought. Sometimes “moo” means “any minute now I might decide to sit on you!”
If we’re going to go rollercoasters; one really thrilling but really very mundane one was the gone-and-lamented High Speed Thrill Coaster at Knoebels Grove. It was actually an Overland kiddie model but the way they ran it and all made it quite a ride. It sounded like a MIG jet when the operator hit the throttle for the lift chain. It even has its own wiki page!
I once owned a horse. We went for a lot of rides. Although mostly, we just plodded along through the forest and field where we were allowed to do such, there were times when she wanted to run, and I let her. No helmet, no guide. Just she, at full gallop; and I, guiding her along the safest path to take at full gallop.
I’ve often said that riding a galloping horse is the closest you’ll ever get to riding an Arabian Nights flying carpet. It may not be bungee jumping or skydiving, but it’s a thrill ride!
Backpacking solo in Tibet for a month was about as thrilling as can be. A week of that was hanging out with a group of monks and riding horses out with the Tibetan nomads. Other than that, I got nothin’
Body-surfing! You go out into the breakers, time it just right, swim like crazy, and just soar over the water! It’s like being soopa-man! Huge fun, and, unlike surfboard surfing, doesn’t take a lot of skill or practice.
Also surfing on an inflatable raft. Better control, better flotation.
I am a roller-coaster junkie, so I probably don’t need to post here, but I do have a couple of experiences.
Driving down Mount Washington, hoping that my brakes did not overheat and fail.
Flying over the Masai Maru and Great Rift Valley in a DHC-3 Otter that was only slightly younger than I was.
Flying in a helicopter into and then out of the West Grand Canyon (not the National Park portion, but deep enough). Heck, any helicopter ride is an adventure in my book.
Probably others, including riding a horse exactly one time in my life (I did stay on).
I couldn’t agree more. Sad to say I don’t have many happy memories from childhood but my days at the beach doing these very things are among the best. It did feel make me feel like Super[del] Man[/del] Girl. Now I don’t even bother going to the beach because there are no damn waves here. Stupid gulf.
Another lame thing about this state is the lack of mountains or hills. Flat land to match the flat water. So much so in fact that a light dip in one of the roads has been named Thrill Hill. When I was still new to the area a girl friend who has lived here her whole life took me on a tour of the city. I had no knowledge of Thrill Hill and just as we approached it she asked me to reach down and get something off the floor . . . that was a fun surprise You’d be amazed at how excited you get over a tiny rise in the road when you’re used to flat flat flat. Years later I had a boyfriend who would take me speeding over Thrill Hill over and over again, suspension be damned.
I’m glad you started this thread…I felt the same way about the other thread - I know it was thrilling for me, but my thrills don’t compete with running with the bulls or jumping out of planes. Not that I’d want to, but, y’know.
So, my big thrill was parasailing in Mexico. I rented a house in PV for a week with a bunch of friends and we’d had a wonderful, relaxing time. Every day we were on the beach, I would psych myself up to go parasailing, then talk myself out of it, slink back to the house and drink more tequila. Finally, on our last full day, I dredged up all my nerve and got up in the air…it was so wonderful, I wanted to do it again and again! Sorry, senorita, you have to leave Mexico and fly back to the snow now. Adios!
I’ve ridden on buses in 16 Latin American countries, most of them on some mountain roads. Including the famous death road to Coroico, Bolivia. But I refuse to live my life in fear, so I just take those kinds of things in stride. Potentially scariest-looking roads/drivers were last summer, on a busy weekend going from Yerevan to Tbilisi, but I was with a very good driver – you can tell in a couple of minutes how good a driver is, even if he seems as reckless as everyone else. Russian dash-cams have nothing on Caucasus drivers.
You’d be amazed at how excited you get over a tiny rise in the road when you’re used to flat flat flat. Years later I had a boyfriend who would take me speeding over Thrill Hill over and over again, suspension be damned.