Summer Fun Guide 2015: Monkeying Around

 Oh, this is relaxing. I am walking across a 4-inch-wide board, holding onto the wire above my harness. Look at the wetlands, the woods. It's so peaceful — until I hear, "Hurry up, Mom!" Audrey, who ran across, is waiting on the next platform.

 Each step is a wooden "X" attached to four ropes that hang from overhead wires. As you step on them, they swing — a lot. Happily, they are spaced far enough apart that Audrey struggles while I succeed. "My legs are too short," she whines. "I'm three decades older than you," I tell her. "We're even."

 I've come so far, but crossing these hanging rings seems impossible. "Rings for your feet? That's crazy," I yell. "Yeah, crazy fun," Audrey responds. Audrey goes into the splits when she attempts to cross. I use every ounce of my upper-body strength to keep the rings from splaying. We make it halfway across and then sit in our harness and pull to the end.

 What you do here is jump off the platform and swing into a giant net — like Tarzan. When I jump, I free fall for two seconds before the line catches. I scream, and Audrey thinks it's the funniest thing. No other ropes course we've tried had anything like this. Such a rush.

 Normally, a zip line would be scary for me. But after the challenging ropes, this is a breeze. It's unnerving when I spin and face backward but still easier than those rings. We're done. I'm exhilarated and exhausted. "Can we do it again?"