Ascending the ladder to the trapeze platform, Oakland, CA.
Her schoolchum (with whom she shares a desk in 3rd grade) held her birthday party at Trapeze Arts in Oakland, and basically wow. Oh, no, I wasn’t freaking out in the least. I was perfectly calm.
This ladder led to a platform on which the kids were hooked to safety ropes, then handed a trapeze bar and swung out into the open air. Those who could then hooked their knees on the bar, some even did a flip off the bar down to the net.
That ladder has 21 rungs; there’s a net under the platform, but it doesn’t to extend under the ladder so you best keep a steady grip.
“Were you scared to climb up there?” I asked, after her first go.
She looked at me and her eyes widened the merest bit before she gave a quick, short nod.
“It’s like 14 Uncle Curtis’ stacked on top of each other.* But it’s worth it. Once you get up there, you get to fly.”
*Her Uncle Curtis is the gold standard in tall, at 6’8″.
14 Uncle Curtis? That IS tall.