DZ Friends
The importance of drop zone friends is highly underrated.
These last couple months at my home drop zone I have had the pleasure of meeting not only some great skydivers, but some wonderful friends as well.
It’s a great feeling when you head out to the DZ on a busy weekend and are welcomed by all the regulars. It’s like a little skydiving family out there. Everyone is cheering on everyone else, excited to see the reactions from the first timers, enjoying the crazy parachuting tricks of the veterans.
It’s comforting to know that, for me at least, everyone is looking out for me. It is not uncommon to be headed out to the plane and get stopped two or three times by different jump masters who want to look over my equipment one more time. This, of course, is welcomed. You can never be too careful.
I’m still meeting new faces every weekend, but the more regulars I meet, the more I feel like Cleveland Parachute is a home.
Do y’all feel this way about your home DZ too?
Blue Skies!
Ashley
Skydiving Vacation
This is something I’ve always wanted to do – take a vacation purely for the skydiving.
Well, my dream has come true. Sorta. Tomorrow I’ve decided to take a vacation day from the office to get in a few jumps over at Cleveland Parachute Center.
Sure, there aren’t pristine beaches involved, but the weather is supposed to be fairly nice and I’ll have a chance to do some back to back jumps without having to wait for the line up of tandems that typically occurs on the weekend.
Though don’t get me wrong, I’ll certainly be headed back out to the DZ for a jump or two on the weekend as well. Just try and keep me away.
But this mini-vacation does have me thinking about my next trip and possible locations for skydiving.
As a former Dallas resident, I’m always thinking about heading back to the Big D to spend some leisurely time with my friends. I’ve heard great things about Skydive Dallas.
In August I’m planning a trip out to Los Angeles with my old college crew and I’d love to get in a jump on the west coast if possible. A quick Google search revealed a number of locations for the sport. Any DZ recommendations in the LA area?
I’d love to head out to Australia and New Zealand some day for the view of a lifetime from 13,500!
Photo courtesy of Skydive the Glaciers
Of course, one day I’ll head back to Skydive Miami where my journey as a sports parachutist began and complete a solo jump.
I can’t wait to jump with this guy again. After all, he’s the one who got me hooked!
What other drop zones do you recommend visiting? Where have you had great experiences?
Blue Skies!
Ashley
Welcome to Skydive Chick
Oh hi! Welcome to my blog. As you can see, this is a work in progress, but I just couldn’t wait to start writing.
Let me introduce myself. I’m Ashley Mead. AKA the Skydive Chick herself.
That’s me. Happy as can be, ready to make my first AFF jump, but that’s a story for another day. My home base is Cleveland Parachute. Highly recommended if you’re ever in the area.
Currently, I am a beginner skydiver, but I have just as much passion for the sport as any experienced jumper out there. Stick around, you’ll see.
I’ve got a few goals for this site – beyond chronicling my journey to licensing, which I will be doing, but along the way I want to share with you pictures and videos, experiences of other skydivers, and happenings from around the skydiving community, just to name a few.
So join me will you, on this thrilling journey that is the life of a skydiver.
Blue Skies,
Ashley