Final Day: I started the final day of our vacation walking around the resort taking pictures of the different locations we visited there that I could use to create photo books for each member of our family as Christmas gifts. Back to the lodge for breakfast and then it was time to pack up all our belongings and put them in our vehicles for the trip home. We took a couple final photos of the family together at the resort before getting into our cars and heading off to our final adventure.
Ziplining: Just as we started out our week, we were back at River Expeditions, this time not for paint ball or white water rafting but for ziplining. It took some time to get all of us fitted into our harnesses and related gear. Due to the large number of us, we were split into two groups. My sister Becky and her entire family of six went second, while the remaining seven of us went first. The first zipline was between to platforms a short distance off the ground and used to get us a chance to learn the proper ziplining technique, including how to stop and how to recover if we stop short of the landing platform.
It was then up a cargo net and onto the first platform located in the trees. We traversed a total of four ziplines, soaring high above the campground below and eventually into the forest. At one point, we crossed a rope bridge to get from one landing platform to the takeoff platform for the next zipline. At the end, we abseiled down from the last platform to land safely back on the ground. Although I did not zipline in the group with my sister's family, I was able to get photos of them as they zipped down the final line and were then lowered to the ground.
The Trip Home: My brother and his family took off before my sister had finished her ziplining adventure. I found out later he was participating in an endurance event that night and wanted to get back home with as much time to prepare for it as possible. The rest of us made a slight detour on the trip home to see the New River Gorge Bridge, which was the longest single span bridge in the world when it was opened in 1977. It now ranks third. We took the walk down the stairway to the observation platforms built on the side of the gorge, getting a great look at the bridge, before turning around and having to make the trek back up. It was a nice diversion from the hours of riding in the car we had ahead of us before reaching home that evening.