Fizzy. Ebullient. That’s you, with all of that nasty snow gone, those Siberian days history, your whole world greening and brightening after the historically dark and forbidding winter of 2006-07.
You’re smiling, you’ve got that spring in your step.
Good for you. But here’s what you really need to do: Go overboard.
If we were dictator, we’d commandeer each of those bouncy inflatable things – castles, pirate ships, dragons, all of them – in the metro area, erect them in City Park, and invite every Front Ranger to step inside and bounce until they they are giddy with dizzy, bounce until their legs nearly give out.
We don’t run the city, though. So you’re on your own.
We do, at least, have ideas.
The season is all about youth and new life, right? So play kid. Mark the end of this winter’s interminable grasp with that that kids do best: bounce.
Trampolines. Those bouncy inflatable things. Parkour, a sport involving running and jumping over things. Faux parachuting (bouncy flying). Hot-air balloons (What do they do when they land? Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.)
And then go to the Denver Auto Show at the end of March. You probably won’t literally bounce your way through it, unless you’re odd or travel by pogo stick. But witnessing, touching and smelling that gleaming crush of new vehicles will magically put extra bounce in that already springy step.
Unless, of course, you are odd.
Either way, do not take this spring in stride.
FLY WITH STYLE
Many of us would no more leap from an airplane with a sheet of fabric attached to our back than we would anger Rulon Gardner, and then challenge the Olympic wrestler to a no-holds-barred match.
But hang a few feet in the air, Superman style, while inside a wind tunnel? No problem.
Head to SkyVenture in Lone Tree, and you can do just that. You’ll take a class, don a skydiving outfit, and receive personal instruction from one of the teachers as you feel like you’re soaring – straight ahead, up and down – through the heavens (but in reality, just a few feet in the air in a room). For some of us, at least, the heavens are great for, you know, looking at. But dropping through? Heavens no. We’ll take the room.
Sky Venture Colorado, 9230 Park Meadows Drive, Lone Tree; 303-768- 9000 skyventurecolorado.com
UP, UP AND AWAY
If you don’t pay attention, you won’t realize you’re standing in a basket 60 feet off the ground until you look down and get all woozy. That’s how smooth liftoff can be in a hot-air balloon. Up, up, up you’ll rise, gentle as spring breeze on lace, and the wind will tug in one direction or another and you’ll see spectacular alpine scenery not from a roaring plane or thwacka- thwacka helicopter or frozen-to- your-bones peak of a fourteener, but from a big version of a receptacle made for picnics. The balloon person will sometimes blast flames up – hot air – but otherwise all is quiet.
And then you land. The basket strikes the ground and then pops back up like a Super Ball. Again: Super Ball bounce. Finally it drags to a stop, you step to the ground, and the balloon person pops the bubbly, bouncy champagne and you’ve marked the coming of spring in royal fashion.
Fair Winds Hot Air Balloon Flights, P.O. Box 4253, Boulder; 303-939-9323 www.fairwindsinc.com
Longmont Hot Balloon Co., P.O. Box 739, Longmont; 303-710-9602
aircolorado.com
LOOK OUT BELOW
Remember how much fun it was, when you were a kid, to run through the woods, jumping over logs, hurling yourself across streams, leaping atop boulders and then dropping back to the ground again? You’d lose yourself to the rush, to the moment. Just because you’re 25 or 42 and living in Capitol Hill, Thornton or Highlands Ranch doesn’t mean you must bid adieu to that thrill.
Check out Parkour, a sport that involves, basically, running and jumping over – or on top of – things. Go to the website below and watch some of the videos. And if you plan on giving it a whirl, double-check your health-insurance coverage.
Colorado Parkour, coloradoparkour.com; coloradoparkour@gmail.com
BOUNCE IN YOUR STEP
You want bounce? Try a trampoline. Actually, try 75 of them.
Mike Zapp calls his facility the largest of its kind in the world. One thing we know: 75 trampolines under one roof is a lot of spring.
The good news is with all of those trampolines – as well as swings hung 40 feet high – this place has room for lots of leapers. The bad news? Adults can’t join the festivities. Insurance companies, Zapp says, won’t write policies for places like his if adults are involved.
ArtSports World isn’t one of those strip-mall storefronts with a bunch of bouncy things for kids’ birthday parties. It’s a real gymnasium, with trampoline-specialist gymnasts – including some who perform with Cirque du Soleil – offering lessons. It’s popular, too, with the snowboarding set: The shredders show up to practice those Misty Flips on the trampoline before gunning for them on the snow.
It’s often packed on weekends, too, for birthdays.
Even though you most likely can’t jump yourself, reader, admit it: Just watching the young ‘uns bounce will fill your step with pep.
ArtSports World, 780 Vondelpark Drive, Colorado Springs; Call for hours: 719-531-5867 artsportsworld
.com
LIFT YOUR SPIRITS
Go to the Denver Auto Show to ogle the latest-generation of the Corvette, the 500-horsepower Z06. Drop your jaw at the 520- horsepower Aston Martin Vanquish S V12, a car that can reach speeds in excess of 200 mph. Get excited at the sight of the Ferrari Superamerica, a 12-cylinder coupe with a glass roof.
And then get real. Looking for a sporty two-seater? The Saturn Sky won’t break the bank, and it’s featured at the show. Want a four- wheel-drive luxury car? The BMW 5 Series AWD fills the bill. Something old-school? Check out the Dodge Charger.
Crazy concept cars? You bet. And lots more. Just thinking about driving almost any of these cars in the mountains on a glorious May Saturday – the windows down, the music cranking, the leather seats creaking – will buoy even the sourest curmudgeon.
Unless, of course, he’s odd.
Denver Auto Show, March 28-April 1 | Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th St., Denver
303-228-8000 denverautoshow.com Call for hours and ticket prices.
