Zorbing

One of my favorite television shows is The Amazing Race. I have watched every show since season 1 (2001). If you're not familiar with this show, it is a reality competition that has teams of players race around the world completing various tasks. One memorable episode that aired in 2004 had players roll down a hill in a big plastic ball. It was called "zorbing". Brian and I had never seen anything like it and immediatley decided that we wanted to give zorbing a try. After doing some research, I learned that New Zealand was the only place in the world where you could do this (and that's where they did it on the TV show). Although we wanted to try zorbing, we weren't about to go to New Zealand to do it. Since 2004, the Zorb company has opened one other location in the world. As luck would have it, it's in the U.S.- and it's in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (apparently, though, there are knock-off companies in other locations and the Zorb people are not happy about it).

So, here's what I've learned about zorbing. There are two ways that it can be done- wet or dry. If you zorb dry, then you are strapped into the ball by your hands and feet (think blonde girl in King Kong) and you roll head-over-heels down the slope. If you do the wet ride, then you can chose either a straight track or a zig-zag track. In the wet ride, you climb into the ball and they put a tiny bit of water in it. I'm guessing the water is there to make things nice and slippery. You are not strapped down at all, so as the ball rolls down the hill, you are rolling around in the ball. Everyone at the Zorb place said that the wet ride was way better and that 90% of riders chose the wet ride. Brian and I both decided that the wet ride was the one for us, and we both picked the curvy track.

How was the ride? FUN. It was like a waterslide on speed. If any of my siblings or cousins on the Buie side are reading this, then you may understand the following analogy: Remeber when we use to go to the waterslides at the beach and we would make a "train" of about seven or eight people and go down the slide. It was so much fun because it was really fast and out of control. That's what the Zorb is like except you're not worried that someone is going to go over the side of the waterslide or get their foot or head smashed against the side of it. Brian and I really enjoyed zorbing, and I am happy that I have another thing checked off of my "bucket list".