People have done some pretty stupid things when trying to simulate flight. They've stepped off buildings wearing homemade wings, driven cars over ramps, and gone naked skydiving (and no, we're not giving you picture links for that one). Here's a better, safer, and more respectable way to fly through the air: zip lining. Attached by a harness to a wire, you zoom over trees, gigantic ravines and the like.

Now, to bring zip lining to the next level, we recommend Cypress Valley Canopy Tours in Spicewood, Texas (just outside of Austin). Their Canopy Challenge course is so difficult that they require you to undergo a strength test during orientation to make sure you won't, you know, lose your grip and fall to your death. It's totally worth it -- doing the course, we mean, not falling to your death -- but you might want to start doing some push ups now, just in case.

More Summer Vacations With an Edge are this way.

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· Stories About Austin [Jaunted]
· Austin Hotel Reviews [Hotel Chatter]

[Photo: shadowhound]