The caffeine wasn't the only thing that had me flying

With the right amount of coffee there are 24 usable hours in every day. You might be rolling your eyes or looking shocked right now, and that’s OK. I am used to those responses, but I stand by my statement. It's summer in Alaska and there are a lot of things to do.

Recently I realized that my housemate Petey had the day off, and this made him available to go on an adventure. I had just finished some Ravens Brew Three Peckered Billy Goat, and I was feeling bold. I also had a gift card to Get Air, the trampoline park at O'Malley Centre.

Petey is skilled at many things — gymnastics and cheerleading being two of them — so he was game. We headed off, not even thinking about the fact that kids are out of school. As we approached I turned to Petey and said for some reason I was thinking that I should have stretched. Spoiler alert, I should have.

We walked in and the place was crawling with little humans. Not a problem for me, until I realized the only people our age were the ones sitting against the wall, observing their progeny. For the sake of the column, caffeine won out over caution, and I put on my jump socks. Yes, it's a thing. They are actually the most effective grip socks I have ever worn. More on that later.

Petey and I took a lap while I took in the layout. It wasn't his first time at the trampoline park, and he was giving me some insight. I had originally thought that there would be one large mat in the middle where I could use my size to get Petey flying high in the air. This wasn't the case. There were lots of smaller trampolines, an obstacle course, foam pits, a dodgeball court, a basketball hoop and more. I surveyed the area trying to decide what I wanted to attempt first. As I walked by the foam pit I noticed a group of high school girls buried in the foam, obviously discussing the in and outs of teenage politics. A little further on the walk I saw a group of teen guys running the obstacle course. Things started to make sense, and I realized that my nerdy, socially awkward teen self was trying to make a comeback. He really started rearing his pimply head when I decided to try to take a leap into the foam pit, assisted by the small trampoline positioned in front of it. Petey had just done it and made it look really good. I took a run at it, miscalculated how good the grip on the socks actually was, stumbled right before I took my jump, and face planted into the blocks of foam. Laughing while I collected myself, Petey told me that he always forgot how difficult the foam was to get out of. This was of no concern to me, until I noticed the young lady standing at the edge of the pit, impatiently tapping her foot waiting for me to trudge out.

I decided to watch Petey do some tumbling on the longest trampoline in the location. The teen boys and girls had joined each other on the smaller trampoline sections and both sides were doing their best to impress each other. It was adorable but my awkward inner child would have none of it. From out of nowhere I started having Bela Karolyi fantasies, and dared Petey to start showing off his skills. While the girls tried their best to do simple round offs and back tucks, Petey was doing full gymnastic passes along the mats. I should mention that he is a nicer person than I am, and when the kids noticed his ability, they asked him for advice, which he happily gave.

I saw that the obstacle course was now open. I mentioned this to Petey and we walked over to check it out. It was set up very similar to an American Ninja Warrior course, so I had to try it. It's not that I would ever compete on that show, but having free reign of the course would be great. It begins with a side step obstacle, just like the show, and when I landed on the first step I realized that not everything was padded. The jump socks tried their best to give me even footing but once again a pit full of foam made for a soft landing, and I trudged my way out, amused by my inherent clumsy nature. We had only paid for an hour of jump time, so we decided to collect our things and get home.

A couple days later we were sitting around the bonfire at our home, telling everyone this tale, and informing friends and family about this column, inviting them to join us the next time there was an outing. I was handed me a couple of pounds of White Chaga Java from Alaskan Artisan Coffee and told no matter what that outing was, this would give me enough energy to do it. I am still sore from the adventure at Get Air, but with new coffee, the midnight sun, and a great group of people to do things with, I can get past it.