"I have had many adventures in my 31 years. I have bridge jumped, bungee jumped, and I was even in the Army for a short period of time. However, the most adventurous thing I have done, by far, is skydiving. My husband bought me a tandem jump for my 30th breakdown ... I mean BIRTHDAY. The experience is indescribable but one I'll always remember. I wish there were words to describe it, but there really aren't. It's one of those things that you have to experience for yourself to understand that magnitude of emotion and adrenaline that rushes through your body."

— Katy Kreider, 31, Greenville

"I climbed Kilimanjaro because my husband and our good friends, Deanna Boyette and her husband Chris Mann, convinced me that it would be the best thing to do after I retired. I have always been very conservative; I never went camping and am afraid of heights. It seemed like a way to stretch myself — or so I was convinced. We all trained together — climbing Rubicon Peak in Tahoe as a training trip — and celebrated together. About 15 days after I retired, we left for Kilimanjaro. This is a picture of me as we are trekking toward the Glacier Camp, one camp before entering the Crater Camp — the final camp before reaching the top of Kili. I had to go down after reaching this site due to lack of oxygen in my blood. Of the nine of us who started on the trek, only five made it to the top! We do plan to climb some more, but, NO, I will not do Kili again. I think that the 'stretch' was tremendous for me! The cliffs were very high and very scary! It was a wonderful way to realize that when you retire, you are not done."

— Cathy Bullock, 59, Greenville

"I went on a cruise last year to Belize and did the zip-line through the rainforest. The tour was booked through the cruise ship, which I highly suggest; in case something happens, you are assured that the ship will wait for you. It started off with a long bus ride down a bumpy dirt road through Belize. It was a eye opener to see how the people live there compared to us here in the US. When we arrived to the spot in the rain forest, they put our gear on and gave us a little 101 on what to do. After a short hike, we arrived at the first zipline. Simply gorgeous! We went down about four different stretches across water, through trees, over rocks. It felt as though I was flying like a bird quietly through the trees and the view was spectacular. Then we did some drop downs. Oh my goodness, that was scary. You are literally standing on a platform looking straight down and you step off and just drop ... Whewww, it took a lot of guts to do that one. I was a little nervous, but after I did it, I wanted to do it over and over.The guide is hoisting you down at a pretty fast speed and you can feel your stomach drop, like on a roller coaster. I'm not sure how high we were; I really didn't need to know. I just took it all in and enjoyed every second of God's beautiful nature around me. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys nature and can handle heights. It's something you will never forget!"

—Kim Adams, 32, Greenville

"My favorite adventure — an underwater 'sea trek' in St. Thomas — took place this June while I was on a cruise with my fiance and his family. We each donned a giant astronaut-like helmet and walked around 18 feet under the ocean's surface. Instead of wearing scuba gear, flippers, and a wet suit, we were given water-proof gloves, slippery shoes and a helmet that weighed 75 pounds on land but only 15 pounds in the water.

"I was worried about being underwater because I am terrified of sharks and I have a huge phobia about drowning, but our guide assured me that I would be fine and that the sharks were just nurse sharks that wouldn't bite. I said a quick prayer and faced my fears. I climbed down the ladder into the ocean and our guide lowered the heavy headpiece over my face to rest on my shoulders. I could look around through the helmet's glass window and still breathe.

"I held on to the guide chain and looked at the huge schools of different of fish and the colorful reef, yet I was still looking around every five seconds to make sure there were no sharks waiting to have me for lunch. We took a few underwater pictures and, before I knew it, the tour was over. We climbed out of the water with all our limbs intact and, after finally yawning enough to equalize the pressure in my ears, our adventure was over. I saw amazing, colorful underwater creatures and some beautiful coral — and managed to neither drown or get eaten by a shark."

— Lauren Harrell, 21, Pinetops

"My favorite adventure started with a 'survival' lesson — just in case we had engine trouble or encountered unexpected bad weather (and a trip to the bathroom-there were no bathrooms where I was headed!). My husband, Oscar, and I flew in a single-engine airplane over the glaciers of Alaska and landed on the most astonishingly beautiful sight you could ever imagine. After precautions to watch our step (a climber had stepped into a crevasse the week before,) we gingerly walked in our spiked boots in a surreal world of absolute silence ... except for the ice cracking. The aqua blue of the ice with the sun reflecting on it is a color that I have never seen since. The air was so fresh and not as cold as I had expected. After returning to the small town of Talkeetna, we discovered that a train had stopped in the middle of town and we could not get around it, so we missed the last shuttle back to our lodge — over an hour away. The town had closed up for the night and we had no way to call the lodge, so we settled down at a picnic shelter with our bug spray and granola bars and waited more than four hours to be picked up. Now, do you want to hear about the time I climbed DOWN the steps of the Eiffel Tower because I got tired of waiting for the elevator?"

— Brenda Edwards, 63, Greenville