Skydive Arizona!  Let's start by saying...wow!  We figured we would see some of our old friends from Orange, but we were surprised when we ran into Liz Williams!  She went through the student program at Suffolk and moved to Utah in 2007.

We also got to meet two beautiful injured birds.  On the left, is the female.  She was calm and cooperative. Below is the male . He was a little feisty and kept trying to get away from the handler.   Unfortunately, these birds will never be able to go back to the wild because the damage is permanent. 

The facilities at Skydive Arizona are nothing short of awesome!  When we showed up the hangar was buzzing with excitement.  They were having their annual Christmas/New Year's Boogie.  When we set out on this adventure, we planned to do low passes at each drop zone.  A low pass gives you a chance to get acquainted with the landing area without a bunch of air traffic.  Unfortunately, since they were having their boogie and we weren't allowed to get out low.  We ended up doing an RW jump with Liz & her friend Mike.  

Arizona...check!  Another state off of the list - Sarah's Jump 702 & Matt's Jump 1,088! I was happy that I had gotten through the first two states without any injuries and wanted to stop for the day to ensure I would be able to jump in Nevada the next day. 

Instead of jumping, I spent my time socializing!  There were so many people we knew from Orange!  It was fun to catch up with a few of them.  Of course, it's always fun to see Scotty Bob - he's such an interesting character!  I also met an absolutely amazing woman named Annette!  She is a writer and BASE jumper.  She travels around the world living her dream every day - very inspiring!

Matt couldn't pass up the opportunity to jump from a DC-3!  Skydive Arizona is the only drop zone in the United States that keeps one of these airplanes on site.  He did a three way with Liz and Mike.  The exit was interesting because the plane is flying so fast, but they managed to get together and turns points!