Oh, I’d go on that slide. If there’s actually no danger (and no free fall like with a bungee jump), I can enjoy heights.
When I climbed Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park…that was real danger, and I was too freaked out to enjoy the view much. It’s one of the most amazing views in the world, but at the peak, I was more or less clutching the ground and trying not to puke.
Nope nope nope. I don’t even like to drive over bridges but that probably has more to do with the fact that I’m painfully hyper aware of the crumbling infrastructure here.
Nope nope nope to heights. I don’t care how enclosed or safe it is.
Maybe this is why I could never live in a big city. I prefer my buildings short and fat.
When I was visiting San Francisco I accidentally went over the Oakland bridge and little did I know about the two levels. I was in the far left lane and barely made it across I was so scared driving next to the edge of the bridge. There was so much traffic I couldn’t get over and people were upset with me driving so slowly in the left lane but then no one was letting me change lanes. When I turned around to return I made sure to be in the middle lane.
SweetTea, that could have been me. My son, before he could drive, would speak calmly and stroke my arm. My sister gets impatient. It is a real fear.
my fear of heights is mostly about feeling like there is nothing high enough for railings to keep me from going over the edge. This could be a bridge or a walkway that is up high. If the sides are ok, then so am I.
My husband decided to follow a sign with an arrow up a horribly steep mountain road in Switzerland.
The guard rail was nothing in my book. I actually had a panic attack and hyperventilated. We didn’t make it to the top. I was certain we were going to plunge to our deaths.
DH fell off a roof in Alaska when he was in his mid-20s, before I knew him. He was a carpenter at that time. He came very close to dying due to internal bleeding. He wasn’t afraid of heights before, but he is now. As a structural engineer, though, fairly often he has to go up on roofs or tall ladders. He takes a deep breath and does what he has to, but it’s hard for him.
My fear of heights is very specific. Glass walled elevators in very tall buildings. Really, I don’t know why they do this to people - I won’t even turn around and I keep my eyes glued to the elevator door. And although I am sure they are as structurally sound as other elevators, I perceive them as fragile.
Some of them are built onto the outside walls of buildings. Those are the worst. I would rather take 25 flights of steps.
Yes, yes and yes! I can zip line and have even parasailed but dear God cannot passenger in a car on any hilly, mountainous road without hyperventilating! Now comes the tricky part, to be a good sport I’ve booked a Road to Hana tour (highly recommended company) with my D and my BFF. I will meditate as often as necessary during the ride, and I have promised not to cry. And yes, it’s gotten worse as I age.
My son did all the driving to and from Hana. I really wanted us to fly there by helicopter and take the bus home. On the way back, it was after 8, so we got to eat at the Fish House, where we couldn’t get reservations. What I learned was that son had become a terrific driver.
I don’t even want to read this thread :o
The posts about the flyover in Dallas made me laugh. We go to Houston periodically for my husband’s M D Anderson checkups and the huge flyovers terrify me. For some reason, If they are 2 lanes I am ok but one lane I freak. We know our way round enough now that my husband avoids the flyover when possible (unless I’m asleep). One time during treatment I had to drive home from an unfamiliar hospital MDA had sent us to and the route back took us over a huge one land curving flyover. I was literally crying as I drove up it gripping the steering wheel like a demented person.
Anyone ever driven over the narrow bridge over a gorge somewhere in Colorado? They had to unlock the back gates and let us go home the long way because i couldn’t go back over it.
Weirdly, I have no fear whatsoever of flying.
I am afraid of heights, even if there’s something solid (like a wall or window) in front of me. No glass elevators or observations desks on tall buildings for me.I remember being scared in the balcony at church when I was a child. I went to an NFL game a few years ago. Our seats were high up. I started getting panicked on the outside concourse that wound its way up the side of the stadium. I was scared to death climbing up to our seats. I was sure I was going to do a free fall tumble down about a dozen rows, over the railing, and land on the field.
My D, who is normally very level headed, is very afraid of driving up mountains in a car. Several years ago, she and her BF drove up Pikes Peak. She said she’s never been so scared in her life. She was sure they were going to plunge over the side. She ended up in tears and had to take the train down to the bottom.
My friend posted a picture of herself on some glass floored observation area in some very tall building in Dubai. I had palpitations just seeing it on Facebook!
I guess I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who’s absolutely terrified of winding mountain roads with steep plunges off the edge. I’ve felt that way ever since I was 3 years old, we were in the Catskills going up some steep road, and I became convinced, sitting in the back, that the car was going to tip over backwards and we were going to plunge head over heels down the mountain. I was terrified driving in the Canadian Rockies, I was terrified driving up and down to visit one of the Redwood National Parks in California, and I was terrified on the bus trips I took as a child with my family in some of the national parks out west, where you would look out the window and see a thousand foot cliff directly below. Most of all, I was terrified when I visited a friend in California 40 years ago: I went on a drive with him in his little MG sports car up in the hills; and even though he knew how afraid of that kind of thing I was, he went up a steep winding road with hairpin turns going 80 miles an hour, just to scare me. And thought it was hilarious when I begged and pleaded with him to stop.
Ex friend?
I didn’t end the friendship immediately, but didn’t trust him at all after that.
Yes, @DonnaL, I have known such ‘friends’ as well. It ruins that soft spot you had for them.
For me, it is Ferris wheels. I am afraid of Ferris wheels because of how slowly they move and sometimes stall you at the top. Barf-o.
I don’t really understand the sadistic impulse that leads people to do that kind of thing. Another friend did something similar to me a few years ago, at night, on the winding road going south from the Bear Mountain Bridge on the Westchester/Putnam side. At least she slowed down after I begged sufficiently! Apparently, my intense fear is entertaining to some people.
Quick aside: I have been tickled by even an uncle until I could not breathe, and had cried myself silly. I remember I was 10 or 11 when my uncle did that to me. He laughed the whole time. They all did. I am so deeply resentful and angry about that even 'til this day.
Back on track: I really don’t need the warnings not to stand at the top of the ladder, 'cause I ain’t gonna, no way.
LOL, that story definitely had it’s fair share of clickbait. When people read “Perched 1,000 feet above the ground” they imagine a ride that starts at 1000 feet and ends at the ground. I grant you it must be quite scary to be in a glass tube outside of a skyscraper, but when the ride (in the video) ends on the 69th floor after 3.5 seconds, most people’s reaction is, “huh?” 
There is some type of glass floor attraction at the Grand Canyon. We didn’t seek it out on our recent visit. Has anyone gone?