road trip 2010 :: reunited and it feels so good

the next day d, sofia and i got up at the crack of dawn, bundled up and went to the jet boat company for our 3-hour luxury cruise up the river.  ok maybe not luxury but they did have blankets.  bobby has taken this trip since he was a little kid.  he was so excited about sofia getting to experience it.

it is amazing that this boat can ride in water only a few feet deep.  and i love that you can go through a rapid without any danger but all the fun.  our guide made sure to point out all of the wildlife along the way.  we saw otter, bald eagles, a buck, turtles, osprey, and heron.  jordan pointed out that they took a 3 day trip down the wild and scenic portion of the river yet we saw more wildlife in 2 hours.  sofia slept through some of it.  but the splashing and wind from high speeds would wake her up.

i did not bring my camera, so no pictures of this part of our trip.  but believe me, it was a beautiful and wild ride.  we loved when he would do a spin out or go full force through a rapid and then slow down at the end so a wave would cover the boat. 

we arrived at paradise a bit early and changed out of our warm/damp clothes into our rafting clothes.  then we sat on the patio and waited for everyone to arrive.  It was great to see them come up the stairs one by one.  they looked good and happy and most importantly, not injured.  

one of my favorite parts about rafting is the bond that is created when people put themselves in life threatening situations together.  insert drama squirrel. you start off a trip like this as strangers but by the end you have seen and experienced things that amaze you, scare you, or make you laugh.  i mean what else is there to do for 16 hours?  and you can learn a lot about someone when you have to pass them the toilet paper roll.  you sit around the campfire eating great food and you share stories, as wild as they may sometimes be.  no distractions from tv or computer.  just people learning about each other.  i love it.   these people were strangers 3 days ago and there are already inside jokes.  you know why that person doesn't like root beer or what games that person played as a child.  they knew what the boys like on their sandwiches.  it's such a cool social experiment.

we were so happy to see them.  lots of hugs and kisses and stories and pictures.  then we got on the boat and drifted to our campsite.

that night we feasted on chicken burritos and greg made us brownies in a dutch oven.    then i learned how to play bananagrams and won two games in a row, yah me.  and we got to see a real bear.  i know it's hard to make it out in this photo but he's there.  he's the black, scrawny thing on top of the rock. thank god he was across the river from us, so no one was panicking, just cautiously watching.  poor sofia told us that she was allergic to bears.  man, if it wasn't for that we would have swam over to pet it and taken a closer picture.  too bad.

we had a good night's sleep. maybe not the most comfortable way to spend the night but i was back with my family so that made it good. we woke up with the sun and had breakfast.  oatmeal, toast, granola.  and coffee, thick, mud like coffee, yum.  we packed up the boats again and started the last leg of this trip.  

bob was in heaven floating down the river with his 3 grandkids.  when they rode with bobby, the boys would ride on the tubes "cowboy style" which made me nervous of course.  but then sofia started crying because she wanted to go "cowgirl style".  and that's when my brilliant husband came up with the idea to let her ride "mermaid style".  on the net in the front, safe and sound but splashy and happy.  

it took us a couple of hours to get to take out.  then it took us hours to get the boats unloaded, rolled up and packed into the truck.

at take out

we have a picture like this from the first time bobby and i did this trip almost 15 years ago.  i was going to put them on here side by side but let's just say the differences are glaringly obvious and i'm not sure i want to put that out there for the whole world, or at least my family, to see.  so just imagine 2 younger, "slightly" thinner kids standing in that exact same spot.

in other news:  the kids are back home, the rooms have been reorganized and we are left wondering why we didn't do this 5 years ago.  this new configuration makes so much sense.  the kids have more room to spread out and we have just what we need; a bed and a dresser.  our room feels like a tiny new york apartment. i kind of love it.  

one of the big adjustments we made was to get rid of our GIANT tv in the living room.  it was a birthday gift to bobby years ago from his boss.  but in an effort to simplify our lives and get rid of excess we decided to downsize and go from 2 tv's to one. that meant putting the flat screen that was in our old bedroom in the living room and getting rid of the big tv altogether.  it makes so much sense. it means less tv and video games for everyone.  it gives us more room and less energy output.  we felt good about it the first day.  but did i mention how much smaller the flat screen is?  and now i can't cozy up in bed and watch tv?  and sometimes you want to watch something while someone else plays a video game? yeah we are seriously considering going back to 2 tv's.  but maybe buying a bigger flatscreen for the living room.  somethings you just can't compromise.