Barbara's Random Thoughts

I went rafting for the first time on Saturday. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! Sorry, with the caps and all. But it was fun. We did the Middle Fork of the American River, near Coloma. We drove out on Friday afternoon, camped that night, then went rafting all day on Saturday, about 18 miles down the river.

I'd never really been camping before this weekend. I seem to be sort of easing into the whole camping thing. On the Yosemite trip we slept in those cabin things with canvas roofs and doors. This was one more step...sleeping in a tent, on the ground. Ooooo. (Maybe next time I'll camp somewhere where there aren't real bathrooms. Hmmm.) I didn't sleep too well, mainly because I was sleeping on the side of the tent where the ground sloped down and to the side. I kept having to scoot back up to my pillow and away from the side of the tent. I woke up in the morning to find the side of the tent RIGHT THERE, and turned over to find Julie RIGHT THERE on the other side of me. It was actually quite amusing.

I was a little nervous about the Class III-IV rapids (especially when they showed us how you're supposed to sit on the side of the raft. What happened to sitting IN the raft?!), but it was totally fine. It was such a blast! Nobody fell out of our raft...not accidentally, anyway. One of the guys was PUSHED out of our raft, but we won't count that. =) Our guide was really good, and said that we had the best crew of the four rafts in our group. I may be biased, but I think we did, too. I especially liked our guide's comment that the four ladies on our raft paddled harder and better than any of the guys on the other three rafts!

The water was VERY cold, but it got really warm in the sun, so things evened out. By the end, we were warm enough that Julie and I ran back to the river and jumped in. The resulted in a "Oh crap, it IS really cold" moment, but it was fun.

Oh, and I'm just gonna say this once: Chi screams like a girl.

My own private amusement of the day was being reminded of all the cheesy lines from the "Son Canyon River Adventure" VBS skits we did in Wales 3 years ago. "Fanatical!" Sadly, Bill, Eric, and Heather weren't there to quote random lines with me.

The weekend ended on a rather hilarious note when we dropped Chi off at his work, where he'd left his car. We pulled up to the parking lot to discover that they had repaved the parking lot during his absence...around his car. His car was coned off, complete with caution tape. Heh.

In other news, today is Day Ten of the Great Kitchen Remodel Project, and it's almost done. Maybe we'll actually have a functional kitchen by the time our new roommate moves in on Friday. A girl can dream.