Our annual white water rafting trip was last weekend. We drove up there Friday afternoon and set up camp. One by one our friends showed and we claimed our little camp circle of tents. I don't know exactly what the temperature was, but I was HOT! After setting up our tent, I felt like jumping into the river.
Early rise on Saturday morning, with a filling breakfast of yummy blueberry pancakes, eggs and sausages. An hour van ride later, we had our lifevests and helmets on, and we set our boat onto the ice cold water of the Middle Fork American River.
We had 11 people, so we had two boats that day. Mike "Bulldog", one of our guides from last year, led the way with boat 1. We were in boat two with a new guide to the company, Garoth. He's a cutie - and lucky for us, a very good guide. He was safe, yet let us have fun as well. We had three vetrans and two newbies on our boat - so he did his best to accomodate both. Did I mention he's Australian? Yes, 5 hours of listening to that wonderful accent. He told of lots of funny stories and some not so funny river experience ones. Really puts into perspective that it's still something dangeous and you have to have some personal responsibility for your safety.
Anyway, we got back to camp around 4pm - and just lazed around. Garoth came and hung out for a little bit before he headed up to the kitchen to help out with dinner service. It was a Luau weekend, so many folks were dressed in something 'tropical'.
After dinner, a couple of guides came down to hang out. We had a lot of 'booze' so they knew where to go. Of all people, this guide that I've had a crush on was finally back, after three years. He's married now, but still 'oh so cute'. I had to do all I could to stop acting like a giddy fool in front of him and Garoth. Funny. And there was my hubby. ;)
It was a great weekend. Even though I say I HATE camping, every year, I always have a lot of fun on these trips. It's a time when a groups of very different people, who normally wouldn't hang out together, share an awesome experience and make more friends. We called ourselves the 'Brat Pack' and even identified several characters from The Breakfast Club. Of course, I was the self proclaimed "Princess". Hee hee... But we had the Brain, the Jock, the Athlete, the Basketcase, and the Criminal... I think we identified a Principal too, but I forgot who that was.
I didn't bring my camera this time to the rafting, but I do plan to order a couple shots of us going down the Middle Fork. Here's a quicky screenshot of the thumbnails - so it's pretty poor quality, but you get the gist of what was going on... This was the Tunnel Chute.
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