Whitewater Rafting

Still no definite word on what's going on with my father but I spoke with him yesterday and he sounded like he was in good spirits. So I felt a little less guilty about going rafting on Saturday instead of going down to see him.

We went out to Harper's Ferry and met up with the group at River Riders for a day of rafting on the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

 

Suiting up.

 

 

After a short bus ride (during which we were subjected to some truly god awful jokes by the guides [pictured above]), we were ready to put in.

 

 

 I was a bit envious of the people in the kayaks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our guide told us that every year the raft guides climb up this post and decorate the tree on top for Christmas!

 

 

 

 

Luckily no one in our boat went overboard but that couldn't be said for other people in the group!

 

Man, I so want to go whitewater tubing. Hmmmm....

 

The rapids only went up to Class III but it was still a lot of fun even though our guide was a little inexperienced and we get getting caught up on rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

Right at the end we hit a rapid sideways and took on quite a bit of water. And I got soaked!

 

 

We spent about 3-4 hours out on the river. Afterwards we went into town to get lunch. Even though we were all pretty wiped out, Rich decided that we should eat at the tavern at the top of these stairs. Thanks Rich! (He, of course, bounded up them in two secs while the rest of us slowly hauled our asses up there). We did end up sitting out on their deck, which had a pretty spectacular view of the mountains and the river. All in all, a very good day.

 

 

 

 

 

And it also convinced me to go out and get all my hair cut off on Sunday (it drove me insane on the rafting trip because I had forgotten to bring a ponytail holder and by the time I got home that evening, it was the texture of straw). A full weekend!