Sharon is super nice. She lets us stay at their new lodge, lets Bubs and his family stay at their cabin, then spends all day on the river so we could have a day to remember. Steve and Sharon are so selfless. Today was so fun! I did both runs today. I don't know if I have ever done that before. The first one I got to just sit and enjoy. Christen and I took turns being the hood ornament. Wow! Water sure goes up your nose doing that! I went throughout the first few, but Christen really got pummeled going through Kahuna and Lunch Counter! I kept telling her the big waves were over, but she kept getting hit again and again. She secretly loved it though. John and Sam were in the ducky. John fell out at Kahuna. We pulled off to the side and threw him a rope. I think. Anyways, I know we docked there because Mike (Smith) and Stockton scaled the rock ledge where the photographers were then walked down a tiny cliff and went through Kahuna again. As swimmers. No boats or anything. Mike said it felt like going through a dishwasher. When they came back Mike (Millburn) and Bubs went and did the same thing. That was fun to watch. We then made our way to jump rock. Brett did a silly looking dive. It looked like he was going to belly flop, but he dove right at the end. Stockton did a reverse and it looked awesome. Stockton said it is hard to spin wearing a life jacket. Yep, hard to spin, but I'm glad he had it on!
Brett, John, Mike, Christen, Stockton
Stephanie, Mike, Sam, Bubs, Ange
Mike and Christen had to start heading home after the first run was over. They weren't with us long, but I'm glad they travelled so far to be here! School starts for them this Thursday. Sam and Ange also headed back. Brett was planning on switching with Rachel, but she decided to stay and help Cassie with the kids. The transition took longer than we expected, so that was helpful to have Rachel stay. Maysen and Jorja were also there watching the kids.
The second run was smaller. Bubs and John were in the ducky. Stockton and Brett were lead paddlers. My dad and Matt were next with Sharon and I behind. Steve was guiding the boat. That was fun! I haven't been down the river with him in a long time. Steve let Stockton 'be on the stick' two different times. Stockton did great! I tried that last year. It is a lot of pressure! We hit the first big rapid straight on. Double Draw. My dad and Sharon were thrown from the boat. Sharon said my dad went bowling and knocked her out. They were under the raft for awhile. Steve did not like that at all. Sharon had a great time, but felt bad for worrying Steve. Sharon said it was her first time under the raft. I remember a giant wall of water hitting me from the side. I saw Sharon go over out of the corner of my eye. I think I threw my paddle at Steve. He needed one because his was gone. I was yelling "Swimmer!" while fumbling for the throw rope. At least I remembered everything and was able to get the bag ready and hand it to Steve so he could throw it at Sharon. It didn't last long but was extremely intense! My dad was pulled in first, but it took awhile to get to Sharon. She came in with one paddle, but the guide paddle was lost down the river. I tried to make a grab for it once, but I couldn't reach it and I remembered being told not to go in after equipment. Anyways, that was crazy! We were able to finish the run just fine. My dad got to sit in the middle and enjoy the journey because we were short one paddle.
Kahuna was fun. We hit it great, then turned around and watched Bubs and John go through it. They hit the first wave straight on. The second wave they hit perfect as well, but the ducky folded over like a taco and John was washed out. It was the craziest thing! Bubs found a picture of it online. John had no chance on that one. He got back in the ducky super quick though and we just headed on down. We stopped at Jump Rock again. Brett went off and did swimming strokes in the air while he was diving. Funny! Stockton did another reverse for Steve. It looked amazing! There were a lot of people stopped there, so we didn't go up again. While we were in a calm part of the river we heard sirens. Awhile later we saw a life flight helicopter. That's not good. We watched the helicopter land on the road right above us. Traffic was stopped in both directions. Later we found out that two people died in the accident. One was a seven year old boy from Virginia. Now that is devastating. n I'm glad we were able to have a safe trip this year. People got hurt, but nothing permanent.
While we were on the river, Mike (Smith) and Jorja were busy making dinner. Jorja got this recipe from Oakcrest and wanted to make it at the cabin. She did a fantastic job. We had ice cream and cones for dessert. Luckily Sam had already bought ice cream Anne could have, and the cones didn't have any dairy in them. Yay!
Stephanie and Anne
John and Cassie got packed up tonight. They are planning on leaving super early. Everyone is splitting up again. This trip went by super fast. I hope we can get together more often. I loved every second of being with my family!
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