Whitewater Rafting and Mammoth Springs – 7/22/08

 

Howdy hey all! Today was possibly one of the funnest things we’ve done as a family. We all went white water rafting for the first time ever! It was a fantastic experience, we got to the place after an almost 2 hour drive, and told them we were here. After a quick trip to a gas station (we had almost an hour to kill), we went back and got geared up in splash jackets, life jackets, and in mom’s case, a wetsuit. We got on the “cool bus”, a school bus with the s and h scratched out. We carried our raft, the Montana Banana, down the hill to the side of the river. After the safety talk, meeting our guide, learning paddle commands, and getting in the boat, we were off. We almost immediately ran in our first patch of white water, and went directly into a hole, where they snapped the photos of us and our fellow rafters.

 

 

The first wave!

 

 

We got quite lucky, and the people in our raft were both experienced and great people to talk to. We continued downriver, and hit several swim spots along the way where whoever wanted to could jump in, grab on to the rope at the side, and swim along with the boat. The trip was a total of 8 miles, that took roughly an hour and a half. It was an incredible experience, and I think we all want to do it again.

After our water adventure, we went to a Subway, got ice cream, and went to the Mammoth Hot Springs. We knew we had a walk, but we weren’t at all prepared for the walk that was basically 2 miles up nothing but stairs, while getting the heat from the springs blown to us the whole time, and this all happened while smelling the reek of sulfur. However, it was all worth it when we reached the “end of the rainbow” and had one of the most incredible views I’ve ever seen.

                                              

We piled back in the car, and continued back to our hotel. After a 1 or 2 hour nap, we went to the store to get our first dinner that was actually cooked by us, not a restaurant. Our hotel had grills for guests to use, so I got to grill some buffalo burgers; we had those, plus kettle cooked potato chips, some Mountain Dew, and cherry cheesecake. It was wonderful, and it was great to have something not fried and greasy, not that that’s a bad thing.

Later!  - Jared