River Rafting

One of the reasons this trip idea was started is to be blamed on Regina.  She, her family, Trent's family and some in-laws on Trent's side head up to the Snake River every summer.  Regina raves about the river rafting and the beauty of Wyoming. 

The idea to go with Regina evolved into the trip we ended up taking.  It evolved from camping to renting a hotel room...which became way too expensive...so that evolved into renting a house with my parents and Richelle's family.

When we started planning our trip, I was nowhere near being pregnant.  The point of the trip for me was to spend time with my dad...and the rest of my family.  River rafting sounded like a great time, but once I was pregnant...it was not in my trip plans.  Luckily, everyone else still got a chance to try it out...while I took pictures and helped drive people to and from.
 

I even got the chance to pick Miss McKenna, Carsen and Jake up from their much quieter rafting trip Trent took them on before starting the fun portion of the river.  We drove to Alpine and got snacks before heading to Lunch Counter (a set of rapids) to take pictures and see our rafters.  The four of us had a blast together...drinking root beer and laughing the whole time.

After our quick Alpine trip, we drove to Lunch Counter & the Big Kahuna...Trent's dad told me how to get there and where to walk down to see the boats go by.  I don't think we could see the Big Khuna, but we were in the perfect spot to see Lunch Counter.  According to Trent, Lunch Counter is usually smaller than Big Kahuna, but because they had 200% more snow this past winter, the river was running a lot different.

We got there just in time to see one of the surfers everyone talks about.  He was done by the time we got down to the water, but another one started up...so I got a couple picture of him.  It really was amazing to watch...and shocking that the surfers don't wear life jackets.

After a few minutes, I could see Trent's red boat...and a bright yellow life jacket.  Most of the jackets were orange, but Neal (in the front of the boat) had a bright yellow one on...so I knew it was the boat we were waiting for.  Trent was guiding the first boat.  He had Regina, Richelle, Sydney, Neal, Mike, Anthony and Derek (in the middle).

They saw us and waved...before they hit the rapids.  They made it through the rapids...and the next boat was approaching. 

The second boat was guided by Kyle, Trent's brother. In his boat he had his wife Jen, Savannah, Brooklyn and two of Kyle's friends (I never met them, so I have no idea what their names are).  They didn't quite make it through the rapids.  I think their boat was too light.  It's funny now that everyone is okay, but at first it was a little scary.

  

 

Our group only got to go rafting twice.  That was a disappointment for everyone, but it was hard to communicate (since we had no cell service) and the boys spent a lot of time fishing...so it worked out okay. 

I hope we get to go back.  I would love to try the rafting experience.  Jen & Kyle had a baby girl in February.  I got to hold her a bit...and day dream about my own baby that will be exactly the same age next summer.  I can't wait.