Alli: Where to begin? Day 6 was AMAZING! By far the best day of the vacation, and I dare say all our trips so far. Not only did we get to sleep in, which was a glorious luxury in itself, but we spent the majority of the day white water rafting on the Colorado River. Our guide, Nathan, was very entertaining. Not to mention soft on the eyes ;) He was a hottie with a body. On the bus ride down he pointed out rock formations that looked like really specific images such as "John Wayne hitting on two underage girls" or "Winnie the Pooh's cousin wearing a beret." We were able to see most of the characters no problem but it wasn't until the ride back, when we were sun-drenched that we were able to make out Winnie the Pooh.
Our bus ride ended at Hittle Bottom, were Nathan and Jay prepared the raft while we waited in the shade of a tree and watched other groups begin their journeys down the river. Before we embarked, Nathan went over safety guidelines: how to sit and paddle, and what to do if the boat the flipped. The speech was quick and simple, and within no time we found ourselves sitting on the raft with a paddle in hand, and pushing off from the sandy shore.
Lucky for us, the river was much higher than usual - 34,000 cfs. Nathan explained to us that the normal range was between 20,000 and 30,000 cfs. Because the river was so high, we didn't have to do as much paddling. This was nice because it gave us the chance to enjoy the scenery. With cliffs on one side and a view of mesas and mountains on the other, it was a spectacular sight. There were a few spots before the actual rapids that acted as "practice" sections. At first I thought these waves were something to take note of, something that would rock the boat. I was wrong. Nathan said it best when he joked "those are something you take your baby on." Coming around one of the riverbeds, our eyes grew wide as we saw the real rapids. The rushing water seemed to move in every direction, with waves roaring and popping up as though they were trying to reach up and engulf the boat. There were 4 sections of rapids: Onion, Professor, New, and Rocky. I think it's safe to say that we underestimated both the size and force of the waves, because when we went through Professor rapids, the first wave that struck us head-on nearly knocked Jessie and I out of the boat. We only managed to say in because our feet were locked under the inflation dividers in the center of the raft. New rapids were probably the most chaotic, though also the shortest section of rapids. Last was the Rocky Rapids. By now we new what to expect, and tried to minimize the flailing of our paddles when we were hit by an oncoming wave - which only seemed to get bigger the further we got.
Mark: Jessie at I were on the front of the raft. At professor rapids we went down into a swell and hit a wall of water head on, I don't know how it looked from anyone else's perspective but I think Jessie and I were completely under water for a second or two. When we emerged Jessie was thrashing about enough to interfere with my paddling. Both of us considered ourselves lucky we stayed on the raft.
Having survived the voyage down the river, we paddled to shore and disembarked with our legs still shaking. We then enjoyed a delicious lunch consisting of wraps, carrots, chips and cookies while watching other boats attempt to take on the rapids. After we were done eating, it was back on the bus to town.
We spent the remainder of the day downtown, walking from shop to shop, buying even more souvenirs. Getting everything home is going to be quite the challenge. All in all it was an awesome day. I can't wait for tomorrow's skydiving adventure, as it's hard to imagine this trip could get any better!
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