The River

I got a hall pass for 9 days.
 I was invited on a river trip by some friends of mine who I work with and they had a permit for the Green River in Utah through Desolation and Gray canyons.  I went.
Back in the day, before kids, we used to raft a lot.  We never owned our own boat but we did get life jackets, some dry bags and ammo cans and we went on many trips with friends.  The longest being 11 days.  So, needless to say I was a bit nervous to go on a river trip, without my family, without communication with my family and I would also be one of the oldest women on this trip and not one of those young girls has kids.  After many phone calls to meet up with who was driving all was set.  I was committed. 
I left my house at 8 a.m. and drove to the house where we were all meeting.  Slowly came the cars that we were caravanning with.  I forgot how much gear is involved.  The truck I was in was pulling a trailer with 2 boats, the oars, coolers, frames and all of our gear.  We couldn't have fit anything else in.  We drove for almost 8 hours to the put-in up in Vernal Utah.  It was warm and the mood was exceptional.  Our friends, who we were meeting up with to raft this stretch of the river, had just come off of another 10 day trip so they were already tan and in river mode.  RELAXED!
Beers were cracked, cocktails were made and tents were set up.  I decided to sleep on the boat since it was offered.  It was a beautiful night under the stars in my sleeping bag.
After rigging up our 9 boats the next morning all 20 of us were off.  We had 9 boats, one duckie, a kayak and a shredder.  We floated the river all day, almost 20 miles.  Our camp was beautiful and we all de-rigged and the kitchen was set up and we all picked our spot for the night and in an hour we had our home for the night.  What a process it is but so cool.  These people raft together a lot so they are like a well oiled machine. 
The dinner crew got dinner going and hand washing stations set up.  We established a fire area and set up the fire pans and chairs.  There was a horse shoe game in progress and everyone was having a blast.  We didn't stay up too late and I slept like a baby in my awesome North Face tent that I've had forever. 
The next morning was paradise.  The coffee was already made by the morning kitchen crew and breakfast was out.  This particular morning it was bagels, cream cheese, granola, yogurt.  It was perfect.  We took down camp and cleaned up and were on the river again by 10:30.  Not bad considering there were 20 of us to rally. 
This day on the river was the same.  Sunny, hot and fun. We swam in the cold water and hopped from boat to boat and laughed and laughed.  We pulled over and took a hike up to some petroglyphs that were super cool.  We saw the moonshiners cabin which is this old cabin from the early 1900's from a guy who basically carved out the side of the canyon and built a cabin.  He planted an orchard, peaches I think, and made moonshine, illegally, of course.  The cabin is cool.  His boots are still there, his overalls still hanging up,  the wood stove, bed and many other things.   Hard to imagine this guy lived so remote and made moonshine. 
Back on the boats for more.  Every camp was sandy.  Sand like you'd see in Florida.  Huge sandy beaches and you didn't need to pitch a tent.  It was warm, not very buggy and being on the river felt great. 
One day after about 10 miles we got to our camp and de-rigged.  We were having a lay-over here, meaning we would camp 2 nights instead of one.  It was a great beach.  There were rapids right in front of the camp so we could watch the other boaters run the rapids.  Down the beach there was what was dubbed naked beach so, you guessed it.  We got naked.  Just the ladies but it was the greatest feeling laying outside next to a river with new friends BUCK NAKED!  Nobody cared, nobody looked and nobody judged. 
That next night we had dress up night.  We all knew this before the trip so everyone brought an outfit of some kind.  We all slowly wondered to the kitchen/fire area all dressed up and it was hysterical.  There were old prom dresses, wigs, 60's outfits.  Everyone had something different and we were laughing so hard and taking pictures. 
I have to say one thing about rafting.  It's a rich mans sport.  Even though we poop on a groover, which is basically this big ammo can that we set a toilet seat on and pee in the river and bathe in the river and hair washing is in the river, it costs a lot of money to get set up and get the gear.  There is so much gear and the more you see something cool that someone else has the more you want to go get it.  It's a lot of work too.  Pulling permits, getting a group who you thing are going to be compatible, rigging, de-rigging, it's all a lot of work.  Fun work though. 
Unfortunately, I lost my camera on day 8 of the trip and never found it so my memories are in my mind.  I'm sick about it but there is nothing I can do.  I am trying to gather pictures from the other friends on the trip but that is taking some time. 
The Grand Canyon is on my bucket list.  Everyone on this trip had multiple trips down the Grand and I hope one day to have that under my belt. 
If you ever get a chance to do a river trip, I would highly recommend it. 

Confirmation

Today was a very special day for our youngest daughter and our family.  She was confirmed.  She finished her 2 year program through our church which confirms to me that, again, my baby is growing up.  We couldn't have been more proud of her.  She was beautiful.  She was mature, happy and at ease in front of the congregation doing her duty.  The fun thing is that she had her best friend with her who was getting confirmed as well.  They had a ball and I think she'll miss the Wednesday nights that we were committed to.  I, on the other hand, am sort of glad it is one less thing we need to drive to and wait for.  Selfish?  Definitely. 
Our Pastor really puts some time into this and he and his volunteers went above and beyond with all they did for the 3 Confirmands and we felt it was special.  Last night we had a wonderful dinner with the 3 kids and all of our families.  Pastor Joe put together a cute slide show if pictures of the kids from birth to today and he does a kind of "roast" for them.  It's fun, funny and very entertaining.  I can't remember my confirmation being so much fun but that was a LONG time ago. 
Hannah is lucky to have had such a kind and caring community of people who took the time to get to know her and guide her along in her faith journey.  I'm confident she'll grow to be the amazing person she is becoming and the good people who surround her in her daily life will help her though her journey. 

I am very grateful.