Say Cheese... Now Smile!

SO, this weekend I was "somewhat roughing it." The whole idea of "somewhat roughing it" was about as unappealing as eating carrots... but I stuck it out and I think deep inside, I sorta liked it. I wouldn't do it everyday... but I liked the whole "being one with nature" feeling. It sure beats those naturesound tapes they have at Target.

OK. Friday woke up before the sun did. Mom, Carlene, Sonny, and I packed the car and drove to Queen of the Valley hospital to meet up with Tita Normie, Uncle Wilson, Adrian, and Joseph as well the rest of the rafting hospital group... Our destination... SACRAMENTO. Actually, I say Sacramento now because at the time, we seriously had NO idea where we were going and Sacramento was the only place we had been told it was near. In reality we were off to Coloma... "There's gold in them hills" territory... we were off to the AMERICAN WHITE WATER. The bus that was to take us there was one of those deluxe buses... and our driver was Johnny. I think perhaps Johnny was a bit sleepy by the way he's swerving in and out of the lanes, nodding his head back and forth, and holding his head up with one hand while driving with the other...(oh let me add that he's a bit on the "crazy driver" side. Huge buses probably arent meant to be going faster than normal cars while driving on the side of a mountain, nor are they supposed to be busing Uturns in busy intersections.... or taking shortcuts through parking lots.) But after watching LORD OF THE RINGS and ORANGE COUNTY, listening to "BEST OF PORN SOUNDTRACK", and catching up on some precious sleep... 7 hours later we were there.

Tents were to be our home for the next 2 nights. Sleeping bag and foam matresses... my bed. My bestest friend in the whole wide world... sprays of insect repellent and mosquito incent coil to KILL the bugs currently occupying my new home. I was hot... I was itchy... I was what you might say "roughing it." I can't exactly say it was "hardcore" because they had actual bathrooms and showers... granted they weren't the bestest facilites, but hey, its better than nothing.

After "unpacking" (aka rolling out the sleeping bag), we explored. First we went down to the river where the water was cold and of course splashing was inevitable. There was a group of guys in our bus (who we nicknamed the "testerone boys" because they looks like a punk band and your steryotypical "American Pie" BEST SUMMER EVER" guys) who came down to the river and proceeded to dive off of the rocks. We thought we were gonna witness some tragic accident right then and there... but thankfully nothing happened. Afterwards, we took our drenched selves up to the restaurant on the grounds where they had some pool tables and other gaming goodies... and we had some dinner. UNfortunantly, I think the tamales made us kinda sick and so in addition to just being TIRED... we knocked out early.

Rafting day #1!
My tent mate... mom... woke up early... which resulted in her insisting I wake up early as well. But since the tent next to me was still snoring, I logically allowed myself a few minutes of rest. After waiting for the bathroom, dressing in my tent, breakfast, and a "safty talk".... we were OFF!!

Our riverguide was Zach. He has a very good resembalance to PRINCE WILLIAM... so yeah... he's cute. :) But then, he announces that he's 14. EWW. First of all... JAILBAIT. Second... oh my goodness... this KID is going to lead us through the rapids!? OH lordy. But apparently Zack is a joker and that he's actually 20 and goes to college in Washington. Phew! No jailbait... but still too young. Cute nonetheless. :) Anyways, since there were only 7 allowed onto the boat, we spilt up with the adults and the 5 of us: Sonny, Carlene, Adrian, Joseph and myself teamed up with Matt and Eric, 2 other college students in our group and we were ready to hit the South Fork!

First of all, Zack showed us the strokes we needed to survived.
1) Front Paddle
2) Back Paddle

Yep. We're pros now.

The river for the first couple of hours was pretty tame. The current was slow and the every now and then, we'd hit some small rapids. But after lunch was when the real adventure started...

Oh my gosh.. it was awesome. :) I really can't describe it other than "ITS BETTER THAN AMUSEMENT PARK RAPID RIDES." It was just a lot of fun... got soaked from the water, boats just spashing around... but it was definitely a relief from the heat. :) OH I didn't fall out of the boat either! Well, no, I did go out into the water, but that was my choice. Unfortunantly, the current was pretty strong and those who did get out of the boat at that time... all drifted faster than we intended to. I almost got crushed by some boats.. but didn't. :) I just got pulled up into the boat very humiliatingly so and slapped on the butt by riverguide Zack. Thanks. :P

We were out on the river for pretty much the entire day... 15 miles is what I was told. It was REALLY nice... the scenary was BEAUTIFUL... and since we were in "gold rush" territory, we could see little flakes of gold in the water. Near the end, we all had gotten out of our boats and hiked up the hill were we got to watch other rafters hit the rapids. :) It was gorgeous AND I got to see up close some POISON OAK. Since I'm a wuss when it comes to heights, Zack held my hand and helped me down the hill. :) OoOo. Once we were done rafting, we loaded up the boats and Johnny drove us back to the site for a delicious dinner of steak, fish, chicken and lobsters prepared for us by the camp. :) Long line for shower... shower... some down time in the restaurant with live music... and sleep.

The day that Nicole almost died...
Sunday morning, woke up bright and somewhat cranky. The "testerone boys" had partied late into the night and that, along sore arms and the heat, made it somewhat difficult to go to sleep. But once again, Mom was awake and so that meant I must be awake as well. Anyways, after a hearty breakfast of omlettes... we were off once again! This time, we were going to drive up river to the Chili Bar and then raft down to the camp via the Upper South Fork... the ride itself would only be about 2 hours but I think we certainly made up for it with all the carnage.

SO first of all, before starting off down the river... we hit some rapids... but the really cool part about them is that if you hit this hole at the right spot, you could totally surf the wave and youre boat will turn to the point of capsizing. Well, the third attempt at this, we hit it PERFECTLY! Unfortunantly, while the right side of the boat was up... the left side was totally getting pounded by water. The result was Adrian falling out and getting dragged underneath the boat. When he fell out initally, we were all freaked that he was in the wave because it looked pretty vicious. Well, except Sonny, who had no idea that Adrian had fallen out and thought that we were freaking out over his paddle that had fallen out as well. NERD. But other than a cut on his nose... Adrian was ok. YAY! Ok... so after the drama of seeing Adrian bloody in the water... we were on to conquer more!

Ok. So this is my "battle story." A little bit further down the river from Adrians fall, we hit more rapids. Well, we went over a somewhat large rock, which cause the boat to tip a whole lot... and for me to FALL OUT. I remembered the first thing that they told us during our "safty" talk was to not attempt to stand up but instead keep your feet afloat... so once I reached the surface, I did just that- tried DESPERATELY to keep my feet up... I succeeded. But then another wave crashed above me and I went over some rocks... and when I resurfaced then, I was caught in the current and it seemed like I was drifting farther and farther away from my boat. I seriously thought I was going to die... because knowing clumsy me, if they were to throw out a rope for me to grab on to... I wouldn't be able to catch it in the first place. Also a weird thing is that while in the water, I FORGOT ALL MY SWIMMING SKILLS. Swimming lessons, growing up in a house with a pool and 3 years of swimteam... USELESS. It was me... my lifejacket, and my pathetic attempt at doggie paddling. But then, I saw my boat all paddling towards me and I wasn't going to die after all! YAY! I was saved!! Zack pulled me into the raft, slapped my ass and I was alive! MY HERO! Carlene and Sonny laugh at me now because I guess as I was drifting away, I had a sad puppy dog "I'm gonna die now" look on my face... and while I was going over rocks, I just said "Ow." HA. I also managed to keep my glasses and hat on while in the water. Scratched, only slightly bloody, and bruised... but alive. YAAAY! I have actual "battle wounds"... how cool is that! WHOOHOO! I'm NOT A WUSS.

Also on the trip, there were these 2 little girls who were... um... very bratty. More bratty than usual for 9 and 12 year olds... Anyways, after playing a very spiteful game of UNO with them Saturday night (in which 9 year old Erin HIT me everytime I skipped her), Adrian and I walked away from the situation with the conclusion that these 2 little girls are going to grow up to become EVIL B*TCHES. I think it was this kind of "negative" thinking that gave us bad karma... which resulted in our boat demise the next day.

*falling in the rocks*
Bratty girl Amy: Falling in the water is fun!
Nicole: Not if you're getting hit by rocks...
Amy: Not ah... I got hit by a rock this morning!
Sonny: Oh. Is that why you talk that way?

BRAT. :P

Our trip sunday morning was only 2 hours long (boo) and then it was time for lunch... and off to pack up the bus and leave. (boo) THe bus ride was LONG and HOT. and then we were HOME!!! :)

What an experience to remember! :) I had a LOT of fun and I definitely want to go again! :) I think maybe nexttime we go, we'll hit up some class 4 rapids. We got the strokes down. Whoohoo! GOOD TIMES!!