High Country Rafting

Why do I have a picture of my arm in this picture when the post is about rafting down Provo River??? Because the tender, very sore burn on my arm was the result of constant paddling to steer my tube down provo river.

This last week my entire family was up at Park City. We do this every year for the 4th of July. This year I thought it would be fun to take a trip down Provo River. Everyone went, except mom and dad stayed behind to watch the babies, and Brady had to work. The tubes started out just great, we were given instruction that at certain times we would need to steer our tubes around small islands and that we would need to remember to go left on the first island and then right on the last two. I didn't really need to give you that information, because it is not significant to my story, I guess I just want to make sure that everyone understands how well I was paying attention.

The tubing was great, most of us were together for the whole trip, Marsha, Lora, Josh, Adam and I were chasing down Kyle who was a speed tuber (is that an Olympic event?). About 10 minutes into the trip, Marsha became more nervous about how to control her tube, she was heading for branches and rocks and was concerned that she would have to pay the replacement cost ($15) for the tube if it popped, she was moving at an incredible speed of probably 1/2 mile an hour, so I can understand why she would have been scared. So instead of braving the crash (I could actually use the word "bump" in this sentence) she jumped off into the 48 degree rushing water. Brilliant! Now she had to attempt to get back on her tube which, thankfully after 4 or 5 attempts of the tube tipping over her head and causing a look of fear and terror to come upon her, she successfully made it back on her tube.

The fun part is seeing the difference between all those on the tubes. Kyle and Leah were just floating casually hardly ever needing to steer their tubes. Josh, Lora and Adam (mostly Josh) were the dare devils of the group, trying to stand up on their tubes (Josh only fell in once). And then I was constantly steering the tube, hence the reason for the burn on my arm, and Marsha was scared the whole time, it was funny.

Bret and Brooke took the younger kids who were not old enough to ride the tubes, on a guided raft. The kids had a great time and were able to jump into the water and float beside the raft. They loved every minute, with the exception of Kylee who seems to share the same fears as Marsha.