After grabbing a life jacket and having the guides make sure it was nice and snug on us we jumped on the bus and headed out. It's been a long time since I've ridden a bus- I think my favorite thing about it is that you don't have to wear a seat belt- I've never quite figured out why but it's nice to be free none the less! It was a pretty drive along side the river, our guide said it was voted the second most scenic highway in the US and then made her case as to why it should have been number one.
When we arrived at the dock they unloaded two rafts and three inflatable kayaks, hearing that the kayaks made it more of an adventure we had rented two- one for Richard and Kate, and one for Matt and I. A french couple that was with our group took the third, and then all the other tourists filled the first raft. They really had a leisurely ride because the guide did all their paddling for them. And lastly we had a guide in a raft all to herself, she was there to keep track of those of us on the kayaks. Before we left we got instructions about how dangerous the river is even when it looks calm, and what to do if we were flipped over, etc. I have to admit I laughed inside because the river seemed to be trickling next to us. My favorite experience of the day was when they asked if we wanted water before we left. We all lined up while the guide pulled out some paper cups out of a rusty locker. The first cup went to Kate and she looked inside it and nearly didn't drink it because there was all kinds of dirt floating around in it. None of ours were much cleaner, but that is all part of being an outdoors person- living with the dirt. The water was nice and cold at least and we all got a good laugh at Kate while she tried to grin and bare it.
We all jumped in and after paddling ourselves in circles and laughing about it the guide asked us if we had ever kayaked before. To that I said yes- but obviously I am no expert, the last time I was in a kayak was in Costa Rica last year and I'm pretty sure that was my first time, but I have been white in a canoe a bit so maybe that counts? She told us the person in the front (me) was supposed to do all the paddling and the person in the back the steering. After that I looked over and Richard had Kate paddling away while he was laid back in the kayak with his hands stretched back over his head holding onto the oar with it pointed straight down into the water while he steered it. Matt thought that looked like a great plan and decided to do the same thing while I paddled away. As we hit the first rapids the guide yelled out to us "You know what to do if you flip over right?" I thought she was joking because there were no real rapids, just little splashes of water rolling over the rocks. So again I laughed and we yelled out to Richard and Kate- "You know what to do right?" because it was so laughable. In fact the water was so low they got high centered on some ankle deep rocks. That was the start of the day. It was still a fun trip.
We stopped early on for a lunch on the side of the river. Everyone else was still full from the big breakfast we had eaten only a few hours ago but I dove in and had some- it was the watermelon that got me started. It was delicious. During lunch we all jumped in the water and floated down along side the bank. I think the boys got in trouble once for floating too far out of sight.
The rest of the trip was just as leisurely. We would hit "rapids" every now and then but for the most part we just relaxed and had an easy paddle. At points I would just lay back and let Matt do the work. When we got to one of the big rapids they had people on the shore to take our pictures so Matt and I decided to stay in our relaxed positions and laughed as we went through the big rapids right past them. When I saw the bigger wave coming at me I did sit up and paddle.
The guide started pointing out surf spots in the rapids and we would take our turn riding over the surf spot and then paddling backwards into it. Once in you could actually ride right in the wave. It was all fun and games until we got to the third surf spot. Kate and Richard went in first, took a turn riding it and then came out with no problem. Matt and I went next and had a fun turn riding it- I think it was when I thought we were done that Matt paddled back in and since I had stopped the kayak turned sideways and all of the sudden there was water flowing into the kayak and before I could even think the kayak flipped over and I was straight down under water and took a blow to my head as it smashed against the rocks beneath. Luckily it didn't knock me unconscious and I came up to find Matt not far away, I was still holding my oar and at that point decided to let go of it. I yelled at Matt that I had hit my head and then suddenly I was sucked backwards and while he was floating away I was pulled back into the wave we were surfing. It pulled me down a few times and I think because I was disoriented, once I decided to concentrate on keeping my head above the water I was able to. I could see Matt and the last guide, the one that was supposed to be behind me yelling out to me to swim as they floated further away from me. I was stuck. I tried to swim out but the current was strong, the thoughts going through my head were about the story I had just read in the news about the 16 year old boy that had just drown in 5 ft. of water under a water fall at Supai Canyon earlier in the month due to the strong undercurrent. It was almost like everything was in slow motion with Matt and the guide getting further away, and then I saw the Frenchies (the french couple in the third kayak) paddling towards me. As the broke over the rock the woman reached out her oar towards me and I strained to reach coming only inches away, but I missed it. Somehow them coming through the current seemed to have broken it though and I found myself swimming behind them finally free. They pulled me into their kayak (as we had been instructed to do in case we got flipped we were told to swim to the nearest boat and get in). I was safe at last!
I asked if my head was bleeding because it felt like it had been crushed on the rock, just a good strawberry. They took me to Matt and the guide. I was happy to at least find that he had not lost my hat, somehow it stayed on his head when he went under water. They asked me if I wanted a ride in the raft, I felt ok and declined it until I got in the kayak with Matt. Then I started feeling a little light headed so I took the guide up on her offer and climbed into the raft. She checked me out and gave me some of her Gatorade, and I laughed about how all day I had been making fun of the river so it had decided to teach me who was boss! After that I got to sit back while she paddled down the calm river telling me about how she ended up with her job and a bit about her life which was all interesting. After about 20 minutes I got back in the kayak with Matt. We were getting close to the end and he looked bored all by himself. We rode the last bit of rapids together and I have to admit I was a little more timid going into them even though they were pretty tame I knew who was boss now! Pretty soon the adventure was over and we were on our way back home.
When we got back I had Matt check the side of my head because everyone said all I had was a strawberry but when it happened it felt like I was cut. Once we pulled back my hair we found a gash on the side of my head. A new war wound I guess, my head was tender and a bit throbby but I still felt fine. I'm looking way less than stellar in these pictures but I guess I should share the good, the bad, and the ugly so here are the shots we took of my war wounds!
That night Kate got to pick our dinner spot so we ended up eating Thai which we all love so it worked out well. They were a bit slow getting to us though, the place was packed. And they were even longer getting the check to us. I took Ollie outside to keep him occupied while they were waiting around to handle that, Barbara came out soon after to keep us company. That is when Ollie got to see his first fireworks! It was getting dark already and people were lighting some pretty big ones off from a street nearby. I was worried that he was going to be scared, but he was perfectly fine. He actually didn't react much at all, just stared.
The whole reason we were in Moab was because Richard is part owner in the firework show company that was doing the show in Moab. The cool thing is the show is synchronized with music that was going to be playing on the local radio station, the bad thing was the advertising in Moab was less than great. There wasn't really any central place that the radio station was gathering people for the show, and you had to look really hard to even find out what radio station it was going to be on. I know this because we had been asking people for the last few days if they knew the station it was going to be on and no one even seemed to know it was synchronized much less which station. We did find it in a local paper though. So while Barbara and I were out on the street we started doing some advertising- there was a big group of people that stopped us to ask where we could see the firework show, we just pointed them to where they were going to go off from, and told them about the radio broadcast.
The boys finally got the check taken care of and met us out at the car. We were able to find the radio station and set off to find a good place to watch the show. We ended up on an empty lot across from the church. There were tons of people all over the church parking lot and lining the street, and people were gathered in the empty lot as well. But we couldn't hear any radios going, so minutes before it was starting we started spreading the word to turn on the radio! I ran along the fence and got a few, but Richard went on the other side telling everyone along the street to turn it on in their cars. And then it began. I was too busy recording it on Barbara's phone to get a single shot, but it was spectacular. It reminded me of all the 4th of July's back in Tennessee where we would watch it down by the river along with the synchronized music from 107.9- it was 14 years ago after the firework show in Tennessee that Matt kissed me for the very first time while we were standing in the cookie dough isle in the grocery store. We both felt like fireworks had gone off inside of us and I still remember being so giddy and feeling like we were floating out of the grocery store. These aren't the only reasons I love the 4th of July of course, I am a bit of a patriot and every time I see the firework shows I get all choked up thinking about our great nation and how proud I am to be an American!
Ollie slept through the whole show, which was surprising since the fireworks were so loud and the music was blaring. But that is ok, he has many 4th of July's to look forward to and I can't wait until he loves this day as much as I do and has all his own memories of special times on the 4th!
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