Day 7 (July 28th): Smile That Frown Away!

Mood shift: I am happy again. A new day came, with new adventures in store. It’s amazing what mornings do for you, even when you wake up to rain when it’s still dark and use your head lamp to make breakfast. Anyways, after my cry and a good night’s sleep I was ready for more.

Bloated: We all get bloated at times, and so do boats. Matt’s dad was relaxing in Kevin’s boat while lunch preparations were being made when all of the sudden pop goes the seam and air began to whistle out of the boat. Yes. We had burst a seam. Conveniently it happened at lunch. Grandpa came to the rescue and whipped out his 20+ year old repair kit. We pulled the boat up on the shore and Grandpa set to work. Matt got to help out by handling the toluene and boat glue which disabled his hands.

This time, I came to the rescue and fed Matt his PBJ. How romantic. Treated like a roman god.

After a slight delay, we were able to get the boat back in the water ready to settle business with Dubendorf.

Gnarly Water: Dubendorf Rapid turned out to be more gnarly than we had anticipated, but the gnarlier the rapid, the more soaked you get and the more fun you have. After going through the narrowest part of the canyon, we stopped at deer creek to experience some even gnarlier water – a big water fall with a whole lot of hydraulic force. The challenge was to get under the waterfall without getting blown away.

I was very impressed that Matt’s father was able to meet the challenge with ease. Even more impressive, 12 year old Jake did it too.

Excessive Bailing: Danny, Lena, and I felt we were bailing a lot more than everyone else. At times, everyone probably feels this way, but come to find out, we had a legitimate excuse: we had holes in our boat! Uncle Chris sweetly accused me of not bailing and made an even sweeter apology after repairing the boat that night. It was smooth sailing from there on out.

Full Moon: “Full Moon Tonight!!!” screamed Jake as Grandpa strolled on the beach in the nude, heading to the water for a night dip in the river. There are few things cuter than an old man’s bum. Greg had warned prior to our adventure, that occasionally grandpa likes to take nude baths. The only problem is, he thinks if he can’t see you, you can’t see him – which proved to be false.