The One with White Water Rafting

Today was awesome. Peter, Cami, Andy, Nick, Chris, me and Jay left for Jackson at 10am and arrived with plenty of time to spare.
Here ya go Andy and Cami. U R 2 Cute!
We loaded up the bus and made our way down to a dock on the Snake River.
We were assigned a guide, grabbed a lifevest (which came in very handy!) and an oar then headed to the water.
The first fifteen minutes or so Carsten, our guide, told us how to maneuver the raft and what to expect. Don't let his smile deceive you, he is a mean and nasty guy... :) As we were talking to Carsten, asking him questions and figuring out our limits, Jay decided to let him know that commercial rafting stinks. No jumping from cliffs, no diving off the raft, no jumping onto other boats to "pirate" them, etc. So, being the naive rafters that we are, he told us that at the next eddie (Million Dollar Eddie to be exact) we were all going to run to one side of the raft. And we did. And we capsized.

Honestly, I was more scared than I've ever been in my life. I was frantically flailing my arms trying to get above water but all I could feel was the raft above my head. I was stuck under water! Just when I was getting ready to breathe in icy cold water and sink into an untimely death, I emerged under the raft in between the seats. I screamed and asked someone, anyone, to find my shoe. I already lost one pair of cheap sandals this trip, I didn't want to lose one of my nice Pumas! luckily Jay found my shoe and Chris pulled me out from under the raft.

There are eight different rafting companies that take people on rides down the river. The company we went with today is the ONlY one that hasn't capsized a raft this season. Until today. But, our capsizing was intentional unlike all the others. The best part is we capsized on a size 1 rapid.

Before we tipped over I asked Carsten straight out, "Are we gonna tip over?" "No." liar!
I brought my camera despite the fact it's not waterproof. I wrapped it in two bags and stuffed it in Peter's shorts. It survived the capsizing and Carsten took this picture at one of the calmer parts of the ride.
Some of the other highlights of the trip: Cami "riding the bull" (the front of the raft) through the rapids and falling off over and over and over (and over and over and over) again trying to get back on. Andy almost drowning in a 75 foot underwater waterfall. Pushing each other off the raft. Being invited to a party with Carsten with free beer! - but we don't drink beer. Overall, A-plus ride, totally worth every penny.

Here are the Evans boys and Carsten heaving the raft onto the pile to head back to the start.
I wish I could have taken more exciting pictures of the rapids, but I didn't want to ruin my camera.
And another one of these.
We made some infamous Taylor-family Cincinnati Chili for dinner. It was delicious!