Amazing Summer Days!

John took me to Salida and Monarch for a birthday weekend! We had so much fun just hanging out, white water rafting, checking out the Chaffee County Rodeo and cheering on GSers at the road race. Thank goodness I have John to remind me how much fun life can be...without a start and finish line!
White water rafting was awesome with Independent White Water. http://www.independentrafting.com/ There were just 4 of us and our boatman, Prester. The perfect boatman name. The other 2 guests were a river guide and his wife on their days off. Perfect crew for riding the white water through the Royal Gorge! I had never been to the Royal Gorge and it was the perfect way to see it! Through the Narrows, Wall Slammer and Sledge Hammer! Yahoo! I did manage to get sucked out of the water early on while we were riding a rock! One minute I was leaning in to stay safe and the next second I was under the bottom of the boat looking for light and air! I was a little freaked for a millisecond and then just popped up on the side of the boat! It freaked everyone else out a bit too.
This was a totally different experience than the GC! The water is high for the river but still really big and rocky and wild! We were also paddlers and helped direct the boat so we had to pay attention and do what Prester told us to do. He was very patient and a classy boatman. Truly a mountain man with great aplomb and a love for the mountains and water! I loved riding the waves with John as we would both be laughing or screaming at the same time! It was so funny to see how we would both react to some monster wall slammer or head banger rapids! Independent was a great company to ride with. They are small and professional and passionate about what they do. The other companies were putting dozens of boats of kids and families and although I'm sure they were safe their experience was more like a quick trip to Burger King! Ours was more like a 7 course meal that takes all day to savor!
I was shocked at the number of boats some companies were putting in! It was like Disney Land!
The coolest part of the ride was when Prester decided we would try to surf and eddy. Of course I thought by surf he meant ride on top of the water. I was never worried about falling in or floating away...there were plenty of boats and people to scoop us out if we needed it! The eddy riding was crazy! Rather than be on top of the water we were actually completely submerged! John and I were trying to figure out why we were submerged and getting sucked into the eddy but it seemed Prester thought that was what we were supposed to be doing. We were "surfing" the eddy for what seemed like hours but it was only 5 minutes. I thought for sure we were going to get sucked back in forever! I had no idea how we were going to get out. All of a sudden Prester popped us up we were cruising down the river soaking wet and laughing! Really wild!
Dinner at the Boathouse was yummy and we ate too much! Then we went to watch the bucking broncos, barrel rollers, riders and other cool cowboy stuff that I don't know the name of! Really fun!
Sunday we had a great breakfast and scurried over to watch the GS ladies kick butt at the Salida road race! I soooo miss riding with them and it was hard to watch and know that I missed an entire season. Ugh. Tasha, Kendra and others were completely hot and in the race!
The rest of the day will be reported in my wellness update later this week!