The trip began Friday afternoon with a 1000 mile trek in our family suburban toward our final destination. We were clean, happy and excited to be going on such an epic adventure with the entire family.
Well, for the most part we were happy. I can see that McKenzie is elbowing Ben in this picture. You may not be able to believe this, but our kids fight over seat spacing in the suburban. One of the most repeated quotes on the trip was said by Jordan in the first 50 miles of the trip to Mckenzie, "Kenz...you just don't understand how BIG I am." And the fighting over the seating was often followed by one of the kids saying, "Guys, do you want Mom to have to tell the story of how her family used to travel 16 hours together to Utah in a small mini-van again?" Yes, I often remind my children how spoiled they are to have such a spacey (is that a word?) vehicle to travel in. They have no idea the pain I suffered as a child sitting next to my sister's prickly legs or to smell the toots from eggy 1 and eggy 2 as they were affectionately known on those long days. The first day in the vehicle was pretty good. We had to remind Ben to keep his voice low, which is extremely difficult since we finally discovered, from our friend TJ, that Ben has a disability...voice immodulation disorder. We also had to remind Ben to slow down and put his sentences together properly after he stated to us, "Jordan is always the source of the cause of fighting." Now, if you know Ben, you know he is a very smart, talented young man. We tease him about his intelligence a lot. This all originated from a wrestling trip he took with his brother, Jordan, last year when his coach was bragging to all the high school wrestlers about how smart Ben was. He was bragging so much that the older wrestlers (Ben was the youngest wrestler on this trip) finally asked Ben what his IQ was and Ben replied as proud as can be, "a 4.0". Yes, he mistook his GPA for his IQ, a mistake that none of Jordan's friends have let Ben live down.
Now, lest Ben be the only one we pick on in the car trip, know that later in the day, Jordan told McKenzie, "Don't touch my legos!" Yes, we thought it was a little wierd for our 17 year old to be playing with legos. However, when we found out what he was building (a bicep lego band) and for what purpose (to see if he could break it when he flexed) it all made so much more sense.
Friday night we stopped in Orem to break our trip up. We stayed in a nice hotel but had to ask for more shampoo and Brad had the brilliant idea to ask for lotion, so he could bring small lotions for our dry skin on the trip. Unfortunately for Ben, he was the one Brad asked to get the lotion and the hotel clerk gave him the stink eye assuming the worst when a 13 year old boy asked for 7 more lotions. It's too bad I didn't think of going down with him to give him some more credibility. Also, while at the hotel, we almost lost our Jake as he decided to go back to the hotel room after breakfast by himself. He wandered the halls about 15 minutes trying to remember where we were.
The next morning, on our way to Idaho Falls, we stopped at Cabela's to make some last minute camping purchases and to tour the store. The Cabela's in Lehi (I think it was Lehi) had a HUGE aquarium and some cool animals(stuffed) all over the store. The kids loved it for the first while but got bored about 20 minutes in while Brad and I were still perusing. We were on opposite sides of the store when all of the sudden, I hear a sudden barrage of "Pop....pop, pop, pop...pop, pop" echoing through the store. It sounded like an ammunition depot. Without even looking up, and on opposite sides of the store, both Brad and I knew that it was our kids and that they had found the pop guns. Instantly I sought them out to end the embarrassment I felt, while Brad just pretended he didn't know them. Arriving at Kenzie's side, she said to me smiling, "That was us signaling you! How'd you like that? You came right to us. That was genius Jordan!" On our way out we ran into our beloved dental assistant who moved away, Tianna, and her husband! Go figure, in all of Salt Lake, without even letting her know we were there, we get to see her. Sometimes it is such a small world. It was a happy reunion.
We arrived in Idaho Falls early Saturday afternoon and we all got to spend some time at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
While there, we shopped a little more to prep for the trip, loaded our coolers up and enjoyed the warm, light evenings(I forgot how long it stays light in Idaho) with good company. I took the kids to see our first home where Jordan and Kenzie were born too. That was a fun jog down memory lane for me.
Finally, Monday morning came, and we all loaded in the car again to head to Stanley Idaho. The favorite quote of the day came from Ben again when he said, "Dad, sometimes I feel like Legolas because I like trees so much." Yes, that's Legolas, prince of the Woodland Realm, master bowman with keen eyesight and sensitive hearing. He also happens to have long blonde hair. So, what did we do for the rest of the trip? Ask him continually around every corner, "Bengolas, what do your elf eyes see?"
We stopped in Stanley to leave the keys for the car shuttle and get some memorabilia. The sight of the mountains in the distance was beautiful.
We had to travel a long, dirt road to get to the put in at Boundary creek and on our way in we saw a huge herd of Elk off in the meadows.
We arrived at the campground early so we decided to take a short drive to see Dagger Falls where we got to see the Chinook Salmon jump upstream. The size of the salmon we saw jump up the falls took as all by surprise. They were so big!
That night was the coldest night for sleeping. Brad had set up one tent for Jordan and Ben and asked the rest of us if we wanted to sleep in the trailer. Of course, I wasn't going to say no and Jake and Riley joined us. McKenzie wanted to try out the hammock and see how it was to sleep in that. She set it up and went to bed. Brad and I both told her that if it got too cold to join us in the trailer. The next morning when she woke up, she jumped out of the bed and said,"I won! I conquered!" When I asked her what she had won she explained how cold she got and said that she just lay there thinking, I'm tough...I can do this." Our friend John Scott, who was also sleeping in a hammock (and whom told us that hammocks are extremely cold without a special pad in the bottom to keep you warm, which he had for himself) said that he could hear her teeth chattering in the night. Crazy girl! But I guess she did win a test of toughness. I was just glad she didn't freeze to death. The next night Ben slept in the hammock in much warmer temperatures but I was so worried about him I woke him up at three in the morning to check on him. He was fine.
We put in the river Tuesday morning at Boundary creek and headed out for our adventure.
We rowed five days. Each day had a different number of miles we had to put behind us. Day 1 was 28, Day 2 was 30, Day 3 was 12, day 4 20 and day 5 was 9. I would try to explain it all, but no words can describe the beauty we saw and the fun we had. I especially liked the first camp because it was at indian creek ranger station and actually had a bathroom. Granted, it wasn't a flushable toilet but it wasn't a port-a-potty either. It was a compost toilet and it was pretty dang nice. Here are some different pictures from all the different days of travel.
Brad and Kenzie at one of our great camps strike a pose. Sun's out. Guns out!
Our newest role model for all my kids, Nick, rowing his duckie. He has long hair like Bengolas.
Jordan rowing Kenz downstream, he was a little back heavy. In fact we were all a little heavy.
A small set of rapids...this river, unlike the green, seems to have constant rapids and ripples. It was a lot of fun and moved us through the river quickly.
Kenzie standing up on the tubes, gladiator style, to show how tough she is.
Pistol creek rapid is a nasty little S turn rapid that slams you into a cliff if you're not ready.
Funny story for the pictures below. We were at Marble rapid. Nick, the one in the duckie, was running behind Hayden, the one in the cataraft. Hayden's boat was stuck surfing on a rapid when Nick's duckie went through. The duckie shot under the raft. Nick grabbed the frame of Hayden's boat and let the duckie go so he wouldn't get stuck under the boat. Then he had to climb up and row the cataraft on top of the duckie. It took some quick thinking to get them all through the rapid safely.
Jordan teaching Kenzie to row, screaming at the top of his lungs, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"
Brad teaching Ben to fly fish. He yelled at Bengolas a lot and reminded him repeatedly that he sucked SOOOO bad because he did not practice at home casting to motorcycle tire in the yard. I think Brad may have rowed twice the miles that the others did trying to get Ben to some good spots. After an entire day of no fish Ben complained that there were no fish in the river, so dad took the rod and in two casts yelled out, "FISH ON!" and handed the rod back to Ben. In the end Benners finally got warmed up and caught many fish over the next few days.
Nathan was the one that had the extra two spots in his boat allowing us to bring our entire family. He carried Riley and Jake for most of the journey and according to them...sang a lot of the songs from Moana. Especially, "You're welcome."
Nick let everyone try his duckie on the 2nd day. Ben hollering "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"
When it was Ben and Riley's turn they would row perfectly synchronized and sneak up on the boat and then....
splash, splash, splash. I think everyone was glad when they got out of the duckie.
Kenzie and I had a great time rowing together. I have decided that I need a duckie for my Christmas present this year...maybe a wet suit too. I may need it in our river. Ben yelled repeatedly, "YOUR ALL GONNA DIE!"
Lower Tappan rapids. We put Ben on the boat to help with weight in the front for Jordan. The rapid above this is pretty big and we wanted to be sure he was well balanced. Brad actually turned the boat backward halfway through Tappan falls so I could get an action shot of Jordan dropping in and then hit a big hole almost sending me in the river so no pictures of that little bit of excitement. So then I made up for it in Lower Tappan and snapped these pictures.
Brad decided Ben needed to practice his rowing skills. Brad and Ben had good fun teasing me that another huge rapid was just around the corner and "WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!"
Hats and sunglasses were worn by all. The sage was added to Kenzie's hat to help with the stink of us all after a few days un-showered. Actually, she just liked the smell. No one got too stinky as we swam every day.
Dad cooking dinner across from his favorite rapid cliffside where he flipped on his first MF trip.
Brad and the boys resting after a fun swim in the river where Brad's floating pad almost was swept away by the rapid we were camping near. WOW, LOOK AT THOSE ABS!!
Jordan enjoying his final meal on the river.
Loading up the boats the last day where the river runs through some of the biggest rapids and then Kramer.
John and Shelby our constant companions. Shelby may have starved if it weren't for our intervention.
Ben and Brad strike a pose together. Yes, he is kissing the R gun.
Riley and me ready for our final float the last morning.
Kenzie after her dip in the water at the final camp.
The second thing I didn't get a picture of was the shower that drizzles down from the hot springs. It was great to be able to wash off in warm water on the second day. I do have a cute picture from four years ago when Kenzie, Brad and Jordan went together.
And finally, the last thing that we got to do was hike up to a waterfall on the third day. It was up a canyon and in a meadow. The waterfall moved back and forth over a ledge above and we all got to rinse off in it again. It was so beautiful...and refreshing. Picture from Brad's trip in 2010
We pulled off the river Saturday morning and headed back home. On our way out, we ran into about 12 male big horn sheep that were just sitting in the middle of the road refusing to move.
We thought they would move as soon as the car drove up...but they didn't they just stood there staring at us.
To top off the trip, on our way home we had the special treat of seeing some more relatives. So glad we got to see so many we love.
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