Every year for the past three or so years my Aunt and Uncle go white water rafting at Alta Lake with a gaggle of friends and family members. They camp, feast and white water raft several miles away from the camp site every day! Normally they number anywhere from 40 to 80 people in total, it's a sight to see.
This year I was lucky enough to get the time off to be able to attend, along with Jimbo, Cory and Amanda. Poor Daniel was busy studying for finals for his spring quarter, but he managed to make it up for the last two days festivities.
This was my first white water rafting experience... needless to say, I'll definitely be attending next year. Maybe next year we can get Daniel to join us for the rafting (his poor toe).
(Above): Amanda taking a picture of me... taking a picture of her! The insanity!
Cory and Amanda posing in front of their tent. Yes... I claim him as my brother. ;) Hehe!
Jimbo relaxing at the camp site. In the background you can see how spacious the camp area was. There were a few tents when we got there, but a lot more showed up later on!
When we arrived and set up our tents, everyone else was already white water rafting.
In order, left to right: Jimbo's tent, Cory & Amanda's tent, My tent! Later on my tent was upgraded to a BIG tent once Daniel arrived... there's no way it would have held both of us and the dog.
An alternate view of the camp site. Later on, the area in front of the logs was filled with vehicles.
This is Aunt Jodi and Uncle Jere's new puppy, Hailey. She hung out with Jim for a while before she moved on to splashing in nearby puddles.
A few folks visiting around the kitchen area. They set up one large kitchen area and people take turns cooking meals for everyone, it's great.
Uncle Jere and a few friends.
Hangin' out.
A few more people had trickled in by the evening. I don't think I have a picture of it, but the whole left side of the area was later filled with tents, too.
This was indeed a curious sight to see... I guess the Dogs were having a party of their own.
My counsin Jake was caught off guard by the camera. Behind him are his girlfriend, Anna, and her friend. Off to the left is my goofy brother. Oh, I suppse you can see Amanda's arm in the corner, too... just noticed that. Hehe.
More hanging around the kitchen area. We must have been hungry.
The fire at night. It sure gets dark out in the woods. :)
Preparing for our rafting adventure. We had a community pile of wet suits and dry suits. Thank goodness, we all ended up getting a suit of one type or the other!
Preparing the rafts, securing the gear, and going over safety and rescue procedures (thankfully which we didn't have to use).
The launch site.
Uncle Jere preparing. He was our boat captain. He did an amazing job. Thanks for keeping us safe Uncle Jere.
Cory strutting his stuff in his wet suit... which was on backwards at the time.
Anna let me borrow her lucky hat. I'm pretty sure that hat helped me stay dry that day, in more ways than one!
We took turns practicing throwing the safety buoy... it's the blue device with the rope dangling from the raft. Originally it looks like a puffy blue bag with a small handle on it, but when you throw it, it deploys a rope that can be grabbed onto and wrapped around/clipped onto your person. Uncle Jere's was a modified football safety buoy, hehe.
Into the water we go! As you can tell, the water was very high - we had recently received a lot of runoff from the mountains due to the hot weather. Thank goodness we had very experienced rafters and captains with us.
My view from the raft. Amanda and I were the pickles in the middle, while Cory and Jim manned the front.
Uncle Jere and Aunt Jodi (left) and a friend of theirs were at the back of the raft. She and her Husband were a blast; he was behind us in a kayak.... he kayak'ed through these crazy waters!! I couldn't believe it.
I took this picture to show that half of your body literally hangs off the side of the raft when you're on the sides of the raft. You straddle the side of the raft and hang on to a nearby rope for dear life when going over rapids. You're also responsible for rowing (and not losing your paddle, hehe). I was positioned on the raft in the same place as the gal in the black and white life vest is.
We definitely saw our fair share of drenchings.... poor Cory got the brunt of the water a few times. This was when we were still mostly dry.
I'm not sure that you can tell, but we were going over a "hole" when I manically snapped this picture. Thank goodness for waterproof cameras.
This picture doesn't do the rapids justice... they were awesome (and scary)!
We broke for lunch just before the worst part of the rapids. Thank goodness, because a lot of us needed to dry out and recooperate. Poor Cory was borderline hypothermic from taking too many blasts to the legs and chest from the water. We warmed him up and outfitted him with better gear during lunch.
Sun bathing and conversing in between bites.
Cory (currently trying to warm up on a big sun baked rock) and Amanda.
Don't mind my ridiculous commentary in the video... I'm such a dork. :)
Me guffawing about something.
Aunt Jodi and Uncle Jere looking as cute as ever.
Father and Son.
Apparently a temporary shrine was erected from random bottles and items. They named it but I forget what it was called.
Jimbo telling a story.
We had so much fun.
Hehe, Jake and Jere being silly. Never a dull moment with the Weyrauchs!
The girls fell over while having their picture taken.
My attempt to take a picture of Jake and the girls on their raft.
At last, our trip came to an end and we had the arduous task of pulling all of the rafts back onto trailers and trucks.
Amanda dumping the water out of her shoe.
Wet Apollo! He learned to swim in Alta Lake (the rapids are elsewhere, not at the lake)!
Apollo looking like he just told the punch line of a joke.
Daniel, Me, Cory (background...) and Jake.
A view of Alta Lake.
Sadly, only one of these videos will post. The other is too long, so I'll have to see if I can post the entirety on facebook instead.
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