scar face.

yup. we fell out of the bleeping raft. couldn't have come at a better time... lodged between two rocks. good times. but i won't get ahead of myself.
friday september 22. jason's birthday. actually left on time. well, pretty much! couldn't believe that jay and chris were actually here at 9am. they so aren't the punctual pair! debated between two cars for a while. finally decided on the trusty minivan. woot, woot. we travel in style!
stopped in indianapolis to visit willie {the boy who was married in a barn}. able to catch up over lunch at a mexican restaurant and stopped in for a moment to see his new apartment.
then continued our journey to cincinnati. of course, it had to rain like crazy. had a few homeruns come our way. nick almost caught one. if only jason wouldn't have pushed him! made it through the 5th inning and then the game was delayed. after waiting an hour, they finally called it. we were WET!!!
see empty seats. nope, not us idiots. we sat there. jay is an avid cubs fan. a crazy one too! thought since it was his birthday we should keep him company. yeah, that was stupid...

my jeans were soaked. it looked like i was wearing chaps. and it was oh so comfortable...
went back to the hotel room. were going to go out for drinks but we were cold, wet, and tired. the boys got pizza and us girls passed out!
saturday september 23. drove the rest of the way to west virginia. made it to our campground safe and sound. it was crowded and noisy!! walked around and took in the sites. to see a zillion tents on platforms was kinda crazy. drove into town and got some necessities. alcohol. food. ice. it ended up raining all evening so we turned in early.
sunday september 24. our first day of rafting. had to be at breakfast by 9:30am. wasn't easy dragging myself out from under the comfy sleeping bags into the cold morning! and then we had to change into damp, cold wetsuits. blech. thought i would be more nervous. but i guess i really didn't know what to expect. all loaded onto a bus and drove about an hour to our drop off site... we were rafting the lower gauley river. had a kick ass guide, brad. he is starting his own business in costa rica. totally are putting that on our travel to do list.
weather stunk. was cool and rainy. i guess the rain doesn't really matter when you are gonna get wet anyway!
jas, started off the day bullriding. they attached a rope to the front of the raft and he tried to stay on the nose of the raft through some rapids. didn't do so well.
made it through the trip with no one falling out of the boat unintentionally. we even surfed the last rapid. way scary. way cool. kel, fell down and then we all went. but we all fell into the boat. brad, was a little disappointed that we didn't fall in, so one by one he started tackling us... right into the water. was a blast!!
those are my feet. kelly is on the right. jay and christy are on the left. haven't a clue where nick is. and brad is already back in the boat!
were freaking exhausted at the end of the day. went back to a much less crowded campground. ate dinner at the lodge and just vegged in front of the fire for a while...
monday september 25. were up early. had to be ready to go by 8:30 so that meant breakfast at 7:30. waited for quite some time for a few stragglers. so frustrating. sitting around in not the driest or warmest of socks and wetsuits. drove to the drop off site for the upper gauley. it was the gauley festival day. so a lot of the guides were off to participate in the race. curt was our new guide. not as friendly as brad. and went to indiana university. not necessarily the best guide for five boilermakers from purdue. but i think having brad our first day would have made anyone seem bad!
started off with no problems. then into our third or so rapid, not even a big one. only a class 3. we had a mishap. not sure if it was our paddling or our guide's driving... but we ended up lodged between two rocks. they were more specifically called toothpaste. i guess it's because you get the squeeze. and boy did we...
so we were stuck. curt had us all on one side of the raft to prevent it from tipping. then he wanted us to jump up and down. yeah, i'm not so sure i like that idea. i mean, we are wedged between two giant rocks... my head inches away. and you want me to jump. not to mention that i have kelly and nick on top of me. i just kept thinking 'this is not good.' next thing i know, i'm under water. i feel the boat on top of me with my foot stuck inside, a zillion rocks, and someone on top of me. they tell you when you go under it seems likes minutes. so i just thought that i should count to five, pull my feet up {the tell you to never stand up because you can get entangled in rocks and rope}, and threw my arms up trying to figure out if i was under the boat. i popped up away from the boat and the rocks and saw only jason and our guide, curt, still in the boat. jas pulled chris in and curt grabbed me. when i got in and finally realized what happened i looked out to the water and saw nick and kelly. everyone got back in. but not everyone came away without injury. me, nothing serious. my ankle hurt from being stuck under the seat. kelly, had some redness to her eye and lost a contact. pretty sure she's gonna have a black eye. nick was a bloody mess.
the picture was taken after i had already wiped blood off of his face and tried to hold the wound shut for a few minutes. didn't really think to take a picture... what was wrong with me?
ended up having to have some butterfly stitches applied. has quite the bump. but doing okay considering.
the rest of the day went off without a hitch. climbed some rocks by sweets falls to watch other rafters and some of the competing kayaks/duckies/rafts.

aren't we dead sexy in those stinking wetsuits... was so pretty just to sit there and take in the gorgeous scenery. the sounds of the river, the changing trees. very relaxing despite all the excitement that day.
nick road the bull. we ended on the same rapids that we started with sunday. he did way better than jason. stayed on the entire time. too bad it wasn't on video!
got back to the camp ground. made a fire and chilled. the boys and i tried to watch monday night football but fell asleep on the picnic tables outside!
made some killer smores with heath bars. yum. i love toffee! chris prefers reese's peanut butter cups and nick's chocolate of choice was a york peppermint pattie. look how yummy...

went to bed way early monday night. none of us could sit. the combination of tight wetsuits and bouncing on a raft all day doesn't make for a very comfortable bootay. super sore. wasn't really my arms or back. a little, but nothing terrible!
tuesday september 26. the journey home.
a whopping 8 hours in a car. i think it might have been more but we did stop to eat. played trivia, brain teasers, and tried to name all the state capitals/motos to pass the time. had everything unpacked and laundry going before we went to bed.

so that was it, i think. our first adventure in white water rafting. nick got a shirt that reads scars are tattoos with better stories. so true in this case. glad to be home. excited to think about doing it again next year. can't wait to watch the videos and look at the picture cds. might have some more action pictures to share then...

today didn't do much of anything. tried to do some dt layouts. not the greatest. ran to walgreens to get the underwater camera pics developed. vegged. so glad to have the day off. might have to look into that when we come back from los angeles. can't believe that is only a few weeks away!