I need to get on here first and talk about today's first because Taylor's blog won't be as positive as mine. We had a joint first today - whitewater rafting. I bought the groupon on Day 8. It was my first time buying a groupon. I had been whitewater rafting back when Taylor was a teenager. It was before 1998 but I don't remember exactly when. We went up on the Pigeon River near the North Carolina border. Taylor did not really enjoy it. She fell out of the boat and had to be recused by our guide. He was so calm when she bounced out. Marian and I were panicking but he just leaned over and plucked her back into the boat. I had a great time then so I wanted to make sure and try it again. This time we went on the Ocoee. This is where they held the Olympic competitions when they were in Atlanta. It is in Benton, Tennessee. Taylor was not thrilled with going but she sucked it up and came with me, Marian and Josh. Our guide's name was Matt and the company was Sunburst. (It was a great company.) Matt was in his first year as a guide. He was great though. Very entertaining. Josh was sitting up front. He wanted to make sure he got wet. Marian and I were right in front of the guide and Taylor, or Queen Bee as Matt called her, sat right next to our guide. Taylor explained she had fallen out last time, so she was nervous. Matt assured her he would take care of her. I guess you know what happened. Not even a quarter mile into the trip, on an easy part, Taylor, Marian and our guide all bounced out at the same time. The five of us left in the boat were lost for a minute but Matt started yelling instructions to us. He caught up with us and got back in. Josh grabbed Taylor and got her back in but we passed by Marian. Guide Apolo grabbed her and hauled her into his boat. She stayed with him for a while before rejoining us. I truly enjoyed the morning. Then we had lunch at this quaint little grill Matt recommended. It was such a great day.
I knew mom would make sure she blogged first about the day. Because she was right, my experience would not have been written about in the positive way mom did. As mom recapped the history of our rafting experience, we have been before and I didn't enjoy that trip so I wasn't overly excited about this go around. I even made the statement that I was more nervous about rafting than I was skydiving. I truly believe had Aunt Mary, our guide and I not been tossed out so early on I would have had more fun. But since it happened so close to the start, I was terrified the entire rest of the trip. The only thing I could think of while floating (not so gracefully and terrified out of my mind) thru the rapid was that I had to keep my feet up and stay on my back. I kept hitting rocks with my feet so all I could think about was how my feet were going to get stuck in the rocks and I would either die or lose a limb (morbid, I know). Every rapid after I flew out I leaned in as close to Matt as possible and tended to grab a hold of Matt or of Aunt Mary once she got back in our boat. The last 2 rapids before we were done were category 4s. I wasn't about to go thru those sitting next to Matt. I promptly asked if I could sit in the boat and he happily agreed. So I plopped my butt down on the bottom of the raft between josh and another girl. I was stuck in place but I sure did inhale A LOT of water doing that. But at least I wasn't out of the raft doing so. Words can't even begin to desribe how happy I was when we finished. This is definitely not a first I enjoyed and more than likely won't be something I ever do again.
Here is a picture of mom and I when we got done.
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