Dale and I decided that we would love to take the kids on a trip as they graduated. With the possibility of Elaine starting school right away we realized this might not work so well. We came to the conclusion that we would take them on a trip the summer of their Junior to Senior year. We let Elaine choose the trip. I was the lucky parent who got to join her. She choose a Grand Canyon white water rafting trip. Well it turned out to be one amazing trip. Our plane ride to Las Vegas was uneventful until we got to Vegas. Due to a severe thunderstorm our plane had to circle Vegas for over an hour. We were then diverted to Ontario, California to refuel. Not exactly planned. I have to admit at this point I was starting to get a little concerned. I didn't leave us a ton of wiggle room before our rafting trip started. We were getting picked up from the hotel lobby in the morning. After sitting in Ontario for over an hour we were finally given clearance to leave again. I was starting to go through alternative methods to get us to Vegas in time. I did get a phone call off to the hotel to make sure they didn't give our room away. We got into Vegas airport at 11 pm. By the time we got to our hotel I was ready for bed, but when accompanied by a hungry, excited teenager, sleep is not always first in line of priorities. We headed out to the MGM where we had "spectacular" service for dinner. Elaine found it all exciting and amazing. By the time we got back to the hotel and to our beds it was 12:30 am. They upgraded us to a two room suite. We were a little sad we didn't have time to enjoy it. Did I mention they picked us up at the hotel lobby at 5:00 AM. We got about 3 hours sleep. After meeting the agent in the lobby we were wisked off to a small airport. We rode in a small 20 passenger plane to the Marble Canyon launch point. I will say I dozed a little on the flight. Elaine woke me to see the spectacular view of Marble Canyon as we approached the airport. We landed uneventfully and met the rest of our group. (Elaine found it quite humorous that the first whole day of conversation included, Where are you from?)
I must say I missed my camera. The views were spectacular. I tried to get a few pictures but they didn't come out great. One of the other issues we had is when we were on the boat, we got wet. We also were rained on every day. According to the guide, monsoon season showed up a couple weeks early. Our guides were great. One of the guides, Marty, had been a guide for 20 years. He had quite a sense of humor. We got up at the crack of dawn every morning. When someone asked him what time the sun rose he said "When it come up." Well how is that for an answer. Our other guide was Riley. She had been working the river for 7 years, but spent every summer on the river with her parents since she was little. She was a hippie in every way. She had blonde dread locks to the middle of her back. She was a sweet girl and a lot of fun. We met some great people from all over the United States.
Our first day we stopped at a huge cavern. It went back quite a ways. When we got there some people were playing badminton in it. Sadly the picture doesn't really show how vast it was.
Did I mention I really missed my camera. It was views like this that the little camera I brought just wouldn't capture the incredibleness of it. (Is incredibleness a word?)
This was a view from one of the hikes we took on day 2. Our guide said he would only take us on this hike if it was overcast and early in the morning. We got lucky on both counts. The hike took us to some old Anasazi grain bins in the side of the cliff.
The grain bins were on the side of the cliff. This is Nick, one of our trip friends, sitting on the side of the cliff. If you don't like heights (which I don't) it was a little intimidating. One thing we learned early on our trip was the river terminology. If a hike included "scrambling" that meant that we were going to be scaling rocks and mountain sides. I didn't regret it though, I just didn't look straight down.
Elaine sitting at the top by the grain bins.
Later that same day we hiked up the Little Colorado river. The color was almost a kool-aid blue and much warmer that the Colorado River. We put our lifejackets on like diapers and rode the rapids while swimming. It was refreshing and a lot of fun. Elaine, of course, was the first one down after watching our guide. I didn't get pictures because I didn't know if we were going to have a place to put it while we played in the water.
Our first big storm hit as we were setting up camp. The first night we spent under the stars and got rained on a little. We just curled under our tarps and kept sleeping. The second night our guide suggested a tent. He could see a storm coming. Quite hilariously, Elaine and I were the tent pros. Most of the people in our group didn't know how to set them up. We helped many of them set up their tents. Then we tried to set up our tent in a blowing sand storm. Not very easy. Once we go it "up" we went to the canyon wall and climbed up to a small hole in the wall. We watched a spectacular thunder and rain storm in the shelter of the wall with a few of the other people.
Another hike we took was to this little waterfall. It was so pretty. We were able to swim in the swimming hole and go through the little cave. Then we would climb up the rocks inside to the opening at the top and jump.
This is what our boats looked like. We had two in our group. It was amazing the amount of stuff they loaded onto these boats. This picture was taken while we pulled off to the side of the river. I couldn't figure out why we pulled off. The cliff side was really cool, but I could see how we could climb it. Then I realized that he saw a storm coming. About two minutes after taking this picture we were caught in a heavy down pour. The cliffside helped shield us a little.
Enjoying the day.
Trying to keep the rain off. Why? Who knows we were wet anyway.
Riley our guide trying to get our little friend out of our tent. We found the little critter in our tent as we were taking it down in the morning.
Our little friend. I must say that night I didn't sleep too well.
Hiking in a narrow canyon. Beautiful!
One of the waterfalls we hiked to. Elaine got a bad sunburn the day before. It slowed her down a bit so we enjoyed part of our day in the cool mist of the waterfall. If we weren't in the water we dried off quickly. Marty said it was about 110 in the canyon.
Elaine battling the force of the waterfall, trying to get under it.
I made it under for about 2 seconds. The water hurts when if falls that far.
Keeping out of the sun as best as we can.
Hiking the hot rocks down to the boat.
Our river names for the trip.
Havasu. I think we discovered a new sport this trip. Wet sandal hiking. We scaled cliff sides in our Tevas and Keens.
This hike didn't include "scrambling".
This was another hike up a side canyon. The water was this murky red color and warm. Elaine was brave enough to venture in.
Elaine and Shawnee, in the hat, explored a little. They disappeared behind the rocks. After about two minutes we heard some whispers and then some screaming. The three of us on shore just started laughing. They peeked around the corner and couldn't believe we were laughing and not at all concerned. I have to say, I know my daughter's screams. Our guide Marty, decided we needed to head back down the canyon. He didn't like the look of the skies. We had discussed the concern of flash floods. About 2/3 of the way out we got caught in a rain storm. It quickly turned into horizontal rain pelting us like hail. It hurt and we couldn't see where we were going. We finally got back to the boats but couldn't go any where because the storm was too bad. We were drenched by the time we got back but hid behind bushes to keep the rain from hitting us too hard.
Marty was kind enough to get us sun umbrellas from the boat to help keep the rain off.
Some of the group just stood out and enjoyed the thunder, lightning and rain. After about a good 20 minutes of heavy rain we started seeing waterfalls all over the canyon walls. Words can't even describe how in awe we all were.
When we all got back on the boat, we were just in time to witness a flash flood coming out of one of the canyons. It was incredible. I tried to get a picture, but it is hard to capture the tremendous force coming out. We saw two more flash floods, these in turned turned the river a red color. Amazing to see all of it. Our guide said that in the 20 years he has been running the river, he has only seen 4 storms like this. He said we saw some amazing things this week. After the huge rain storm we rode the biggest rapids of the week. We got to camp drenched and ready to be dry, but we still had to weather one more rainstorm. Being dry is over rated anyway. (Not really) I think we spent most of this trip damp if not soaked. We had a full day of rapids. At one point I had to grab Elaine before she was swept off the boat in a series of wave. It is sad that we couldn't get pictures of it all, but it is a great memory I will never forget.
The last morning we were flown out in a helicopter. Another first for me. It felt a little like a roller coaster with no tracks.
Waiting at the Whitmore International Airport, north concourse, gate A for our plane to take us back to Vegas.
A beautiful view from the ranch overlooking the canyon.
One of the things I was sad I didn't get a picture of was the groover. This was the portable toilet that was set up in camp every night. It was typically set up in a private area so those in camp couldn't see it. But if you were sitting there you had a perfect open view of the river. If anyone else happened to come down river, you were out in the open. I must say though the views were gorgeous. One of the men on the trip put it perfect, "I don't know if I should fee like a king, or feel like I am being teased."
I am happy to report that after 5 showers I no longer have sand everywhere. It made a good seasoning on the food also. Elaine and I had a great trip and enjoyed just about every moment of it. I know I didn't cover 90% of what we did, saw, enjoyed, laughed at and experienced. We met some wonderful people and made some great friends. I hope to do it again someday with my wonderful husband.
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