Today was "RAft'nReins.
First came Raft: Through Brown's Canyon on the Arkansas River. This is the most rafted stretch of river in the entire US, but we picked the right rafting company. They were fantastic! They got us out early, ahead of everyone else, it was just us and one other boat, and we felt like we had this beautiful river to ourselves. We encountered The Zoom Flume (see photograph), The Staircase Rapids, The Big Drop, Toilet Bowl, Wakeup Rapids, Pinball, Widowmaker, the Graveyard, and a whole bunch of other named and graded rapids. Young Adventurer sat back and made himself an expert on what makes a rapid class I, II, or III. The Zoom Flume was a III.
As the boat headed for shore, the kids jumped out and swam the rest of the way, then shivered on the bus ride back to the Adventure Company office, where we were served a fantastic lunch cooked by our awesome guide, Kara. She and the other guide were both Californians, and used words like "rad" and "gnarly" to describe the various rapids. They also described the area to us on the way back--pointed out the glacial moraine, the chalk cliffs, told us about the mountain ranges--really interesting.
After lunch on to part two--the Reins...
We got to know the horses over the course of our two-hour ride. Adventurer Two rode the white one, named Casper, who had a pink nose, and bluish eyes. He also had exactly one speed--slow, and liked to walk just off the trail, rather than actually following in the footsteps of the horses in front of him. He loved to make his rider run into the bushes and trees around him. Adventurer Two learned to steer her horse the fastest because of this. Venom rode the paint, who went by the name of Prince T. He liked to eat grass, and it was the second prettiest horse of our bunch (mine took the prize for beauty). Pard carried Young Adventurer safely over the trail. He was a very young 35 years old and a handsome dude. He also liked to eat (these horses know when to take advantage of inexperienced riders) and at one point had two very large black and yellow long-stemmed daisies dangling from his mouth. Danjo rode Chili, the speed demon, who liked to walk just a bit faster than the horses in front of him, but was obedient to the reins. Shadow, my mount, was a very pretty saddlebred who didn't like being in back, except that it afforded her the opportunity of rubbing her head on the backside of the horse in front of her. I think she was disgusted to have me as a rider, because it meant she didn't get as many trailside snacks as the others. When you have to "walk through fields of green" like this, going snackless is a big disappointment.
The other obvious thing? Young Adventurer will someday have many pets. He made friends with his horse, everyone else's horses, and several barnyard cats, including this one who was too asleep to reciprocate.
Dialogue of the day:
Trail Guide Kevin (for the 27th time-to one kid or another): "Don't let your horse eat the grass!"
Young Adventurer (for the 39th time): Why?
TGK:"How about because I said so?"
YA (pulling hard but ineffectively on the reins and kicking the edge of the saddle because his legs weren't long enough to kick the actual horse): "But he's really hungry!"
[horse is chewing on a large mouthful of grass and flowers with a pleased expression]
TGK: "He's not hungry. These horses are very well fed, and letting him eat just slows us down."
You should have seen us clear the table at dinner. We also watched some Kayakers on the river trying to head upstream through rapids, and watched a couple of deer (10 points on one) graze in front of the historical museum before we went back to the hotel and collapsed.
All told, a very fantastically pleasant Sunday.
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