Moab #2: A River Runs Through It

Initially the idea was that if we went to Moab on our vacation we could go on a multi-day river trip.  In the end we decided that a multi-day trip was too rich for our blood, but we did do some research to find a company that was highly recommended for a one day river trip.

We were disposed to like our river guides from the very beginning, when they were telling everyone where to go.  They directed the people standing near us to get on a bus and then they said “but not the Ray Party.  The Ray Party gets their own bus.”  Well how could we not like that?!?  The Ray Party we were, and we had a great time on our own bus.

The first time the kids and I went to Moab we drive in on a scenic highway that was alongside the Colorado River.  It was truly one of the most spectacular drives I’ve even taken, so I was thrilled to realize that this was where we’d be floating that day.  But forgive me—I am getting ahead of myself.  Before we got into the rafts, everyone got the chance to use the Google Earth toilet. 

With no roof on it, we were all able to wave at the satellites passing overhead.  Such fun.  We were also told that should we have any bodily needs while on the river, the “pollution solution was dilution.” 

The next thing that made us love our rafting guides was the raft configuration.  All of the adults must have been doing the math in the bus, because when we got out at the put in site we were all ready to ask the same question,

Can the adults go on a raft together without any kids??

To our great surprise and delight they said yes.  YES!!  And without further ado they loaded the teenaged boys into one raft, the girls plus the boyfriend into the next raft, and we adults loaded into the third raft.  And proceeded to have the Best. Day. Ever.  Seriously!

I have no idea what went on on the other rafts.  Every now and then there was a bit of craziness and someone jumped off a raft

or tried “riding the bull.”

Every now and then there seemed to be more people in the water than in the rafts.

We probably would have spent more time in the water, but the day was unexpectedly cloudy and cooler than normal.  The upside of that was that no one got sunburned, but the downside was that it was kind of chilly when you got wet and none of my pictures had a beautiful blue sky in them.  (Of course all of my pictures had to be taken with the purse cam anyway because I didn’t trust a dry bag to keep my big camera safe.)

Halfway through the day we stopped for lunch, where after we were admonished not to “hover” over the guides as they were preparing lunch we were treated to a feast of delicious sandwiches, wraps, and cookies.  We considered it especially significant that this was the first time they had ever brought avocado, since we consider avocado an important part of almost every meal we have together. 

We were also introduced to a new concept at lunch: microtrash.  Because so many river trips go through this area and pull up and eat on the beaches, it is important not only to pick up the big pieces of food that are dropped but also the tiny pieces.  As the guide pointed out, if we leave microtrash laying around that will bring ants, and ants will bring bigger bugs that want to eat the ants, then small animals will come to eat the bigger bugs, and before you know it there will be rednecks with guns everywhere!

After lunch we got back in the rafts for the rest of our trip. 

The kids did more playing and swimming and we adults just talked and talked and talked.  And looked at the beautiful scenery, and watched for blue herons (and lamented the lack of a long zoom with which to photograph them) and then talked some more.

We had a few minutes of excitement every now and then when we’d go through a little rapids, but they were all very small.  There was a professional photographer set up on a beach near one of the rapids and we bought some fun shots from him.

And I also remembered another funny thing from the river trip.  The other people who were taking the river trip the same day as us were all from Belgium.  The river guides explained that August was “Euro-month” in Moab.  Sure enough, everywhere we went we were surrounded by Europeans!

By the middle of the afternoon we were all waterlogged and tired, thoroughly happy with our day and ready to go back to the condo and take a nap.

 

One of the kids (who shall remain nameless) had been a little unnerved when he/she saw the total cost of our river rafting expedition.  After it was all over I would do it again in a heartbeat—that was one of the best days I’ve had ever.  Totally worth it!