Let's Go Rafting!

Here we are by the banks of the river, and everyone's ready, right?

Are you wearing clothes that can get wet?

--Check!

Are you wearing your life jacket (properly strapped on)?

--Check!

Do you have your paddle?

--Check!

Are you ready for an exciting and thrilling adventure?

--Check!

Good! I think/hope we're ready! So off we go!

As we're rafting along down the river, I'll tell you some of my rafting stories: The picture you see above is from the Bigfoot Rafting Company's website(http://www.bigfootrafting.com/index.html). The Bigfoot Rafting Company is located in Willow Creek, CA. And unless I have a worse memory than even I feared, this was the rafting company that guided our class' rafting trip when I was in the eighth grade (we only had 12 students in our seventh and eight grade classes that year, and small classes allow for fun class trips).

I really enjoyed rafting with this group, and it was great fun going down the rapids. I remember a time, though, when we were at a still part of the river. Taking advantage of the calm waters, we decided to play a game. (Now, if you've been rafting before, you will recall that the end of the paddle has a "T" shaped handle, as long as all rafting paddles are the same! This makes it easier to really grip the handle.) The group in my raft (including myself and some parents), all got up on the sides of the raft. There was enough room to stand on the sides (it was like standing on a semi-stable and rather large inner tube). Half of us were on one side of the raft, and half were on the other. We locked our "T"-grip handles with the person across from us and leaned back. (Yes, this was like a trust game.) Can you guess what happened next? This exercise surprisingly can work, but if one person falls off . . . well, generally all of the group falls off. Boy, was that river cold! Thank goodness for a nice parent who pulled me up out of the river and back into the raft!

But let me tell you, playing a game is not the only time when you're rafting that you can get wet! And sometimes, you have a choice to get as wet as you want. For example, when I went rafting with a group from camp Veritas (a Christian camp in Oregon that was mainly hosted at the college I am now attending, although it was not put on by that college!), we got to a spot where we could get out and float down a rapid. Yes, I said float down a rapid!

Feet first, flat on my back in the water, down this one rapid I went. It was a bit scary, to be honest, because the waves kept coming at me and I was hoping I would be able to get enough air to breathe. But as you can guess, I made it (and I think I should clarify that we were all still wearing our life jackets).

Overall, I've had some really fun times rafting. Going with a guided group allows for safety, as well as a good time!

I think we're at a calm spot in the river now. Anybody up for a trust game?