I think I ran on pure adrenaline the whole day because 2 hours of sleep could not have carried me thru 5+ hours of white water rafting! (+ 1 cup of coffee + 1 McD's sausage egg McMuffin)
I went to bed at 1:30 AM and woke at 3:30 to get to bro's by 4:15. We left around 4:30 and barely got to White Water Voyages at Kern River in time (8 AM). This was also Elsa's first road trip and she did us proud, taking those curves up the mountain just perfectly.
Our trip began with some safety tips by the comedian trip guide. FBIL/b-day boy chose our guide, a dude with "Santa Cruz" hugely tatted across his upper back. I thought it was lame (I'm a highly biased tattoo snob -- who thinks that getting a tattoo of my turtle is cool) but he turned out to be the best raft guide! They kept calling him Jenkins, which made me think of Sammy Jenkins from "Memento," but that was supposedly also his last name; first name made me think of (r) from Latham, but just pronounced in a different way. Our group of 14 got split up amongst the 5 rafts so bro, FBIL, and I sat with a BF/GF couple also from LA (they both go to CSULA also!). I felt soOOoOOoO bad for the GF b/c she didn't know how to swim and was absolutely terrified. Unfortunately, she sat with us/me, the girl who LOVES going to roller coaster drops with both hands up. My dad would be so mad at me if he knew all the crazy things we did during the trip!
So, I sat behind my bro on the left side and pretty much followed his strokes. Unfortunately, the sweet girl sat behind me and just couldn't get in sync with us the whole trip! Thank God we had to wear helmets b/c homegirl actually hit my helmet twice with her paddle. Hm...unless it was b/c she was mad at me for always egging the guide on to bring us thru the crazier "holes." :D So, we did two trips that worked it's way up to Class IV rapids before lunch! I even rode "the bull," which was basically sitting at the bow of the raft, hanging onto the perimeter line for dear life, riding through some rapids. It was awesome!
Oh, I also managed to get thrown out of the raft. Yeah! I couldn't stop laughing while I was in the water b/c weirdo me thought it was hilarious! What also ran through my mind was how my bro was probably terrified beyond relief (hey, my brother loves and cares for me to pieces). FBIL quickly scooted across the raft (he was seated next to me), and tried to rescue me the absolutely wrong way, as we were just schooled half an hour earlier; he grabbed my foot! Haha! Our guide, JJ, started tripping out and was like, "No! Grab the lapels!" as he lunged forward but totally ate it (I found out later). Thankfully, FBIL yanked me up from out of the waters as I continued to laugh hysterically like a madwoman. I thanked FBIL and then apologized to my bro for scaring the daylights out of him.
If you were going through those rapids pictured on the right, wouldn't you get thrown out? JK, those are Class V, which we were not trained to go through. Secretly, I'm still laughing, thinking about that experience. I'm not surprised that I'm the only one that got thrown out of that raft through the whole trip. I like to think that I'll be the one that things do NOT happen to, but knowing me -- and as friends will attest -- things always happen to me. Kind of like how things always break around me. ;) I secretly prayed that homegirl wouldn't get thrown out b/c I can't imagine how terrifying any part of the trips must have been for her.
Lunch was a nice spread along a creek. All of the guides laid out deli meats, cheeses, veggies, and fruits in a beautifully appetizing way, and we made our own sandwiches. I love sandwiches and eating, but I hate those kinds of meal experiences b/c I know that I'll be one of the first to begin eating (I was actually the 3rd to make a sandwich out of 30 people) and be the last one to finish by a mile stretch. Heck, I didn't even finish my sandwich and I still finished eating about 10 minutes after the last person. To make it worst, I came to realize that I truly am a messy eater (good thing BF doesn't read this blog) and I make my meals look so unappetizing! Leave it to my bro to notice, but at least I admitted to him first before he teased me! So, we had those huge bread slices, the ones that are 1.5 size bigger than normal sandwich breads. Instead of eating my sandwich vertically, I attempt to eat my sandwich horizontally the whole time. So for the 45 minutes or so that I'm eating my sandwich, I held it with both hands the entire time. I only realized that when I looked at my bro's vertically eaten sandwich (my bro makes any food he eats, look soOOoOO appetizing like commercials).
After lunch, we did two more even crazier runs. The first was called "Pepsi" and our last run, the wildest, called Tequila. That was an appropriate name b/c I've always heard that Tequila brings out the worst in people or makes drunk people do the craziest things. Rafting through Tequila was insane, but soOOoO much fun! Through our 4 trips, JJ led us through the rapids as if we were freestylin on BMX bikes (yes, like the 80s). He had us doing 360s in the rapids!! He also had us do "flips" or what I like to think of as "wheelies." We all bum-rushed to the back of the raft, where he was, and then ride thru the rapids. B/c of the weight shift, our raft felt like we were gonna flip over! He also had us do the "circle of trust," where we all stood on the edge of the raft while holding hands, leaned backwards...and then he paddled us so we were again doing 360s.
Where the water was calm, I jumped out twice to go for a swim. The first time, I hung onto the perimeter line for dear life b/c I didn't want to suddenly get pushed out and have to have the whistle blown for me. The second time, I got a little crazier and managed to distance myself about 5 feet from the raft (wow). Of coure I couldn't get back in myself so JJ lifted my lapels until my feet were practically dangling in the air. Haha. I tried to lift my bro in, but he didn't want me trying; he probably thought that I'd head-dive into the water instead of pulling him into the raft.
Last but not least, of course I got sunburned!!! Actually, I didn't put anything on my blindingly pale legs so my legs are burned crisp (I was wearing pants earlier). I put sunscreen on too late so now I'm walking around home in my chonies, with Noxema and aloe vera caked onto my thighs. Pretty gross.
I'm soOooOOOOO glad my bro used his charming, not-shady-salesman techniques to persuade me to go on this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Although, I have a feeling that it'll be more than just once in this lifetime. :D
Update: P.S. I forgot to add that we saw a deer!!
1 comment:
put up pictures!!
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