Alrighty, on my birthday I said that I would like to go on a river rafting trip and this past Saturday I got to check that item off my list. Aaron and I drove three hours to Polk County to embark on a six hour trip down the Ocoee River. Aaron's mother Lisa and her boyfriend Andrew decided to join us so the four of us arrived at Ocoee Outdoors to
start our trip. I was a little nervous because Aaron told me that we are doing the "upper" of the river and "middle" because it was more strenuous. I don't know why he purposely puts us in the more advanced situations but I guess it's a great way to learn, just dive in! Well, we boarded an old school bus with a homemade platform on the top that held our rafts and we headed up river. When we arrived we met our guide Matt who Aaron used before when he went with the scouts about a month earlier. I sat on the front right because that's where Aaron told Matt that I wanted to sit (which was NOT true) and he sat on the front left. Now I know he wanted to sit next to me so that's why I HAD to sit in front. Well, the entire trip I felt like the boat was slightly slanted to the front left and I was right because I was the first one to hit the rapids almost every time! I didn't like that very much and offered to trade with Lisa but she didn't want that seat either. So I was stuck in the front. Anyway, Lisa, Andrew, and Aaron kept telling Matt to do his worst and Matt sure did. He had us "surf" the rapids and maneuver us so we would go down the roughest side of the river. Sure it was fun for them because I was the first one to hit it so if I survived then they are bound to as well! No, I can't say that I didn't have fun because I really did. I loved this part of the trip called "Table Saw" I felt like it was good clean fun not suicidal tendencies from the boat wanting to capsize us. We surfed this rapid once and I asked Matt if he can turn the boat the other direction next time because I was tired of having all the water spill over me so he did and Aaron got a taste of what I was dealing with every time they wanted to "surf". The one Aaron surfed was bigger than the others and it was stronger so Aaron was no match and he was sucked under and disappeared. Andrew finally saw his helmet and grabbed Aaron by the life jacket and pulled him
back into the boat. Lisa was screaming to get Aaron back in the boat and I silently watched but thought please have your eyes open and he did. He got back in the boat and thought it was a lot of fun to be thrown between the boat and a big rock. I am glad it was him that fell out because if it were me then I wouldn't have felt the same as he did. It did not look like fun to me. Halfway down the river Matt told us that this area was a great section to jump out of the boat and swim. We took that opportunity and jump in. The current was really strong and we just laid down in the water and the water took us downstream to lunch. It almost felt like water slide without a bottom. They feed us a great burger for lunch then we headed down river to get ready for Godzilla. Part of the upper river trip is going through the 1996 Atlanta Olympics water rafting course. There is a huge hole called Godzilla and everyone is nervous about going over it. Many walk around it but of course, we didn't. Seeing the Olympic course was awesome. The shore was maintained so meticulously and there were a lot of spectators watching all the rafter and kayaks conquer the course. I can honestly say that I was super nervous and that was because Matt told us that we DID NOT want to fall out here because it's pretty dangerous. That didn't help my nerves at all. We made it through..barely and we made our way down to the "middle". The trip was a lot of fun and Aaron is already talking about going back next year. It's only open four months out of the year because it's a controlled release river so the rest of the year it's a dry bed. I honestly can say that it was a great time and I enjoyed spen
ding some time with just my husband. While we were out having fun, the kids had fun playing with their friends and family. Donovan decided to play rough with Roxy about 15 minutes before we got the house to pick them up and he dive bombed Roxy off the couch and caught his eye on Roxy's head. We came into the house and Donovan was sitting at the kitchen table with a huge goose egg on his cheek and his eye swelled shut. This picture is from today so he's had about two and a half days to heal. He sure learned his lesson and told me he didn't want to jump onto Roxy anymore. Roxy really appreciated that lesson and she vows never to play that way with her brother again.
start our trip. I was a little nervous because Aaron told me that we are doing the "upper" of the river and "middle" because it was more strenuous. I don't know why he purposely puts us in the more advanced situations but I guess it's a great way to learn, just dive in! Well, we boarded an old school bus with a homemade platform on the top that held our rafts and we headed up river. When we arrived we met our guide Matt who Aaron used before when he went with the scouts about a month earlier. I sat on the front right because that's where Aaron told Matt that I wanted to sit (which was NOT true) and he sat on the front left. Now I know he wanted to sit next to me so that's why I HAD to sit in front. Well, the entire trip I felt like the boat was slightly slanted to the front left and I was right because I was the first one to hit the rapids almost every time! I didn't like that very much and offered to trade with Lisa but she didn't want that seat either. So I was stuck in the front. Anyway, Lisa, Andrew, and Aaron kept telling Matt to do his worst and Matt sure did. He had us "surf" the rapids and maneuver us so we would go down the roughest side of the river. Sure it was fun for them because I was the first one to hit it so if I survived then they are bound to as well! No, I can't say that I didn't have fun because I really did. I loved this part of the trip called "Table Saw" I felt like it was good clean fun not suicidal tendencies from the boat wanting to capsize us. We surfed this rapid once and I asked Matt if he can turn the boat the other direction next time because I was tired of having all the water spill over me so he did and Aaron got a taste of what I was dealing with every time they wanted to "surf". The one Aaron surfed was bigger than the others and it was stronger so Aaron was no match and he was sucked under and disappeared. Andrew finally saw his helmet and grabbed Aaron by the life jacket and pulled him
back into the boat. Lisa was screaming to get Aaron back in the boat and I silently watched but thought please have your eyes open and he did. He got back in the boat and thought it was a lot of fun to be thrown between the boat and a big rock. I am glad it was him that fell out because if it were me then I wouldn't have felt the same as he did. It did not look like fun to me. Halfway down the river Matt told us that this area was a great section to jump out of the boat and swim. We took that opportunity and jump in. The current was really strong and we just laid down in the water and the water took us downstream to lunch. It almost felt like water slide without a bottom. They feed us a great burger for lunch then we headed down river to get ready for Godzilla. Part of the upper river trip is going through the 1996 Atlanta Olympics water rafting course. There is a huge hole called Godzilla and everyone is nervous about going over it. Many walk around it but of course, we didn't. Seeing the Olympic course was awesome. The shore was maintained so meticulously and there were a lot of spectators watching all the rafter and kayaks conquer the course. I can honestly say that I was super nervous and that was because Matt told us that we DID NOT want to fall out here because it's pretty dangerous. That didn't help my nerves at all. We made it through..barely and we made our way down to the "middle". The trip was a lot of fun and Aaron is already talking about going back next year. It's only open four months out of the year because it's a controlled release river so the rest of the year it's a dry bed. I honestly can say that it was a great time and I enjoyed spen
ding some time with just my husband. While we were out having fun, the kids had fun playing with their friends and family. Donovan decided to play rough with Roxy about 15 minutes before we got the house to pick them up and he dive bombed Roxy off the couch and caught his eye on Roxy's head. We came into the house and Donovan was sitting at the kitchen table with a huge goose egg on his cheek and his eye swelled shut. This picture is from today so he's had about two and a half days to heal. He sure learned his lesson and told me he didn't want to jump onto Roxy anymore. Roxy really appreciated that lesson and she vows never to play that way with her brother again.
2 comments:
You are brave! It sounds like you had a lot of fun.
cool trip and I love dono cooking- way too cute! I like how he thinks he's smarter than Aaron!
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