So, this weekend, I drove down to West Virginia with my mom and my friend, Mallory. After "rear-ending" someone on the highway, an intense Target run, a Wendy's stop, and a few potty breaks, we pitched our tent in the dark (I held a light-so helpful). We then went to bed looking forward to the next day. Why? The next day, we were hopping on a bus to drive us to a river to go WHITE WATER RAFTING!!!! My adventure-nut self couldn't be more excited. So we bought my forgetful self some water shoes, crammed on a helmet, PFD (life jacket), grabbed a paddle, and we were OFF! Once we got to the river, we bounced around a few rafts until we got on one and pushed out onto the river. We paddled for about five miles of still water, learning to paddle, until we hit the first rapid. Now this one was pretty sweet; you could hop out of the boat and "swim" throught the rapid if you wanted to! I say "swim" in the quote marks because it was more like floating on your back, praying you didn't hit a rock, and try not to breathe a wave of water. Being me, I immediately handed my paddle back and slid in-being the first in the water. I rode the rapid on my back,inhaling more then a healthy amount of water- and that was just the first one! It couldn't have been more fun. Of course, getting back in the boat wasn't exactly easy. I hopped out of the water as much as Icould and a helpful person yanked me back in, giving me some major raft burns. Ouch. But after that we had some more super-exciting still water and some more rapids. Those rapids we had to stay in the boat and paddle until we were trough, which was still pretty sweet. There'd also be some praying you didn't fall out. Strong current+ big rocks = not good! And then, we got to the fun part: a little rapid called SURPRISE! Now, this rapid is ranked a three, but there's a reason it's called surprise. About halfway through, there's a giant wave that will build up, up, up, and then crash down. If you work it right, the raft will stand straight up on the wave for a bit. If you don't, then you flip. We only had three people fall out, one of whom was Mallory. She's all good; just got scared, and lost all her SillyBandz. I almost fell out, but not quite. I was disapointed that I hadn't. Riding the rapids is fun! Soon, we stopped for what was a pretty sweet lunch for cramming stuff into coolers. I had an "I'm a photography nerd" talk with someone for a bit, who had a nice little waterproof case for her camera. Not that I had any idea what I was talking about. So after eating some food and chilling in the lake, we set off again, through more still water and some rather small rapids, until we hit a number four. Now this one, after some paddling issues, I got ripped off the raft, along with my mom, into the river. Being me, I forgot all the safety stuff my guide had told me. I thankfully popped up right next to the raft, and our guide yanked me back in. My lucky mom got to swim the whole thing, but we got her back in the raft, after she lost her shoe. Couple more similair situations, minus me falling out, and we hit the biggest stretch of the trip. Two or three level four/fives in a row. Amazingliy, no one fall out through the massive rapids. We even survived the "Meat Grinder"! We rafted through one more "swimmer's rapid", called Thread The Needle. Two big rocks with a gap between them, and you go through the gap, hopefully. If not, you get laughed at because you failed. :) After Thread The Needle, we passed through one more rapid. On this one, someone could "ride the bull", sit on the front of the raft, if anyone wanted to. I was the lucky one in the raft who got to do it. I lasted about two seconds before I fell backward. Worth a shot. Once we got out off the river, we drove back to the campsite and hadd an uneventful rest of the trip. We pretty much justmade a fire (it took us ten tries-with a firestarter) and made s'mores. I had three, with perfectly raosted marshmellows. I say, if they don't catch fire, then you're not doing it right. We then drove home the next day, after eating at Tudor's Biscot World, which sounded much funnier before I knew how the name was spelled. Then I got welcomed home by my grateful cat and a beautifully oraganized bookshelf, thanks to my dad. All in all, I had a pretty epic weekend. I'll be snorting water out of my nose for the next week and a half, and it is so worth it.
Till next time, see ya, Fairylanders.
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