First Party!

Mr Blue Eyes attended his very first birthday party Sunday for one of his classmates. And not just any classmate but is his, "Best Buddy Girl Friend's" birthday party.

He was very excited to be invited to a party.
Sister was not very excited to NOT be invited to a party. 
Getting out the door was a bit of a struggle as she tried manipulating her younger brother into convincing me that she could go too. (she is way too smart for us.)

However, Handy Man and I agreed that it was important for Mr Blue Eyes to have his own experiences. Since the majority of his life he has been a tag-along to his sister.

The party was at a kids play place called Little Monkey Business. He spent the first half of the party jumping in a jumping castle and the other half playing a virtual game board on the floor - which seemed to attract every boy at the party. 

A few girls tried to jump into the fun. But all the boys were sweaty, wild and crazy. 

He was awesome at smashing mice and popping balloons. 

This little cutie is his "Best Buddy Girl Friend." 

Apparently all she talks about at home is Mr Blue Eyes. Her dad may or may not have grilled him a little while he was playing the video games. 

I am just glad we went with the spiky hair and not the mohawk today. I am sure he would have asked Mr Blue Eyes if he had any ink. 

Before leaving, Mr Blue Eyes said he needed to say good bye to his "Best Buddy Girl Friend." 

Good bye was code for I am going to give her a BIG old hug!

Yep... I am in sooooo much trouble!

Rocked By House Rock

Our second full day on the river proved to be the most exciting day of our entire trip.

We woke with the sun and packed up our camp. We had spent the night at Soap Creek, a small campsite that was just before the Soap Creek Rapid (5-6). There is nothing like starting your day at 9 am by jumping in a boat and getting splashed by cold water first thing. It is quite the wake up call.

It wouldn't have been so bad, but the actual sunlight that hits the canyon floor is very limited due to the steep canyon walls. So after getting soaked, we stayed in the morning shadow of the canyon walls for about an hour after that and it was pretty chilly. 

The morning was also the start of our decent into another layer of rock formations, the Toroweap Formation. This layer averages about 255 million years old and is composed of pretty much the same material as the Kaibab Limestone above but it is darker in color.

A little farther down from Soap Creek, I took the oars down Brown's Riffle (2). On July 9, 1889, the President of the Denver, Colorado Canyon and Pacific Railroad, Frank Mason Brown, drowned at this point when the boat he was in capsized. He was not wearing a life jacket. Thankfully, this riffle was just a few little splashes for Handy Man and Matt in our big, 18 foot raft - and we all had life jackets on!

Handy Man took the oars back for Sheer Wall Rapid (2-3). It looked a little bigger to me and I did not feel like poking a hole in our boat today. The walls were lined with sharp, jagged rocks jutting out into the river.

Amazing and beautiful, they were worn from millions of years of rushing current. 

Seventeen miles into our river trip we finally came to House Rock Rapid (4-7)- The second largest rapid in the Canyon I would get to see this week. House Rock was a household name. I had heard many stories about House Rock already. When Handy Man was just 11 on his first trip down the river in 1992, Matt was unable to skirt around the last large hole on the left side of the river that forms at most water levels. As Matt hit the hole head on and the raft wavered, Handy Man was pitched overboard.

We had a Grand Canyon movie night at my in-laws the week before we left. I was able to watch the old VHS video of my husband's 11 year old little body getting pitched over-board and then seconds later towed out of the water by his father.

House Rock already had some history with this group.

This was definitely a rapid the guys planned to scout carefully. 

There was something about the way they watched the water and talked about the rapid that comforted me. But I honestly did not want to know all the details. I think ignorance is bliss sometimes.

They let Handy Man go first. In fact, it was becoming a pattern on all the bigger rapids that Handy Man and our boat was the designated "Crash Test Dummies."

House Rock Rapid is the first significant drop that awaits boaters as they make their way through the upper reaches of the Canyon. It has a reputation as the first taste of big water and it has a way of surprising people. The rapid makes a broad right bend, pushing most of the water towards river left, where two bus-sized holes await to devour anything and everything.

This is the monster hole at the bottom!

So in we went! I had my Oh Crap Straps in hand, my helmet on tight and I was praying not to go swimming! That Handy Man amazed me in his skill and natural ability to read the water and respond without even thinking or second guessing himself. We managed to miss both holes on House Rock and come out unscathed - just a little wet. Okay, a lot wet - but we didn't go swimming.

The down size of always going first is that no one was there to take our pictures. But we sure got some great shots that day!

Here is Kenny and Oken

Last down was Craig, Ben and Josh. Josh had taken the oars all day and was exited to run House Rock. Handy Man and Kenny managed to pull off in an eddy at the bottom of the rapid so that we could video Josh's run.

The run started off pretty good. And then... well I will let you see what happened!

The shore got very frantic very fast. 

Once Matt had seen them start turning sideways into the hole, he ran for our boat, jumped in and started rowing against the eddy to perform a rescue. He later said he didn't even need to look back to know what was about to happen, he just knew they were destined to flip. Kenny and Handy Man were right behind Matt. Ryan ran past me and yelled for me to grab the camera and dry bag that laid where he was filming. They jumping into Kenny's Boat and started reaching for the rescue bags. 

Oken and I were left gathering all of the dropped cameras and helmets left on the shore as people went running to rescue Craig, Josh and Ben.

When the boat flipped, Ben popped out next to the boat right away. Craig was trapped under the boat for a few seconds longer. But Josh had been trapped for quite a while under the boat. While Matt was rowing against the eddy to catch the capsized raft, he saw Kenny and Ryan pushing off shore and finally counted three heads in the water. Matt knew we would handle picking up the swimmers and he continued racing towards the unmanned raft in hopes of catching it before it was carried even further down river. 

Ben got swept into the eddy near the beach and was separated from his dad and brother. He started circling back up stream to where Oken and I were standing on shore. Oken started running into the water to assist Ben out of the river. Ben could hardly stand on his own, the freezing water and adrenaline turned his legs into jello. 

Thankfully Ryan yelled at Kenny to stop rowing after the boat before he got too far through the eddy and sucked into the main current. Otherwise, Oken, Ben and I would have had to all get into the water and swim down stream if they got too far from us!

We helped Ben into the boat and Kenny started rowing through the eddy again and down stream. There was no sign of Matt, the capsized boat or Craig and Josh. We had no idea if Matt had picked either of them up or managed to catch the free boat. 

We came around a bend in the river and there we saw Craig and Josh shivering and clinging to a group of rocks on the canyon wall. Kenny rowed towards them and we helped them into the boat. Craig confessed later that night that he never saw Ben in the water after the raft flipped. He never saw that Ben had been peeled off by the eddy. As he and Josh clung to the rocks, he said they both started praying together that someone had rescued Ben and that he was not hung up under the raft.  

Ryan took over rowing the now very heavy raft carrying 7 passengers. A few minutes later we finally caught up to Matt and the capsized boat in a small eddy. He said he didn't see any bags floating or gear dragging and hoped we had everything still attached under the boat.

Now what???

Luck on our side, the eddy Matt ended up in had a large sand bar about 50 yards farther down river. We floated the boats onto the sand bar and positioned the capsized boat in a calm pool between the eddy and the shore.

Ben and Josh started to remove Ben's kayak that was strapped under the boat on top of all of their gear. With a some effort, the guys were able to remove the oars from the oar locks and the back up oars. You pretty much have two options at this point - keep diving under water trying to remove all the gear in order to make the boat light enough to flip or just try and flip the boat fully geared up. The water was freezing. The straps swollen with water. They started stringing lines to the raft and were about to anchor them to rocks and trees as leverage to try and flip the raft over, fully loaded. 

While they were running lines, I was holding the other two boats on the sand bar. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another boat. The other group that had pushed off the same day as we did at Lee's Ferry was just behind us and coming down the river.

I yelled to Handy Man and we all started shouting and whistling to them to see if they could lend a hand. They were a strange group of people, but I was so happy to see them at that moment!

They immediately rowed over to us and started lending a hand.

One of the guys from the other group stopped us from anchoring to the trees and rocks. He said he didn't want to intervene in our plans but he said he had flipped a lot of boats and the way we were attempting to right the raft would only break a bunch of our lines. So he had us string the lines to the raft and about 10 guys climb on its back and they all started pulling and just walked the raft right over in the deeper water of the eddy.

I unfortunately only got the before and after photo. I was trying so delicately not drop my iPhone in the river while holding two boats. Right about the time the boat was standing vertical in the air, another tied raft bumped the boats and the lines got jerked and I almost dropped my phone which would have been disasterous!

Once righted, we thanked the other group profoundly. We made sure all the gear looked like it was still there and we decided to eat lunch and regroup.

Thankfully the sun was shining and the guys were able to dray out and warm up a little. We confirmed we were all fastened tight and were back in the rafts, heading down stream. I was just glad these three guys all managed to survive House Rock with out a single scratch!
 

One more small rapid for the day, Redneck Rapid (3), but Josh let his dad take the oars. He was still pretty shook up.

We camped that night at at a beach called Bank Left and helped the guys lay all of their stuff to dry. Josh's sleeping bag was soaked, so was their tent. He borrowed my sister-in-laws sleeping bag (who was rafting the second half of the trip).

We sat around after dinner watching the replay of the videos and trying to laugh off the day.

Pillow Talks and Bugs

Last night I read a story to my daughter. I tucked her in tight. I adjusted her favorite blanket and teddy close. I hugged her little body through layers of blankets and kissed her on the cheek.

She flinched when I kissed her.

I apologized for kissing her too hard. Too much pressure against her slightly puffy little cheek. She looked up at me with a wrinkled brow and asked me, "Mommy, why is this happening to me? Why is my face hurting?"

My heart broke a little more and I moved my evening kiss to her forehead. "I don't know honey. I just don't know. But I am hoping the doctors are going to figure it out soon... and the medicines will help soon... and you'll be all better."

"But why Mommy? Why do I have to take all this medicine and why do I have to hurt? I hate this!"

I hate this too...

I sat down with my six year old, brown eyed daughter and tried to explain what was happening to her - without really explaining what was happening to her. Without really sharing our fears with her. Without really telling her that this was most likely just the beginning of something - more.

I leaned very close to her and we pillow talked last night - about bugs.

At six, my daughter doesn't understand a lot of the really big words. Words like infections, antibiotics, inflammation. She hears us use them. She can use them. But she really doesn't know what they mean in relation to her. These words (and other scary words) float freely around her little self and our family, it seems like every day. They are synonymous with frustration.

So we talked about bugs.

My Brown Eyed Girl and Mr Blue Eyes know all about Sugar Bugs. Tiny bugs you can't even see that eat your teeth and give you cavities if you don't brush your teeth every day. Cavities, plaque and tarter buildup make no sense to my kids. They get Sugar Bugs. They brush their teeth in order to get rid of the Sugar Bugs.

Quick on my feat, last night we learned about the other kinds of bugs that we can get or have. Tummy Bug make us sick to our tummies. Cold Bugs make us cough and our throat hurt. Inside our bodies we also have good bugs that help protect our bodies. Those bugs are called Police Bugs.

WI explained that when we catch a Tummy Bug or Cold Bug, they start making us feel really crummy. We ache all over, we get a fever and we feel sick. In rushes the Police Bugs! The brave bugs in our bodies that help fight off the bad bugs like Tummy Bugs and Cold Bugs. It takes a little while for them to find all of the bad bugs inside, sometimes a couple days. But once the Police Bugs get rid of all of those Tummy Bugs and Cold Bugs we start feeling much, much better.

My Brown Eyed Girl has some kind of Bug in her jaw. We don't know quite what it is right now. We hope it's just some kind of an Infection Bug. I told her that her doctors were working really hard to figure out what kind of Bug she has. Her Police Bugs are having a hard time getting rid of this crazy Bug and so the doctors want her to take some medicine to help.

She smiled and said to me, "Mom, it's not just medicine then. The doctor is giving me Medicine Bugs. Those Medicine Bugs are going to help my Police Bugs fight these Crazy Bugs in my cheek."

I smiled and told her she was very, very smart. Yes! We are hoping these Medicine Bugs can team up with her Police Bugs and fight off this Crazy Bug that's making her jaw so painful.

I reminded her that she was getting a different kind of Medicine Bugs right now than she did a month ago when all this mess started. I told her that those were evidently the wrong kinds of Medicine Bugs the last time and that we are really hoping the doctor is sending in the right kind of bugs now. It's very important for her to tell us how she feels because we may need to try even a different kind of Medicine Bug still. Either way, we are going to keep trying to help her Police Bugs until she is all better, smiling every day and she doesn't feel any more pain.

I asked her if she understood now. She nodded her little head yes. She smiled big and her brown eyes twinkled in the twilight. She only had one last remark she wanted to make sure we were clear on...

"Mommy can you tell the doctor that I am glad those last Medicine Bugs don't work? Because they tasted so yucky. Like the most yucky thing I have ever tasted. These Medicine Bugs now are... okay. But He really needs to work with Medicine Bugs that taste better."

You got it my sweet Brown Eyed Girl. I will make the call tomorrow.

The Grand Canyon

In 1992 and again in 2007, Handy Man ventured down the Colorado River with his father and a handful of his father's adventurous friends. A small group of thrill seekers and nature enthusiasts, the friends rafted for over 20 days deeper and deeper into the heart of the Grand Canyon.

One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the Worlds, the Grand Canyon is the result of erosion which creates one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet. Geologically it is significant because of the thick sequence of ancient rocks that are beautifully preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent.

A private rafting trip like this is not easy to come by. These are self-guided raft trips, sometimes referred to as private river trips. Permits for these trips are made available to the public through a weighted lottery. Prior to 2006, non-commercial permits for the Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek section of the river were distributed through a waitlist system. Demand for these permits vastly exceeded supply, and wait times for those at the bottom of the lengthy waitlist grew to an estimated 25 years.

It took 15 years for the group to get another private permit to raft the river after 1992. Thankfully with the changes put in place after 2006, the group received another permit option for this year! They only had to wait 8 years.

I have never been to the Grand Canyon.

I have seen all of the photos and heard about all of the adventures. In 2007, the idea of rafting for 20+ days down a river just didn't really appeal to me - 20+ days of rafting and camping still does not. But in the last few years, I have had a new love for adventure. A new passion for creating bucket lists, trying new things, and experiencing life to its fullest - especially those experiences that are once in a lifetime. There is an option with this adventure to do half of a trip and that I could handle.

So when we got the call from my father-in-law last year with the news that they had received another permit option, we signed up to raft the first half of the trip. Nine days on the river starting at Lee's Ferry and hiking out at Phantom Ranch to the South Rim.

I was a mix of emotions. Excitement - what an amazing adventure that not many people will ever get to experience. Fear - as a mother, I have a new found respect for preserving life.The idea of being at the bottom of a canyon, cut off from the world and it's securities (like hospitals and medical attention) while jumping in a rubber boat and letting the water carry you over rapids and currents can be a little unnerving. Especially, when help is hours away. Overwhelmed - Handy Man and I have never both been gone for eleven days together. Our life that we have created together is anything but simple! We have two small children and many animals that need cared for on a daily basis. March can be one of the busiest times of the year for my business. But thank God for two of the most amazing grandmas in the entire world, we made it happen!

Months of planning and with everything finally in place, Handy Man and I pointed our car west.

We were to arrive on that first Saturday at the Grand Canyon in order to leave our car at the top of the South Rim. We needed to make sure we had a vehicle there when we hiked out to get us home. The plan was to park the car and then catch a shuttle to Flagstaff, AZ where we would catch up with the rest of our group.

We were a few hours early getting to the South Rim. Handy Man humored me and we spent about an hour doing the tourist thing before the shuttle arrived. We pulled off the main road and went to the Indian Watchtower at Desert View. The four-story structure, completed in 1932, was designed by American architect Mary Colter. The tower was designed to resemble an Ancient Pueblo Peoples watchtower.

 

This was the spot where I was able to see the Grand Canyon for the very first time, with my very own eyes!

It's vastness is over whelming. The longer I stood there, the more it looked artificial. How can anything be this huge? This amazing and grand?

We were here! We were ready! Bring on the rapids!!!

 

Sunday morning we waited for Professional River Outfitters (PRO), the service we hired to provide us with our boats and some of our equipment, to pick us up from our hotel and shuttle all of our stuff to Lee's Ferry.

It takes a LOT of stuff to raft down the Grand Canyon for 20+ days. All of which must be stored in a waterproof box or dry bag.

The PRO guy finally arrived about 10 am and we were off... on a two and a half hour drive back up towards Page, AZ and Lee's Ferry. 

I think I was a little unclear on what to expect on that first day. I assumed we woke up, hitched a ride to Lee's Ferry with PRO and the boats we rented would be waiting for us. We would secure our personal belongings, push off and start our adventure. This was far, FAR from reality.

We arrived at Lee's Ferry only to spend hours sorting through and assembling everything ourselves!!!

I was completely lost! I didn't know the lingo, the gear or what the heck I was doing. Handy Man had warned me that this was a big trip and required everyone to pitch in the whole time. I found myself just standing there in awe and not knowing what to do. 

So, Handy Man gave me a job...

I can now add Official Raft Blow Up Girl to my resume.  

It's a technical job really. I mean the entire success of our trip depends on the buoyancy of those rafts to safely carry us down the river. There are five chambers to each boat and I had three boats to blow up - with my electric pump thank God!! 

Once the rafts were inflated, we had to strap the heavy metal frames to them. I can work a belt on my jeans and towing straps for securing hay on a trailer - therefore I caught on quickly and was able to successfully help strap the frames down to the D-rings on the raft.

 

Before we could start loading the boats, we pushed them into the water and waited for the park ranger to come by and inspect our gear.

You would be surprised by the kinds of mandatory things we had to take with us down the canyon. Each boat had to have a first aid kit, including one super sized first aid kit that included splints and other (hopefully) life saving and stabilizing supplies. We had to have a hand washing system. Life jackets for each person and a few extras just in case. Water purifying system. Water jugs - we carry all our own drinking water on the trip. Satellite phone. River maps. Toilet system...

Fun Fact: Speaking of toilet system, did you know that the park requires you to pee in the river and carry all of your feces out with you? That's right, no cat holes allowed. It all has to be hauled out with you (same with all your trash) to prevent the limited beach and camping spaces along the river from turning into public toilets and trash cans.

We got final approval from the ranger to start loading our boats after producing all the necessary gear and documentation we were required to bring. Success!! Handy Man and I start looking for our gear and he turns to me and says, "We are going to take the poop boat over there. Take your dry bag over there and we will start loading our gear."

"Excuse me the what????? What boat are we taking?"

"The poop boat. We are going to be in charge of the ammo cans and the toilet system for the trip."

"Wait. Why? Why are we volunteering for poop patrol?" Did I miss drawing straws at dinner last night?

Calmly he said, "Because I have never had that job yet and we should volunteer."

"That's great but it's my first trip. Why do we have to be in charge of the poop this trip? I mean seriously!" I was given a warning look that basically said I was whining and being a total girl at the moment. So I smiled big and said, "Yeah! The poop boat! I can hardly wait! This is going to be awesome!!"

And that was that. We were the volunteer waste management couple of the trip. Mr and Mrs Ammo Poop Can. Forget the fact that I would not be showering for 9 days and living in a wet suit, squatting by the river and having to use the ammo cans myself, but now I was in charge of them. Their set up and removal each day and their transportation.

Let the fun begin!
Meet the poop boat!

We filled up all of our water jugs. Loaded the boats and hopped in!

We pushed off the beach and Lee's Ferry, Handy Man rowed us about 100 yards down river and pulled over, back to the shore. We had reached our first camping sight of the night. Say what???

Yep. News flash first time rafter! We spent the entire day just assembling our boats and it was already evening by the time we pushed off from the launch area. We were to camp at Lee's Ferry the first night. Apparently, we had a 9:00 am orientation meeting with another park ranger that went over all of the rules and safety regulations before we could actually depart.

It was a crash course in the craziness I had just signed up for. Ten minutes on the river and we were unloading all of our bags, pitching our tents and setting up camp. It was just crazy to me! I mean we JUST packed this crap on the boat!! The only silver lining was that we still had access to public bathrooms, 100 yards away, and we were able to take my father-in-laws truck into "town" and eat dinner at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant one last night.

In the morning, we packed everything back up and enjoyed a comical and sarcastic 45 minute orientation meeting by the ranger. Spirits were high and we pushed off in search of a grand adventure!

We rafted about 11 river miles on our official Day 1.

Our party consisted of three boats and 8 passengers. The wondrous poop boat was manned by my handsome husband and (I would soon learn) VERY accomplished oarsman, my father-in-law, Matt, and myself.

Matt's two childhood and fellow adventure-seeking friends, Craig and Kenny, each manned one of the other boats. Craig, from South Carolina, brought his two sons this year for their first trip down the canyon, Ben and Josh. Ben and Josh live in Colorado with their families. Kenny - a real life explorer - lives in Minnesota in the same area where Matt and Craig grew up together. He invited a man from India, Oken, to join our adventure. Oken owns a travel and expedition company, Aborcounty Travels & Expeditions, in India. Kenny met Oken years ago while exploring India's very remote areas.

Just the eight of us for nine days.
I couldn't help but feel like Snow White and the Seven Rafters.

Our first day was pretty laid back. A few riffles - which I quickly learned were in fact just baby waves and about the only think I felt comfortable trying to row through other than flat water.

The rock walls were nothing like I had ever seen before. Lucky for me, I had my very own geologist in my boat to ask a million questions along the way. My father-in-law was a wealth of knowledge the entire trip. Each day letting us know what layer of rock formation we were in. What it was made of and how many million or billion years ago it was formed.

The start of our trip, we were in the 230 million-year-old Kaibab Limestone formation. Technically, this stretch of the Colorado River is in Marble Canyon, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon.

Regardless of the rock formations we were in, the scenery was gorgeous!

It became very apparent that first day on the river that you lose scale in your pictures unless you gave a boat or person in them.

A very mild first day on the river, we soon approached our first rapid about 8 miles in. Badger Creek Rapid, a class 4-6 rapid. Badger Creek is the first significant rapid in Marble Canyon with a large pour over in the center right. All rivers are rated on a "class" scale to help you determine the size and technicality of the whitewater. Rapids in the Grand Canyon are rated on the older "1-10" system. So in a Class 4-6 rapid, we were expecting to see waves at least four feet high Possibly long, difficult rapids with narrow passages, turbulent water that requires precise maneuvering and sends hearts racing.

Typically, any rapid that was over a Class 5 and the guys would pull over just before the rapid and scout their routs. Sometimes they easily negotiated their course and plan of action in less than 15 minutes. Some of the other rapids, we would spend over 30 minutes analyzing - not me, I just took pictures and prayed Handy Man knew what the heck he was doing! 

It typically looked something like this:

Boats tied to the shore and the guys climbing up on rocks and talking about holes and curlers and hidden rocks.

And then we got in the boats, I made sure my oh-shit-straps were all within reach and let the butterflies fill my stomach as Handy Man pointed the boat down stream and I prayed to not go swimming.

Badger Creek offered nothing more than a cool splash of water and laughs all around. I totally had this rafting thing down!

Our first real camp was at Soap Creek. 

My first real experience setting up a full camp.

Our camp consisted of our little space for the night. We shared a super cramped snugly, two-man tent. Our suitcases aka dry bags lay near as well as my "Ladies Evening Potty" all conveniently located for our stay that evening.

What is the ladies potty you ask? Why that little gray bucket next to our tent. Safety first! It's not always safe to be squatting on the shore in the evening with the ever changing tide levels and currents in the river. My amazing father-in-law bought this gem for the trip! It has it's own custom seat/lid top. Each day I would add an inch or two of water in the bottom, tote it up to our camp sight and I had my own private bathroom! In the mornings, I would haul it back down to the river and rinse.

Ladies you know you are jumping in line to sign up for a rafting trip!! But honestly, it was a life saver! I was successfully able to minimize the number of times I had to hike off down shore in order to find a little privacy. The only challenging part was retraining my brain NOT to drop the toilet paper in the bucket. All toilet paper had to be placed in a zip lock bag and carried out of the canyon with the rest of the trash. I may or may not have struggled with this once... possibly twice.

Cleanliness was an oxymoron. But it was very important to wash your hands (in river water) with soap and then follow up with hand sanitizer before meals. This was our state of the art hand washing station.

Welcome to our kitchen! We actually ate like kings! Burgers, spaghetti, steaks, pork chops...

We washed dishes by the bucket system - right to left, cold rinse, warm soapy wash, hot rinse, cold bleach rinse for disinfecting. Those who do not cook - wash dishes. Josh, Handy Man and I were the resident dish washers.

After dishes were washed, we had to strain each bucket into the river and keep any debris left over as trash we packed out. We learned pretty quick the importance of not wasting food and cleaning your plate. Thank goodness we had a couple of hardy guys with big appetites!

We even had to rinse out the cans we used before crushing them and packing them away with the trash.

The kitchen and living room were the two most important locations we always designated first at a new camping spot. When all the work was done, we sat down and chatted about the day and our adventures while getting to know each others lives. Matt packed a camping guitar and some nights Oken would play a few songs for us under the stars, the river noises in the background. It truly was relaxing then and amazing.

Okay just kidding.
Placement of the Groover was also a very critical. It required a prime piece of real estate, as I soon learned. Groover is rafting term for my lovely responsibility - the ammo poop can. I had every intention of just getting this piece of my day done as quickly as possible and moving along. Ohhh no. Handy Man instructed me that it has to be a private location with a view. Preferable a river view is most desirable.  

Seriously?
Dead serious!

I am pretty sure we often scouted a groover location with more effort than we did our own tent site.

We had to have a Groover Orientation meeting the first night at Soap Creek. I will spare you the details but lets just say it was way more than I anticipated on my "vacation."

A lot of work went into that first camp. But as we sat around listening to Oken play that first night and I looked up at the stars and the canyon walls, I was very excited for the next week of adventures.

Like my trip to Italy in 2013, I want to make sure I capture all of the memories I can. Preserve our adventure as well as I can. So this will be a work in progress this week to share our adventure rafting the Grand Canyon!