Flashback Friday...1997

So, when my family was in Jackson a few weeks ago, we were talking about our memories of riding the Snake River. One river trip in particular sticks out to me, so I thought I'd share a picture and a few memories from that trip. When I was 18, the Priests and Laurels in my ward went rafting together. It was lots of fun. And to all my friends in the picture with me, you're welcome.


Memories of the trip:

1) The Laurels weren't actually invited on the trip, but at BYC the Priests were discussing it and we invited ourselves along. Our bishop was pretty cool and encouraged the YM to take us along. I'll take this opportunity to point out that a one year, the YM in our ward went to Moab and Lake Powell while us girls got to travel a whopping 8 miles up Smithfield Canyon for Girls Camp. We reminded our leaders of this every chance we got, so they probably knew what they were in for if they told us we couldn't go.

2) Kim, second from the right, was not actually in our ward at this time. After inviting ourselves along, we also told them we would like to invite Kim. She had been in our ward a few years prior to this, but had moved over to 2nd ward - "the dark side of town." Looking back, I'm wondering why they went along with this. It seems a bit unfair that of the entire 2nd ward girls, only Kim was invited to come. Not that I'm complaining, but it seems like some of them should have.

3) Did you notice in the picture that there was just one male? He was our leader, Chad. I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to send five girls plus Chad down the river, but that's how it worked out. The boys in our ward weren't necessarily hearthrobs, so us girls tended to stick together. Apparently we were so tight we didn't even consider our safety a reason for splitting up and riding with the boys. So down the river we went. Things were fine until we hit Kahuna/Lunchcounter (I don't remember which was big that year). When we hit the rapid, several girls were thrown out, including Cami, who happened to be Chad's younger sister. Playing the role of protective big brother, he dove right in after her. Noble, but probably not the smartest move as that left me and Kim and maybe one other girl (Emily?) to paddle through the rapid and retrieve our lost passengers. Awesome.

4) At one point during out float, we hit a stretch of calm water. Kim, who had no trouble staying in through the big rapids, rolled over the side of the raft. I still have no idea how she managed that, but it was awfully funny.

5) Anybody but me wondering about the full motorcycle gear Chad is wearing? I can't remember now if he wore it for a joke or if he was serious. It really makes me giggle to look at it. Of course, motorcycle get-ups pretty much always make me laugh. If I were to categorize ridiculous clothing, they would be right up there with old-fashioned swimsuits and kilts. I understand they have an important function, but you'd think they could come up with something a little less silly.

6) There was one boy in our ward who really annoyed us all. It wasn't necessarily warm while we were floating the river and he kept splashing us and trying to throw us in. It got old pretty fast. He swam over to our raft and was trying to pull me in. Bad choice. I had a paddle. I smacked him with it. I feel a little bad about it now, but none of the leaders reprimanded me at all, so I'm guessing he really did deserve it.

7) My least favorite memory of the trip. During my first trip down the river, I wore a horrific life jacket that had been stored in someone's garage and the cats had been living in it. You may know that I hate, loathe, abominate, and despise cats and although I don't have a particularly keen sense of smell, I can smell them for miles. I was forced to wear said life jacket because I was the least well-endowed of the girls on the trip and it didn't fit most of the girls. It just so happened that on this float, our raft flipped and I was sucked under the raft. I was maybe stuck for ten or so seconds, but they were awful. I was certain that I was going to die engulfed in cat stench. Luckily, I struggled free of the raft, but the horror has never left me. Thankfully, the next day I did not have to wear the lifejacket.

And that's a wrap. Good times.