Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.  Also, Friday morning of this week I’ll post more from Mr. Spaulding.)

For background information about our Oregon trip, it would be helpful if you first read Oregon (including an off-the-itinerary story).

I know many of you have already whitewater rafted.  If you have, please just enjoy it again!

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Facing the raft, Bill is at the front left. I'm directly behind him, not visible in this photo. Our guide is at the back left in the blue jacket. This is a class III+ rapid. Click photo to enlarge.

This is fun.  This is fun.  This is fun.  This is s-c-a-r-y-y-y-y!!!!!  This is fun!

In a nutshell that’s how I felt about our rafting experience.  From Bend we drove to the Seventh Mountain Resort (just a few miles south of Bend).  At the resort the rafting company’s bus picked us up and then dropped us off at the Aspen Raft Access (see map below).  There we got our life jackets, “seating assignments” and got in our raft.

Bill is at the front of the raft on the left. I'm in the hat directly behind him. Click photo to enlarge.

Because of all the “want-to-dos” on Bill’s and my itinerary, today was the best day for us to raft.  Had we had a little longer, we might have scheduled a half-day rafting trip.  In hindsight, this two-hour (1 1/4 hour actually on the water) rafting trip was definitely sufficient…for me.  The most challenging rapids were class III+.  This trip was a good compromise for Bill and me as far as duration and difficulty.  I am a scaredy-cat wimp.  Bill is adventurous and strong.

On the first level III rapids my glasses got jostled.  If the phone rings when I’m in bed, I can’t answer it and converse with the caller without first putting on my glasses.  You can imagine (or, maybe not if you don’t wear pop-bottle glasses) my panic when my glasses were, who knows…lost in the water?…and I couldn’t see.  I was petrified.  But, only for about ten seconds (which seemed like ten minutes) when I realized they had just been shoved around on my face.  Then I could relax.  (The day before, at Bill’s suggestion, we picked up Croakies for our sunglasses.  Good idea!)

Click photo to enlarge.

After that, all was well, especially when Kevin, our guide, said it was the most challenging rapid on our trip.  Whew!

Each time we vacation I want to do one thing that is completely out of my element.  A challenge…preferably something that is known to be safe!  Rafting was fun.  And scary.  And fun!

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(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.  Also, a reminder that Friday morning I’ll post more from Mr. Spaulding.)

Tags: Deschutes River, Oregon, whitewater rafting

This entry was posted on August 12, 2009 at 12:52 am and is filed under Oregon, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.