whitewater rafting...I love you!

Hello everyone!Friday night I happily stayed home. I left for a bit to go up to Mt Tabor and watch the sunset but otherwise I packed for Trout Lake and read my book and watched some Netflix. Going to bed early was a fantastic treat!

Saturday was a beautiful day. I ran some errands in the morning and stopped by Uncle Paul’s Produce Market where I loaded up on raspberries and other fresh goodies. I read my book outside in the sun for awhile before driving over to Elaine’s house. We packed up her car and headed up to Trout Lake. We had just crossed over the Hood River Bridge into Washington and when we listened to a message on Elaine’s phone letting us know that Dave Clarke (who was staying at Wampler’s house in Trout Lake for the weekend) had had two grand mal seizures that day. We called Wamp’s and found out that Dave was en route to Skyline Hospital in an ambulance. Elaine turned the car around and we drove east to White Salmon. We actually beat the ambulance there. Dave was conscious but obviously not feeling well. He was dehydrated, exhausted and had missed a dose of his medication the night before. He was the victim of a random act of violence 12 years ago, attacked by teenagers with baseball bats. He has to take medication three times a day to prevent seizures but it’s only in the last year that his seizures had turned to grand mals. YIKES! Wampler and Kelly arrived and we all spoke with the doctor. They gave Dave and IV to r-ehydrate him and a huge dose of his medication along with a Vicodin to help with his muscle soreness (2 seizures will do that!). He was discharged and he slept in the back seat of Elaine’s car as we drove up to Trout Lake.
Back at Wampler’s house Elaine made sandwiches for everyone and Dave went to sleep. He would sleep until pretty much 11 Sunday morning, getting up occasionally to eat and talk a little bit before going back to sleep. He has to see his neurologist as his medication loses its efficacy every few years. It was a frightening experience but he’s going to be okay.

Wampler wanted to nap so Elaine and I left the sleeping boys and went over to Jimmy and Andrea/ Abe & Jenny’s place. They played a little bit of frisbee golf and I walked around with them and took photos. In the evening we went over to Nate’s dad’s farm (organic herbs) for Nate’s birthday bbq. There was the most incredible view of Mt Adams from the farm. We ate tacos and birthday cake and talked and listened to Jimmy and Alexa play music. We didn’t want to leave Dave too long, even with Wampler there, so we headed back. We had a fire in the backyard and Jimmy and Wamp played music. Dave came out for a little bit and sang some songs before going back into sleep. I slept well in my tent, borrowing blankets from Wamp to stay warm during the cool night.

In the morning we had coffee, toast and the last of the rainier cherries before driving down to BZ Corners, the next town down the road from Trout Lake. Elaine’s friend Paul works as the chef at Tabla, a great Mediterranean restaurant in Portland. The entire staff was coming up for a rafting trip and bbq. There were some spots left so Elaine, me, John & Tom went rafting too. It was my very first time ever going whitewater rafting and it was incredible. After our orientation we all walked down the incredible steep stairs down to the White Salmon River where the boats were ready to be launched. Our guide Ben was a great guy, telling us stories about the history and geology of the river. I got to sit in the front of the raft as a first timer so I got the full blast of the rapids and waves. It was fantastic! The water was incredibly cold (40 degrees!) but it was a warm sunny day and with the wet suits and splash jackets we were wearing I was never cold. The first few miles of the river is really wilderness with only cliffs, caves and trees along the shore, no houses or development of any kind.

The most amazing part was when we went over Husum Falls. There was some shuffling in the boats with John getting out (he had hurt his neck recently and didn’t want to aggravate it) and other people getting in. The tallest people (not me!) had to sit in front so they had room for their legs when we had to get down in the boat and hold on. We came up on the falls, our guide said, “Lady of the River, be good to us.” and we paddled hard then got down and held on. We went over the edge and plunged down into the water. The force and sound of the water was incredible. We rose up to the surface of the water and all took a deep breath. I whooped and screamed and we thanked the Lady of the River for being good to us. We had to quickly paddle to avoid hitting the rock wall or the pilings from the bridge we were approaching. We then took the boat to shore where we hung out watching the other boats come over the falls. All the boats made it over successfully, with no swimmers. We switched back to our original arrangement and John got back in our boat.

The Lower White Salmon was calmer but just as beautiful. We jumped out at one point to go swimming but the water was so cold that even in a wetsuit I couldn’t stand it for more than a minute. We had some water fights with the other boats. At the takeout the guides loaded up the boats and we piled into the little buses to be driven back up to BZ Corners where we returned all the gear, smiley and full of disbelief of what we’d just experienced. I wanted to go again, immediately! It was phenomenal!!

A mob of us all drove up to Trout Lake. A bunch of people from Tabla that didn’t want to raft were already up at Abe & Jenny’s place preparing lunch. The food was fantastic but of course restaurant people would have great food. We hung out and relaxed, the huge picnic table full of kids and food. Later in the afternoon we finally headed back to Wamp’s where we packed up our stuff and hung out for a little bit before driving home. I drove Dave’s car as he wasn’t allowed to drive long distances. Elaine met me at his parents’ house and then we headed back to the east side of Portland. Back at home I showered, unpacked and read my book before going to bed early.

So I’m caught up! Phew! This coming weekend is my last weekend in Portland until Labor Day! Whoa! I hope you all have a great weekend and please let me know how you are and what you’ve been doing!

xox,
carolyn