Is there really any better way to start off a beautiful summer day than white water rafting down the Snake River? Well, unfortunately, there was one down side…. A good portion of the water on which we were floating had been mountain snow just the day before! It was only 42 degrees!
But let me back up. We entered the beach-shack looking establishment of “Jackson Hole White Water” first thing this morning, which is an outfit operated by the most intrinsically content people I have ever met. Seriously. The décor was distinctively college-dorm-room-esque, and the atmosphere otherwise was part surf shop / part rustic cowboy (think Marlboro-man-in-flip-flops?). But, funny enough, this same simple little outfit also took the Clinton family and Ron Howard’s family down the rapids during their family vacations to Jackson Hole (yes…. Steve may have mentioned this to me a few times to get me comfortable with taking all 4 of the kids on this adventure…. ha).
I was pretty concerned about whether we were going to be able to pull this off in such cold water, regardless of the beautiful warm weather we were otherwise enjoying, but I was reassured by this experienced crew of well-tanned, wavy-hair types that the wet suits they would be sizing each of us up for would make it completely tolerable – although certainly not completely comfortable – when the water splashed up around us in the raft. And they were right…. for the most part.
Just before embarking on our 8-mile trek down the Snake River, we met our lead Jamey and the other people with whom we would be sharing our raft – a family from Israel (father, mother and three young girls) and three very giggly teenage girls who came on their own. That made Steve, and the similar-sized gentleman from Israel, the “Big Guys” in this mission, and they were instructed to assume the roles of lead rowers while Jamey was going to be in the back with two mounted oars that were principally for steering the craft (since just one person cannot possibly do much to row a raft full of 14 people down the Snake River by himself….).
The rapids were very mild in the beginning, which gave us the opportunity to de-girlie-fy our rowing techniques, and get in sync. Good thing! It wasn’t pretty in the beginning. It’s just never a good sign when the leader of your craft reacts to your first attempt at rowing together with, “That was just adorable, but…..”
But Jamey was a fantastic guide. He was as knowledgeable about the river and how we would get through these powerful rapids( with our, at-best, B-Level recruits -- ha!), as he was adorable-recent-college-grad-funny. He squarely hit every stereotype that immediately comes to mind of the young kid who comes out to Wyoming to take a job as a white water rafting guide, except that he didn’t use the words “totally,” “awesome” or “dude” (which I’m sure is because I’m just getting so old that that’s actually how his parents talk – LOL).
The rapids became increasingly intense, and we really had to dig in with the rowing! It was an absolute blast!!! I was definitely worried that one of us would fall out into the near freezing water, and I almost did myself a few times, but 3 of the kids were in the interior of the boat where that is pretty much an impossibility. It was such a relief to me that we were all able to stay in the boat…. Although our lead did dare us to go in voluntarily, and 2 of the giggly teenage girls did so…. and then climbed back into the raft and pushed the last member of their own giggly group into the water as well. Poor thing!
The only real bit of trouble we had was when a particularly challenging set of rapids ended up causing a huge 42-degree-wave to come crashing down in the dead-center of the boat where our three youngest children were sitting together. Although two of the kids thought it was hilarious, the world’s-skinniest-8-year-old boy (our son John), was chilled to the bone and kept saying, “I have brain freeze!” Poor kid! We determined that SOME body fat is required, in addition to a wet suit, to make an experience like this tolerable.
But, before we knew it, we had conquered the 8-mile trip and we (including John) were all smiles by the end. What a great day… and it wasn’t even time for lunch yet!!!
We cleaned up, and made our way to “Mile High Pizza Pie” in the heart of Jackson Hole, where we sat on the outside porch area to enjoy the sunshine and the view. From there, the kids kind of took the lead, so we ended up stopping by the Wort Hotel (a hotel that is as beautiful as it’s name is ugly….), the Jackson Hole Museum ( which is really a work-in-process at this point, but the kids particularly enjoyed the box of clothes, hats and cowboy boots that they were encouraged to try-on and tool around in), a studio of wildlife photography (30 years worth of perseverance and patience yields some AMAZING photos of local wildlife) and, of course, the ice cream shop on the corner of the main square. We strolled around the square with our ice cream cones, taking in the sites and sounds of this animated little town, and then finally plopped down on a park bench to finish them up. We took a quick photo at the famous arch made from antlers that serves as a gate to the main square, and then popped our heads into the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar right across the street to have a good look of what all of the fuss is about. Then we were ready to go….
On our way back, the kids completed their very last Jr. Ranger thing – this time for the Grand Tetons National Park – and we spotted another grizzly bear off in the distance (again, the 18 cars pulled from the road helping with that find).
Knowing that we were shoving off first thing in the morning, the kids all wanted to spend our last evening just down the path from our RV on the edge of Jackson Lake to get one last look at the mountain range from “our beach”. When we arrived on the scene, the large family camping right next to us (together with their sister and brother-in-law who were staying in a nearby cabin with their large family as well) were already in the process of starting a campfire right on the rocky beach of the lake with some sticks they had gathered, and were encircling it with their chairs and S’Mores supplies . We had a couple of bundles of wood and way too many marshmallows to take home with us, so we offered to go grab it all and bring it down there for them to use. Before long, however, we were all talking and laughing about traveling out West and just family life in general, and we ended up spending the evening together as a group of approximately 22 or so until the last of the wood had finally burned down to nothing….
Good-bye Grand Tetons!!!
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