Colorado in August!

Hey, that’s not North Texas. First of all, there’s FLOWING water behind us, and second (you can’t tell from the pic, so I’ll mention it), we’re at 8000 feet. Colorado, baby! White water raftin’!
Noelle and I told the kids that in their 16th birthday year, they can pick a place to go and mom and dad would take ONLY them. Reese picked a day of white water rafting. Great choice!
I found an outfitter on the internet that’s based in Buena Vista, CO called Buffalo Joe’s. They take people down the Arkansas River for a full day, experiencing Class III and IV rapids along the way. So, we flew in to Colorado Springs (not a shabby place either), rented a car, and drove through the late night about 90 miles to Buena Vista in central Colorado. Waking up the next morning, the first view out our hotel is absolutely gorgeous!

Mountains! Topography! The first thing we feel outside is…what is that called…uh…oh, a cool nip in the air! (The closest thing Texas has to a nip in the air in August is the freezer section at the grocery store!) The temp was 55 degrees! We openly wept and immediately questioned our current living arrangements!
We drove to Buf Joe’s office, which had a definite ‘outdoorsy’ feel to it, and the excitement started to settle in. We met some great people from Nebraska there, the Edgar’s, and soon were in the buses taking all of us to the river’s edge!
We were told the river wasn’t running quite as fast or as deep as it does in June and July, but that we’d still have quite a day of rafting. That was no lie!
I’ve been asked many times what the water was like, how cold was it. I think Bill Cosby said it best in a bit he did back in the 60s or 70s:
“You are about to step into what?”
“A river.”
“Uh-huh, and where does the river come from?”
“Well usually what happens is the snow up in the mountains will melt.”
“Right, does it ever really get hot?”
“No.”
Pause.
“So you are about to step into what?”
“12 degrees!”
(Actually, it was 45 degree water…which STILL isn’t what I normally shower in and wakes you up a WHOLE lot better than coffee!) WOO!!

We were given instructions, which included the phrases ‘put on sunscreen’ and ‘it will get a bit hot up here today’. We reacted with an ‘oh alright’ to the first phrase (we forgot that up at 8000 feet, you’re a bit closer to the sun) and openly laughed at the second. Their ‘hot’ was the low 80s! Our OVER NIGHT LOWS get into the low 80s in Dallas in August. That’s one reason why we’re here!

We were assigned our raft guide, a young lady (21!!!) named Candice/Candy. The Edgar’s were in our boat as well. Overall, everyone going on this trip took up eight boats, so we had a nice sized group going. We were also taking the food for our lunch stop with us, which included steak, chicken, corn on the cob, salad, snacks, etc. We were going to eat GOOD!
The whole day was incredible. Candy gave us great instructions and kept us going down the river at a leisurely pace, doing the tour guide thing and getting us through the rapids.
Forward 1! Back 1! Forward 2! Don’t hang your head out of the boat near the rocks, Reese! Those phrases will be a part of my psyche for a while! As will the feel of the water! VERY cold, but VERY nice!

All three of us joined most of the others jumping into the river at one time or another. On Reese’s first jump, he forgot that he had his glasses/sunglasses combo on…prescription glasses! For driving! Not cheap! I hope whoever finds them (probably in Arkansas somewhere) makes good use of them. I also hope whoever finds mine will as well. Mine came off on my second jump, after I griped at Reese a bit for forgetting he had his on! God can be SO devious!

After lunch (steak and chicken grilled outdoors at 8000 feet, corn on the cob freshly boiled, etc…McDonald’s just won’t be the same!), we continued our day into more exciting rapids and great times. Seven rapids in a row! A whirlpool that was 30 feet deep, and another stop at a 12 foot jump off into the water! Reese did that, and Noelle and I can’t really figure out why we didn’t!
The times got even greater as we were close to finishing the day and Candy asked if we wanted to ‘surf the rapids.’ ‘Sure’ we innocently call back. I thought I heard a chuckle from Candy, but I ignored it. She instructed us to turn around back into some rapids we had just come through, and with great effort, we paddled back up the rapids, kinda ‘hanging’ on one particular one as the boat started bouncing, or ‘surfing’.
Here’s the exciting part: A wall of water built up under the boat, and as we bounced up, it came up, and as we bounced down, it came down and continued on its way down the river…WITH MY WIFE AND SON WITH IT!! They had fallen out of the boat!
One second they were there, the next they were under water and off the boat. I saw them surface rather quickly and start flowing down the river…toward some rocks!
My thoughts in the next few seconds:
“Hey!”
“What…?”
“I wonder how the Dolphins did in their game?”
“Great, we lose glasses and NOW I’m losing two people.”
“Which ones are cheaper to replace? Hmmm…”
(Upon seeing Reese with a smile on his face) “Ok, he’ll be fine.”
(Upon NOT seeing Noelle’s face when she surfaced) “Oh, this won’t be pretty!”

Candy gave us quick instructions on how to get to them, and also called another boat to be ready to pick them up. They both started swimming to that boat (which doesn’t really get you anywhere, it just slows you down so the boat can get to you quicker). Reese, after gliding over some rocks that gave him a nice scrape on his side, grabbed on to the side of the ‘rescue’ boat and as they swung around, Noelle grabbed onto the back…behind the guide who didn’t see her and didn’t notice that end of the boat was swinging toward a big rock! Fortunately, they got Reese in quickly, and the guide heard Noelle shouting to him so he grabbed her up into the boat just before they bounced off the rock. Only half of Noelle ended up in the boat, but she stuck her legs up and missed the rock, so all was ok!
We came up to the boat and retrieved what was lost and continued on our way. As Wesley said to Buttercup after he put the fire out on her skirt in the FireSwamp in “The Princess Bride” and I said to Noelle after she got back on board, “Well, that was an adventure. Hurt, are you?” Buttercup/Noelle says, “No. You?” With a casual lip curl, Wesley/me shakes the head.

After we got out of the river (22 miles from where we started!), we were bussed back to the Buf Joe’s office, where we changed, said our goodbyes, and promised ourselves that we’d be back, with other family or friends!
We left Buena Vista and drove an hour and a half to Breckenridge. The last part of the drive was absolutely breath-taking. WHY DO WE LIVE IN TEXAS??

Once there, Reese collapsed on the couch at our little condo, and Noelle and I walked the streets for a bit…being reminded at each step that we aren’t as active as we once were. Constant paddling, over-exposure to the sun, 8000 feet thin air…that’ll slow the couch potato down a bit! We wound up watching a movie and going to bed. The next day, we got up and went way up a mountain and slid down on the Alpine slide, which is tremendous fun! Then we drove back to Colorado Springs to catch our flight back to Dallas (BOO! BOO!)

Our goal on the trip was to have concentrated time with Reese in a fun setting, and we definitely accomplished that! We hope and pray that he grows up with great memories of his mom and dad, doing fun things with him (don’t think he’ll ever forget falling in the water with his mom…and I’m sure the story will grow larger as the years go by…sorta like that disclaimer in front of some Hollywood movies, “Based on a true story.”)
The phrase ‘Laughing and enjoying the journey’ has never meant as much!