We were all issued tubes, life jackets for the kids, and straps to hook the tubes together (so kids don't get separated). It was a lot of fun. The river was pretty low because of the long lasting drought GA has had, so there were a few times that the adults had to get out and walk down the river, but there were plenty of spots to lazily float and a few rapids to make it fun.
For the most part the kids did good. Alex stayed awake for about 15 minutes of the 1.5 hour trip--the rest of the time he napped on Matt or I as we floated down (we were very jealous of him)...Carter did great strapped to me and helped me a few times when I got stuck and he didn't.
Caroline wanted us to let her go down on her own. We finally agreed to let her go just a little while on her own--Matt unstrapped from her tube (I had Alex on me and Carter's tube strapped to mine) and they set off. Everything was great until she got knocked off her tube--her tube started floating downstream without her. I was trying to get to the tube (not so easy as you might think--picture a 5 month pregnant lady, with a sleeping 2 year old on her stomach, sitting in a tube with a second tube strapped to her tube and after you finish laughing you will see why it wasn't the easiest thing to maneuver!) I chased the tube and some friends floating behind caught Caroline and let her ride down to where I had stopped the tube. In the meantime, Matt was floating along totally unaware of what was going on behind him....
Once we caught up with him, I passed off Caroline and Alex and the trip was much more enjoyable!
I don't have any pictures (didn't want to bring my camera for the obvious reason of it getting soaked), but here is one I found online of one of the rapid areas that we went through.
After we got done, we figured that since we were super close to Anna Ruby Falls we might as well take the kids on the short hike to see a fun pair of waterfalls. The Hopes went with us as they hadn't been there before.
This is a picture of the falls from the USFS website--our pictures of it didn't turn out nearly as well.
Once we got there, we realized that it was Smokey The Bear's birthday! The forest service had cake and lemonade and buttons for everyone and the kids got a picture with Smokey himself!
After the cake and lemonade and securing a button for everyone, we took the .4 mile path up to the falls. It really isn't a hard hike--but none of us had planned on being here so most of us were wearing flip flops or crocs or sandals....so it was a little tougher than it should have been. The kids had fun and it was nice to see the falls again!
Alex liked to climb up the rocks--the ones that say "Danger, Do NOT CLIMB!"
Caroline and her BFF Kaely
3 comments:
I am jealous. I am missing all the fun and good weather. It is raining here again. Congratulations on the new addition A Boy! Roman will have fun playing with him as and Alex as they grow up together.
Looks like fun. We always say we want to do that, just haven't made it up there yet!
Ohhh I love Helen, and always wanted to ride down the river. Alas, we never did. Looks like it was lots of fun!
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