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Continued...
Photo courtesy of my Uncle Bill
The next day we started our Grand Canyon trip. These were the trusty pontoons that we traveled down the Colorado River on ~ they got us through some big rapids! They are made of rubber & have built-in storage for food, beer, cooking supplies...etc. On top, all our gear & clothes were fastened down in waterproof sacks. There were 2 crew members per pontoon (Kelly, Brock, L.J & Matt) & 25 passengers between the two boats (so 29 of us sharing this experience together). In total, we traveled 188 miles through the Grand Canyon over 7 days & 6 nights. In my family, Chris, my mom, my Uncle Bill & Uncle Doug, my Aunt Paulette & Aunt Dorothy & myself were on this trip.
This is the first photo I took on the Colorado River as we were just starting our adventure ~ magnificent!
My mom drying off a little after one of the rapids ~ we were never dry for long! It was a trip of total extremes. The temperature outside was around 40 C (105 F) & the temperature of the water was around 10 C (50 F) so you could imagine the shock of the water as it splashed up onto you. The air was dry & regularly blew hot wind (something rather strange for a Northerner) but we found, despite that, we were wet & often chilled by the water.
After a day along the river we would find a campsite & start a "fire line" to get all the gear off the pontoons. Here we are, lined up ready to pass bags along the line. This was a really fun activity as we joked about what we were passing up the line. For instance, one of the ladies had a really heavy bag, so we would yell "Betty's Bag" every time anything heavy was being passed along. If we passed a strainer up, we would yell "funny hat", if we passed the attachments for the propane up, we would yell "rocket launcher". My favorite was a cooking device (I think it was a grill) that was really heavy, large & looked like a briefcase. When that was passed along, we would yell "Eighties Laptop". I guess you had to be there, but it was lots of fun!
And once we finished the fire line, found a spot to sleep, & laid out our tarps & mattresses down, Kelly, our crew leader, would yell, "bar's open". We would then proceed to get our wine & beer, pour a glass & sit down to visit while the crew members made soup & appetizers. This was my favorite time of the day because we were usually quite tired by then & it was a chance to relax & dry off a little, reflect on the day & just hang out.
The food was really good & included steaks, chicken, pasta & beans, corn & potatoes ~ a variety of choices each night. There was always lots of food too. Kelly (our crew leader) said to us on orientation night, "don't plan to start a diet on this trip" & she wasn't kidding.
At night, the whole group of us would sit in a big circle & a guy named Bob (70 years young & I'm not kidding, the guy would do back flips off the pontoon into the river every day) "emceed" the evening's entertainment. He had a ton of jokes, each night sharing a few of them that often included our names in the punch line. His wife, Peggy spent the week composing a poem about the trip & all of us that she recited on the last night. The crew members would read ghost stories written about the canyon & my favorite entertainment came from a guy named Jan who knew over 20 cowboy poems & recited 3 each night. He had such a way with his delivery that it was just unforgettable.
We slept on a very thin mattress on the sand. It wasn't terribly comfortable, but it did afford the most magical view of the stars above & if you couldn't sleep, that was real nice compensation. I only once felt a creepy crawly on my leg, which I grabbed & flung as far as I could. I imagine it was a spider, but my reflexes were so fast that I didn't have time to feel it out. We never saw any snakes & apart from a large wolf spider trying to take a ride on one of the guy's life jackets, there really wasn't a problem with bugs. We did have a few ring-tailed cats come scope out the camp in the night, but they left only paw prints. One of the enjoyable experiences regarding camp life was watching the tiny bats flitter by in the wee morning hours.
Photo courtesy of my Uncle Bill
Some of you might be wondering about the bathroom situation. Maybe not, but I'll tell you about it anyway. We always had to pee in the river, never on land. This of course, was not a big deal for the guys, but for us girls it presented one of the biggest drawbacks of the trip. During the day, we walked right into that freezing cold river to do our business - this meant that we were almost always wet & after awhile that gets to be annoying (& itchy). At night, if you could find some privacy, you could squat, but privacy was hard to find so that rarely happened unless it was in the middle of the night. There was also a small port-a-potty that was (un)affectionately named "Oscar" for the other business. They always placed Oscar a little ways from camp, secluded & often in a very picturesque setting. There's Oscar above in the lower middle between two stunning rock walls. It was pretty, but it wasn't pretty, if you know what I mean.
Photo courtesy of my Uncle Bill
We had a lot of side excursions while traveling down the river including a stop at this giant cave which is as large as a football field.
Photo courtesy of my Uncle Bill
We also stopped at some amazing waterfalls, did some hiking through side canyons, body surfed the Little Colorado River which was one of the funniest things we did on that trip & we stopped here at the Havasu Falls for a swim. This place was so beautiful & the pools were warm (well, much warmer than the river).
As for wildlife on the trip, we saw a deer or two, some big horn rams, blue herons, turkey vultures & lots of different types of birds.
Photo courtesy of my Uncle Bill
Then there were the rapids, lots & lots of them & some were extremely extreme! On our pontoon Chris' & I had nicknamed each seat on the one side that we sat on through the trip. There's the "bathtub" in front (previously named). This was the most thrilling spot on the boat, often unoccupied because it was also the wettest spot on the boat. If we were coming up to a class 10 rapid, there were takers though. This particular rapid is called Lava Falls & is one of the biggest & wildest.
Going down the one side of the pontoon, the next spot we named the "crotch shot" ~ does it need explaining? I have to say that this was the least favorite spot to sit because you were constantly sprayed with water. Next 3 spots, I called "the trolley" - they were pretty good, a medium amount of wetness, but nothing you couldn't handle. The back spot we called, "the limousine" because it was cozy & warm & you rarely got wet ~ a dream spot to have in the morning when the sun wasn't up past the canyon walls.
Photo courtesy of my Uncle Bill
On the 7th day, we made a very short boat ride to a helicopter pad. They took us out in groups of 4 with a helicopter to a ranch near by. At the ranch, we said goodbye to our Uncles & Aunts & then Chris, mom & I took a very dinky & bumpy plane to Vegas. That was a scary ride for me!
In Vegas, we met up with my mom's friend Molly & we checked out the sights, went to "O", which was stunning, did a little gambling (I won $200) & ate at some pretty good restaurants. That was quite the transition from the Grand Canyon to there, but fun. I didn't take too many pictures in Vegas, by then, I had no more space on my camera... well I did get one photo that I'll put here for Chris:
What's a trip to Las Vegas without a stop at Quark's Bar?
Photo courtesy of my Uncle Bill
That's the trip... in a nutshell.
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