Floating Down the River

When I was a kid we used to visit Island Park most every summer, staying in a friend's cabin.  One of our favorite things to do was canoe down Henry's Fork from Big Springs to Macks Inn.  This year I decided the kids were old enough, so we rented a raft (cheaper than renting two canoes) and jumped in.

I mostly sat on the front of the boat and tried to steer us as best I could.  Grandpa sat in the back and paddled, and Grandma sat in the middle and tried to hand out snacks and generally keep everyone happy.  The kids were really excited to "help" paddle the raft.  Grandma, Grandpa and me were dodging paddles left and right as the kids scurried from one side of the raft to another or changed the direction they were paddling.  Grandma was doing a version of Kung Fu pretty much the whole ride as she tried to deflect wayward paddle handles.  Arden sat behind me for a while and I caught a paddle to the head five or six times.  Oh well, it is the thought that counts, right?

Dax is looking like a seasoned river guide in this picture.  It was perfect weather.  Nice and warm so that you wanted to have your feet in the nice, cold water. 

 It took us 3 or 4 hours to slowly float ourselves down the river, so we took a few stops along the way.  We stopped here to look at the beautiful wildflowers (and find a tree for Dax to water....shhhh).

There were so many wildflowers everywhere this year.  I wish I knew the names of more of them.  The orange ones here are Indian Paintbrush, and my mom told me the purple ones are Lupine.   They were EVERYWHERE. 

 Here is the raft crew, getting ready to jump back in and see some more river.

 Well, maybe just a little more splashing first.

We saw dozens and dozens of trout swimming below our raft. We saw and heard lots of birds, including quite a few red winged blackbirds.  The kids kept teasing each other that they saw alligators swimming in the river.  Once we started passing some cabins, they really did see one!  Someone had put a fake alligator near their dock, and the current of the river made it look like its tail was moving.  I wish I would have snapped a picture of it.  I was hoping that we would see a moose, and just a little bit before Macks Inn, we finally saw a mother moose.  Her baby is in the willows behind her, but you can't see it in the picture.

 Arden sat by Grandpa during some of the ride, and decided once that she was going to push him out of the raft.  He laughed and pretended he was going to fall, but then Dax saw what was happening and ran over with all his little boy momentum to help Arden push, and soon Grandpa wasn't pretending anymore.  Overboard he went!  It was hilarious (sorry Dad) and funnier because I would never have dared to try that on my dad when I was little.  He would have thrown ME overboard and made me float down the rest of the way myself.  But you know how it is, grandkids can get away with all sorts of things.

Here is Grandpa and Arden, pre-dunk.  It looks like Arden might be hatching a plot in that sneaky little head, doesn't it?

We made it down to Macks Inn with everyone still in the boat, so I call it a success.  We were all a little sunburned and a lot hungry, so we headed to the cafe across the river and ate some delicious pizza and a much-needed Diet Coke.  After that we got some ice cream cones and I ate mine while I watched the kids throw about 7,452 more rocks into the river.

I will finish up the trip next post!