green trip #2

WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG DETAILED POST...FOR OUR POSTERITY.

i'm exhausted...in a good way. sometimes i get exhausted from doing something not very fun...like not getting enough sleep or from scrubbing the bathroom for the twelfth time this week, or from putting kids to bed. well, this exhausted is from having one of the best times of my life! i'm talking about the much anticipated trip down the green river...with just me and mike. what a fun time! it began thursday night - we headed up to the cabin in manila and had a good night's sleep. except i swear it was 100 degrees in there! after about 45 minutes of tossing and turning because it was so blasted hot, mike ventured out to the shed to drag in a huge fan to get some airflow going. what a good man. that was the first of many many many acts he made to make sure my trip was fabulous. i love him!

so, we slept at the cabin and then up bright and early to load up and head to the flaming gorge dam where we would start our journey. wait. we first had to go to little hole to reserve our campsite for friday night, then back to dutch john to arrange for a shuttle service - they drive our car to our final destination so it's ready and waiting for when we get off the water. good idea, huh? ya, and they charge a pretty penny for it too!

so, after all the necessary stops, which included getting me a current fishing license we were at the boat ramp. wait, before we actually made it to the ramp we had to stop at the parking lot and pump up the boat. while pumping and loading it started to sprinkle a bit. that sprinkle turned into a slight downpour and i wasn't sure what we were in for! it cleared a bit and we were back to the ramp. mike put the boat in the water and tossed all of our gear in only to get a few strange looks from others. one guy asked if our boat was the supply boat for the HUGE group loading at the same time. mike informed him that it was for us to float the a and b section. he smiled, 'oh.' then some kid asked, 'where are you going to sit?' haha. it was true. you should have seen the boat before mike got it all organized. i had the same question! here's the boat ready for us to load:

and after a bit of floating, here's where we stopped for lunch:

and the storm we were trying to outrun - or is that outfloat? either way, we didn't have a super relaxing day friday...trying to stay out of the weather. it was thundering quite a bit and sprinkled on us a little. the wind was freezing and i was happy when the sun finally came out!

and here is somewhere on the river...
and mike stopping to fish a little. he let me fish along the river while he manned the boat. mike is always making sure those around are having a fun time, even if it means he doesn't get to fish or do what he wants. there were a few times where i took over rowing so he could fish a little. and i gained much appreciation for that task! it's much harder than it looks!!

we stopped at little hole to change our campsite. because we were making such great time, and the weather was clearing we decided to head down the river a little further and enjoy the afternoon on the water. here we are at the little hole boat ramp:

and back on the river after a quick potty break. here is one of the many many fish we saw...but didn't catch. don't get me wrong. we had our fair share of catches, but saw tons of fishies swimming.

and another very cool tree along the way...

and here, well, it'd be a funny story if i told you that mike was having his own type of potty break, but that would be a lie. he actually saw an anchor or something under water and was trying to get whatever it was. funny.

and here we are. we got to our campsite safe and sound.

and mike began unloading the boat. here may be a good place to mention the gear we brought. well, mainly the clothes i brought. being the only girl in the family, i am known to pack heavy...and to my credit, i usually use all that i pack. i like to have choices. well, mike told me that i probably only needed a pair of shorts and a pair of long pants if it got cool at night. i could just wear the same stuff both days. so, i left the capris i had brought along back at the cabin. well, as mike began unpacking i realized the INSANE amount of rope the man had brought. so, in place of me looking cute in clean clothes, we had enough rope to have a tug of war with every other camper along the river. glad we were prepared, just in case.

we got the tent set up and i had to try it out. then mike caught us some dinner! actually, we had planned for fresh veggies from our garden at home and steak. the fish was just an added bonus!

mmmmm. it was so good!

we had a roaring fire with lots of mallows and cookies for s'mores. then it was time for mike to go see a man about a horse.

and the scenery. it was beautiful.

and for some readon i love these huge dandilion puffy ball things. so fun.

and snake grass. it looks so cool!

i had my first experience with a wag bag. no details here. mike was a good sport!

we had some fun laughing with each other...or at each other. either way, it was a fun, healthy laugh! at least we know we still like each other!

after a good night's sleep we loaded up the boat and headed out saturday morning. after, of course, mike got up early to cook a breakfast of sausage and eggs, which he brought to me in the tent...breakfast in bed. wonderful.

we were headed to the biggest rapid we would go through and mike got out of the boat to scope it out and make sure we didn't hit any big rocks.

there's my oarsman!

we made it through safe and we're still smiling!

more amazing scenery. much of our trip we awed at the beautiful world we live in. and wondered how it could be so amazing.

and it got really really hot on saturday. hot enough for mike to jump in! the water was freezing!!

and here is one of the ducks we saw along the way. the other ducks were a cute mama duck with a bunch of little babies following her. i don't have a picture because i was too busy fishing. well, trying to fish. mike was teaching me how to fly fish and apparently a fish was biting my fly and i was too busy gawking at the cute baby ducks that i missed 2 fish within 1 minute of each other! whoops. guess i better pay attention next time!

land ho. here's our final destination. indian crossing.

and here's mike unloading the boat...with all of that rope.

if i had a picture of one of the thousands of horseflies that drank some of our blood i'd post it here. trust me when i say we were fighting off those suckers.

and now we are home...it was so great to come back to our boys. we had a fabulous time and loved being together! thanks to nana sue for helping.

and now, i 'm sorry...i'm sure you are exhausted too.