Coffee and Rafting

I was looking forward to this morning all week. Julie and I got to go to Bongo Billy's (the local coffee shop) all by ourselves! When she lived in KS we loved going to Hutch and getting coffee at Metropolitan Coffee. Back then we didn't have kids and always stayed there really late...just talking! So we spent a couple hours this morning just talking and drinking coffee at Bongo's. I wish we could do this more often!!! While we drank coffee...the boys played in the apartment at the motel. They also went to the lake to feed the ducks, however, the ducks weren't interested in the bread the boys were throwing them (even with Malachi's expert duck calls!)
When Julie and I got back to the motel, we all went for a walk. We visited Julie's dad's Drug Store/gift shop, another souvenior store, and the local park (I find that since we have a kid...we now get to see all the local parks...in every town)! Then it was back to the motel for a lunch of leftovers.
Around 1:00 Dad, Mike, Tyler, Ben, Julie, and I headed to Noah's Ark headquarters just outside of Buena Vista. Dad and I were excited to embark on our very first whitewater rafting adventure! Everyone else had been before. In fact, Ben and Julie are good friends with the guy who runs Noah's Ark, so they were able to get us discounts on our tickets!

There are 4 or 5 boats that ride down together in a "pod" and there's a lead guide who keeps his boat at the back of the group so he can keep an eye on everyone. We were in the lead guide's boat...so we were at the back of the group of boats. It was fun watching the boats in front of us go thru the rapids before we hit them. Mike and Tyler were at the front of the boat and were determined to get everyone soaked by the cold water!

There was one time where a boat in front of us got hung up on a rock in the middle of one of the rapids. Our boat was already in the rapids (there was no going backwards) when we realized the other boat was stuck! The rough water slammed our boat against the one stuck in the rock throwing Dad to the floor of our boat and almost knocking a guy out of the other boat into the river (our guide pushed him back in with his paddle). We paddled hard and were able to get clear of the other boat and thru the rapids. The other boat got free of the rock and made it out of the rapids just after us. Here's a picture of our boat going thru one of the many rapids:

We were a pretty good paddle crew, so our guide let us spin thru 2 of the rapids! That was pretty crazy! What startled me the most was when he suddenly aimed us backwards towards some rapids and then ran to the front of the boat (by Mike and Tyler)! This put Julie and I (at the back of the boat) in the front for the rapids....guaranteeing that we'd get soaked!!!!

We had a lot of fun and I'd love to do it again. I think Mike wants a more challenging river next time while I kinda liked the level of rapids that we encountered on this trip.

After we all warmed up (by taking hot showers) and cleaned up....Mike and I left Brody with Dad, Mom, & Tyler and went out for a date! We ate dinner at Quincy's Steakhouse. It was YUMMY! It's a very unique menu. They only serve one dinner: salad, fillet mignon, baked potato, and bread. Ben and Julie had recommended it and we were glad they did! Yum! After dinner we watched a men's softball game at one of the diamonds in town and then drove around just sight seeing. It was fun to have some time alone.

While we were gone, Brody had fun playing. When we got back to the motel we could hear him laughing from the bathroom where Daddy Steve was giving him a bath.