A Journey Down the Arkansas River...and some other things

Pizza dinner: (clockwise from top left) - Jessica L., Michelle B., Keri, me, MaameYaa

Yesterday everyone went white water rafting down the Arkansas River. If you haven't been white water rafting, it is intense because you will be rowing a lot, and there will be times when the water will overtake you, but it is very fun and you get to see a lot of interesting scenery, and it is nice to work together with your team.

It was an all day trip, and although most everyone had fun, some things didn't go as planned:

We went to the park for lunch and a group decided to toss a football around. I don't know what happened next, but Chris caught the ball wrong or something and his finger got funky. I say this because according to the doctors, it wasn't a sprain or a break, but part of his bone was sticking out of his hand. Chris was loaded into the car and taken to the hospital where he received stitches and his arm is now wrapped up. (Later, Chris came back to tell everyone about his experience at the hospital and he took pictures of his injury.)

We arrived at the place where we received our rafting equipment (lifejackets and paddles), and then were organized into teams. My team was lead by river guide Carine, who previously worked in Australia. Carine was really funny and he pointed out all the funny looking rocks to us (hippo rock, lion rock, Jekyll and Hyde rock...). The other members of the team were Lauren (assistant resident supervisor), Beth, Erika P., Kara, Jonathan, Jenni, and me. We were placed in a blue boat and taken out to the river.

The river started out slow and calm, and Carine had us practice our strokes and footing. Sitting on a raft is kind of uncomfortable because you are resting on the edge and your feet are in these pockets. There were some parts that got kind of wild and the water would rush over us that the only thing we could hear was Carine's shouts of, "Three forwards, right side, one backwards!". However, we did well on all of the "obstacles" and managed not to hit any rocks or have anyone fall out of the boat (some of the other groups were not as lucky, but everyone got pulled in right away). Some groups had members that decided to abandon raft and swim during the calm moments. My group decided not to because the water was 48 degrees and we could hear the swimmers yelling, "It's cold!"

Lessons of the day:
Work together as a team, and always listen to your leader.
Look ahead of you to anticipate the obstacles.
Apply sunscreen liberally.

Toodles,
Me