Today I will share a bit of my life with you.
In 2004, I had a client who was going through a crisis, and one of the things she said to me was, “I really want to do something exciting, something daring, but X (her husband) doesn’t want to do things with me. He’ll even tell me that I can’t do things because I wouldn’t be able to.” So, of course, I asked her what sort of things she was talking about, and she said, “Well, I’ve always wanted to go white water rafting. Like in the Grand Canyon. I’ve always wanted to do that. But X won’t do something like that and I can’t do it alone.” Rashly, I said, “I’d go with you.”
From that rash statement, an adventure was born. We scrimped and saved, we paid on layaway, and we went on a Grand Canyon raft trip produced by an outfit called OARS, which I will just say right now if you ever want to go on a whitewater rafting adventure, OARS is the company you should go with. They are fantastic. I can’t say enough good things about their professionality, the food (organic), the fabulous way they take care of you, the side trips they arrange. It was probably one of the peak experiences of both of our lives. I’ll leave it at that.
Anyway, in honor of the adventure, my father gave me this t-shirt when he visited the canyon a year before I was scheduled for the raft trip.
While I was there, to commemorate the adventure, I also purchased a shirt for Jim. Now this shirt intrigued me because it was dyed with dirt by a special process. Whatever the process, they use genuine Arizona red sandstone dirt, and it is colorfast.
I had a pair of white “sunscreen” pants that I wore in order to avoid roasting myself too badly. In the process of all my activities, those pants got dyed by dirt also, and here I am in the process of doing that, sliding down a little water slide we hiked up to on one of the side trips.
We had to walk down to the river to meet up with the rafts, and one of my companions kissed the bridge over the river when we had completed the nine mile trek down there. I felt like it, but I was so tired I was afraid if I bent over I wasn’t going to be able to stand up again
While I was on the river, I had my birthday. The OARS staff actually baked me a birthday cake. They were positively wizards with their cast iron dutch ovens.
Another thing that happened on my birthday was we walked up to Elves’ Chasm and I got to jump off the waterfall into the pool.
That was another peak experience, as well as the amazing waterfalls we got to view because of the huge thunderstorm that hit us after lunch that day.
We ran Lava Falls, a huge rapid at the end of the canyon that was caused by lava flows a few million years ago.
We all made it through without tipping over, and that was some sort of adrenalin rush. A real E-ticket.
I’ll leave you with just a few of my favorite shots.
Now, make sure you go visit Nursemyra to see the other participants in T-shirt Friday!
What a great experience! Makes me long for the water. I went river rafting in Costa Rica several years ago and it was so much fun but there weren’t any waterfalls to jump into. We did have good eats though! Nice shirts and great pictures. Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to get my pictures out and look at them!
Oh my goodness – you have NO idea how many years I have longed to do that very same trip!!!
I’ve actually been looking at white water rafting trips recently as it’s my 50th birthday in April and I want the family to have an exciting holiday somewhere a bit special in summer to celebrate ……….. I think I’m just going to pop over to the OARS site…..!
Don’t be shocked at the prices! These are long trips and everything is included, well worth it.
Hope you get to go, it was one of the best times I have ever had.
I love dirt shirts. And all those shots are dead fantastic — but the one I wanna keep is of you jumping off the waterfall.
They always hokk us that line in massage school about staying detached from your clients’ issues, but sometimes you end up doing brave things because you want to help someone else be brave and it can rock. So thanks too for a validation of my gut instinct.
Great story! The picture of you jumping down the waterfall is just wonderful. What fun!
I love these photos, the grandeur of the canyons, your plunge into the pool and the quizzical look on your face at the birthday party! Beautiful
Wow, gorgeous. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon a few times, and have nothing like this to show for it.
Great pics and story. Love the waterfall jump photo!
Ellie, I would love to do it again!!! It was GREAT fun! I thought you and Jim were thinking about going in a few years…are you still thinking of going?
I’d love to do it again too. Only this time I want to go all the way from top to bottom without having anyone to pick up at the Phantom Ranch. BUT, we must be realistic. There are a lot of things on the list before that trip, I’m afraid. We have to finish replacing the windows in this house before anything, and then there is an issue regarding the beams under the floor. . .
Ditto Sledpress about the waterfall photo — what a great shot. You know how some pictures just really capture the essence of a person? That one really does, for you.