Also, I read a lot of "Mommy blogs". Therefore, it has come to my attention that someday, my world will no longer revolve around me, but my child(ren?!). And I realize that I will probably think, "What did I do with all my free time?!" And I don't want the only things to be.. I worked late. I ran. I blogged. And hung out naked in my apartment. JUDGE ME. You would too if you lived by yourself.
The honest truth is, my life is kind of boring. So, Step One in my the Live in the Moment project is this:
1. Try something new.
(Step One might also be Steps Two through Seven Hundred and Thirty Six. I will keep you posted.)
So, Sunday afternoon, I went river rafting!
A few people at work invited me to go out, so I stomped down my gas pedal and gassed it to the urban center of Maitland (..the urban part was a joke) to Shubenacadie River Adventure Tours Ltd.
Cabin/office/washrooms/kitchen/storage. It was a high tech operation.
Back view of the main (..only) building.
The Bay of Fundy is home to the world's highest recorded tides, which makes for some fun on the Shubenacadie river because the tides move so fast. The highest recorded tide was something like 53 feet. HUGE. River rafting is an activity that this area is known for, but something that I have never done. It's a common thing for tourists to do (although I'm sort of curious what they would have thought, driving out into the middle of boonhick nowhere to find this place).
Our guide's name was Jeff (I think.. he is Jeff from here on in), and he'd been working as a guide for 7 years (someone asked him what he did in the winter, and his response? "Nothing." HELLO MAITLAND). There were 8 people to a boat, and by "boat" I mean hard rubber dinghy with an outboard motor on the back. He had a steering wheel though, so it was legit. Our "seats" consisted of perching on the edge of this hard rubber dinghy and holding on for dear life to the ropes attached to the side of the boat. We cruised out to the middle of the river, puttered around on a sandbar (that was literally covered with 20 feet of water in 15 mins!) and chatted while we waited for the tide to come in, and then hopped back in the boat when Jeff decided it was time. He must have been psychic because I literally couldn't see any change in the water.
When the tidal bore finally started coming through, I have to say I was underwhelmed. It was this little weeny 1 foot wave that steadily worked its way down the river. I thought, "Is this IT?!" But thankfully, no. Apparently because the tide comes in so fast, it creates this "backwash" effect that makes big standing waves (4-10 feet high). THAT is what we drove through.
This isn't my group, but it's a video someone took of a trip with the same company (we went to the same spots):
Yes, our boat did go mudsliding, and hellll nawww I didn't go. I realize you only live once, but no part of me wanted to get that filthy muddy, thank you! I had fun watching and squishing mud between my toes though. And I got to go swimming in the river :)
I was terrified I was going to fall out (like the girl in the video!) and be "that girl that fell out of the boat".. and I was a little frightened when our boat filled up with water from all of the waves (like in the video). I wasn't scared of drowning, but more like, "What happens when we all fall in and the other 24 boats that are out here (that's not an exaggeration) don't see us and we get run over and get CHOPPED UP BY THE MOTORS AAAAHHHH!" At some points the waves were so choppy I think it would be possible for that to happen. But thankfully neither of those things actually happened. Phewf. And I think I redeemed myself for playing the "diva" card with the mud when we jumped in to go swimming.. and I was the only one who could get back in the boat on my own. These spaghetti arms mean business.
I wish I could have taken photos, but there was no way in heck that (even if they let me bring my non-waterproof camera) I was letting go of the side of the boat to try and take a photo. No sir.
View from the pool.
Our boat was the first to get back, so I scrambled up the hill, tossed my life jacket, and was the first (out of 25 people) to shower and get changed. A girl has to have time to pull herself together. And then there was a barbeque. Yum!
And then I ate 2 hot dogs and a hamburger. I AM DUTCH AND I WILL GET MY MONEY'S WORTH.
No comments:
Post a Comment