Vacation 2010 - Day 5

Day Five was a highlight for everyone... except me. I try really hard not to be a stick in the mud, but there are some things I just cannot do, know matter how hard I try. This day was one of those times.





We ventured out to a natural spring that has a unique swimming hole. When we got there, the water was breathtakingly beautiful. The pictures can't do it justice! The first thing everyone wanted to do was jump off of a concrete platform into the water. I decided to sit out the first jump to see if everyone else survived... Just when I was thinking about jumping, I noticed that everyone was coming out of the water with blue lips.

Sooo, instead of jumping in, I thought I would ease down the steps and get in that way... big mistake. I have never felt water that cold before in my life (except for a tall glass of ICE water). Steve kept prodding me to get in and with 100% determination, I could only make it to my hips. When my legs turned completely numb, I decided it just wasn't going to happen. Then I looked around and noticed that all the women my age were fully clothed, sitting in the shade, watching everyone else. Hmmm... I felt vindicated that at least I was willing to give it a good effort.

Here are videos of each person jumping:
Steve and Kaylee

McKay

Griffin

Owen

The next part of the day that was terrifying for me was when Steve decided that we should all go tubing. We had brought some tubes and at first I was up for it, but then I started noticing a few things. There was only one part of the river we could go in and float, and it had a bit of a current to it. I told Steve I didn't want to actually GO anywhere on our tubes, I just wanted to sit and float "yea, yea" was his reply. We had the foresight to tie our tubes together before we started and into the river we went. We gently floated, then we floated a little faster and finally we took off. I was yelling to Steve that I didn't want to GO anywhere and away we went. Unbeknown st to me, as we passed the last group of people on the river, Steve overheard them say "I wonder where they're going? Don't they know..." and that's the last he heard. Finally, I was truly in a panic. We couldn't even see around the bend in the river where we were headed and so I gave Steve my best 'you're in soo much trouble' look just as our tubes came untied from each other. Steve hopped out of his tube and started pulling us back upstream. This was fine and dandy until I noticed that every few feet he pulled us upstream was immediately met by the current dragging us right back to where we started! That was it, Momma Bear officially came out and you probably saw this coming... I had to get in the freezing water and help him pull us to safety! Needless to say, we got to safety! My body was frozen and numb up to my shoulders, my nerves were frazzled and spent and Steve was given the evil eye for the next hour or so ( I think I showed great restraint that it only lasted an hour). Despite the danger I felt, the kids seemed oblivious and enjoyed our little jaunt down the river.

I learned several things from this outing:

• If I ever go to a Spring again, it better be a HOT spring
• My Hubby is up for anything and if it feels like danger to me, it's an adventure to him
• If I ever get on a tube again, it's only with the knowledge that I'm going to GO somewhere and I'm going to know beforehand where that somewhere is