Hey kids.
Went up to Jackson Hole today for my first whitewater rafting trip, and since it’s too late to call any of my friends around here, I’ll tell you. 
Wow. Why hadn’t I ever done that before!? It was about a three hour trip (a THREEEEE HOUR TOUR!!!), and it was wonderful. Cruising down a glassy, calm stretch, watching ospreys and kingfishers…then hearing a roar…seeing the white water…the guide yells “all paddle forward!!!”…the raft drops into a trough and the water suddenly rears up in a wall taller than the boat and you paddle for all you’re worth trying to keep it straight…you hit the wall and it cascades over the bow, drenching the people in front (including me, of course), as everyone whoooops and screams and laughs and the raft jumps and kicks like a saddle bronc in a bad mood, then into another trough, up again, again, again, paddle paddle paddle, drenched, cold, stupid with happiness and adrenaline…then suddenly the water is calm again, the guide is cracking river guide jokes (she knew the punchlines to most of our bodhran jokes!), and…hey, is that a bald eagle up ahead?
I had my little Hoover D in my pack; I really wanted to play “The Rolling Wave” while plowing through a class IV. Unfortunately, they needed me to paddle instead.
Anyway, it was really, really fun. I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend the baby back ribs at Bubba’s Barbeque downtown. 
Life…is goooooooood…
Tom
E