What a glorious day! Breakfast of 2 boiled eggs, English muffin and banana was provided by the motel and we lit out to our raft destination just down the road after breakfast. With waterproof cameras in hand, we were bussed to our inpoint for the 12-mile trip back down. The men launched the rafts using the stair's handrail.
Daniel, 19 and a sophomore at North Dakota State U. majoring in mechanical engineering, was our guide. He's lived in Cody for 10 years moving from Eastern North Dakota where his mother was raised.
Hey! When you have a cutie guiding the boat, you have to make conversation and pry. Youth is SO wasted on the young!
On the bus ride, one of the guides told the story about staying safe around bears. "You have been in bear country for a time now and you must know how to stay safe around bears. You wear small bells so the bears can hear you coming and you don't startle them so you avoid an attack. And you know what scat is? It's bear poop. But do you know how to recognize grizzly scat? It has those small little bells in it." Quite the jolly joker!
The rapids were grand and the time floating allowed us to take photos of deer and enjoy osprey, hawks, cliff swallows and their mud nests, as well as the slow-moving elk. Daniel explained that these large black Angus "elk" had orange tags in their ears because they were endangered and, although endangered, tasted just like beef. Cute, Daniel, real cute.
Later in the trip, Daniel pointed out a rundown wooden structure on the banks. He said that Tom Custer had set up these hot chocolate stands all down the Shoshone River for travelers and this was Custer's Last Stand.
And then he asked if we remembered the scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where they jumped off the cliff at the end. We all said "yes" and he confirmed that that cliff was NOT it.
We were thrilled by some hard-driving rapids and one drop was so hard that it left Melodie on the floor of the raft laughing aloud. The water crested over the sides and bow of the raft as Daniel did his best to make sure none of us remained dry and that all of us had a natural high in the thrill of the trip.
Our 3-hour rafting expedition ended with a short bus ride back to Wyoming River Trips' office where we were presented with a certificate of completion of our whitewater rafting to show all of our "woosie" friends who haven't dared to challenge whitewater in their lives.
We picked up our photo taken at the inpoint and they offered to send us a copy via email so we would have a digital version of the print copy. We couldn't wait to return to our motel and get some WARM, DRY clothes on and socks on our feet. We felt grateful to Sarah for suggesting we change our 1p to the 9a trip since we returned as the clouds gathered overhead and rain threatened.
We dropped our film from the trip off at Walgreens for developing and requested a CD version of the photos too. Picked up some liquid at Libations next door, stopped at a gift shop where I remained IN THE CAR and then headed to lunch/dinner....linner?...at Sunset House again.
I had the rodeo burger and Melodie the Sweet Orange Surprise sandwich. Yet again we were too full to order dessert. My suggestion was to have dessert first next time and THEN order a smaller meal.
We picked up our photos at Walgreens and took some pictures of the town and sculptures as we drove back to our motel. A grand time on the river, communing with nature and enjoying the company of like-minded people in love with the beauty of our great country.
Will definitely be hitting the "hay" early tonight. In the morning, we want to walk the "old town" buildings that are being preserved by the Cody Preservation Society before driving the scenic US20 to Lake Lodge back in Yellowstone. I hate to see our last week of vacation start.
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