Thanks for Thanksgiving Sake

I'm sorry for not posting any real cool adventure type stuff for the last little while, I feel like I need to get back into the habit of writing before I do and big posts. So thanksgiving come and gone and it was incredible to be back home among family and friends!! It was great to eat familiar delicious dishes and try some new ones too. It was great to be with my wife's family as we'll as see my own for most of the day. I appreciated every small moment yesterday more than I ever thought possible. It's amazing what a year away from home will do to make you really appreciate the little things you usually take for granted. I'm pissed I didn't take pics of the amazing spreads I saw all day yesterday. Some of my favorites were my mother in-laws "pearadise pie" my soon to be sister in-laws berry pie and my dads girlfriend Kelly's berry cobbler and I can't forget great grandma Stratton's homemade fresh peach ice cream..... (Realizing that my favorites were all dessert concerns me a bit:/)
Of course the turkey and all the usual stuff was great too but it's nothing I really couldn't eat any other day :) All in all it was a great day and it put me in the holiday spirit and helped me feel like I'm finally back home. Happy holidays, good eating, and everyone be safe out there!

The Bored Blogger

I've come to a crazy realization the last few months of no blogging...I am a "bored blogger" meaning when I'm low on things to keep me occupied I like to write. When I'm busy and have a life to keep track of, I forget about writing down whats going on and don't really care. NOW we are back in Utah and I have a lot of time on my hands until I start my two new jobs out here hopefully this week(i'll report more on these later). Hopefully i'll remember to keep up on all the changes going on now and keep sharing the a riverrats adventures.Canon T3i 18.0MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm IS Lens - Digital (Google Affiliate Ad)

Wikiva Springs Hike

Nothing like a day off! Last week me and Brooke took Anna to Wikiwa State Park and took a small hike to a small pond called sand lake. It was super fun and it was a great little adventure. Anna loved it and it was nice to do something "Outdoorsy" for once. We were able to see our first wild alligator here in good ol' Florida. Here's a bunch of pic's from that awesome day!

Anna cruising down the trail

Nothing like a cheesy grin

We liked the tree

Me and Anna

The hike wore Anna out : )

Freaking ALLIGATOR!!!! 

Pretty little lake

I love this girl!

Cactus flowers! 

Made me kinda homesick

Sexy wife walking with the little girl

Check out who we found munching grass next to the trail  : )

Little bridge Anna was scared to cross hahaha!

The springs where you swim 

Spring Break of a Lifetime

It's been awhile since my last post because honestly, I haven't really had any adventures. It's depressing to say, but it's true. I went to school, occasionally worked, went home and sat for awhile, then went to bed. As some of you may know I recently acquired a new job at the fantastic restaurant Ocean Prime where I'm now a pantry cook. It's not glamorous but it's in the kitchen and they take good care of their employees. With this new job has come a breath of fresh air, knocking the dust out of my lungs and has made me work hard again for a change. Now most of you know my philosophy of work hard so you can play hard. I started working hard and this spring break me and my wonderful wife have begun playing hard once again! We started the break off with a full day taking in universal studios including the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The day started out great with a ride on "The Hulk" then followed by butter beer, an amazing new ride all about Harry potter, Jurassic Park, and everything in between. After, we went and spent the rest of our cash on an order of crappy Chinese food(panda express) and crappy Mexican(moe's.) After gorging on orange chicken and tortilla chips with queso we decided to go see "The Lorax" and relax a bit in a nice cool theater. The next day we made a crazy little decision and adopted another little puppy and named her zoie... She was adorable but we realized that we didn't have the time to give her the love and attention she needed so we very sadly had to return her to her original owner.....I'm getting sad just thinking about it. BUT since then we've been informed that she has been adopted by a loving new family. The next few days we worked and worked but spent the mornings sleeping in going to breakfast and sometimes lunch and just spending some real time together. Then thursday rolled around. We had wanted to go kayaking at wekiva springs but it didn't work so we decided to visit St. Augustine instead. Holy awesome day! We drove the hour and a half out to the sleepy beach cruising to some of Brooke's tunes. We got there and went to the beach and swam and layed out...my very white back, shoulders and belly still haven't quite recovered from the wonderful sunburn I aquired :) After the beach we drove to town cause we heard it was neat. When we got there it was all we could do to park the car and start exploring!! That place was awesome! I haven't seen anywhere like it in the U.S. There is an old Spanish fort, tons of shops and little restaurants, and a killer little pirate museum. There's also ghost tours of some of the most haunted sites in the country and all over there were art galleries and little bits of history or something cool to do. We walked down the main small road and stopped in a bunch of shops on our way to the pirate museum. On the way we saw a small crepe shop so we stopped and got a crepe filled with cinnamon apples and caramel with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. It was super tasty and we chowed down quickly then continued on. We got to the pirate museum and were greeted by a guy dressed up in full pirate garb. Sword, pistols and all! We walked through slowly taking time to see everything and to read and learn all about the old sea dogs. We left and got a pic with the old pirate and continued on. We tried to go see the old fort but tours were closed so we saw what we could, then headed back to look for some dinner. Our budget for the day was pretty small, so any big restaurants were out of the question that day. We tried some local suggestions but everything was too expensive so we wandered until we found a little philly cheese steak shop and decided that was our stop! We weren't disappointed. The cheese steak was amazing and the jalapeno poppers were excellent! It really hit the spot and was easy on the cash. After dinner we eagerly looked for dessert....we knew just the place. Earlier in our search for sustenance we checked out a restaurant that was out of our price range for dinner but they had a dessert we couldn't resist. We went back and indulged in fried white chocolate banana cheesecake that had been rolled in cinnamon and sugar then topped with chocolate and caramel........it was amazing....I'm not a huge dessert guy but I would go back there just for this one dessert. Bliss!! We finished and slowly walked back to the car. We passed art galleries and old monuments on the way and tired and now very full we jumped in the car and drove home to end the amazing day. What a spring break folks! I'm sure I missed some stuff along the way but this post is already super long so I'll leave it at that. See ya!

goofy smile at the crepe place

nothing like spending the day with my beautiful wife

yeah....the pirate guy was pretty creepy

Spanish fort the trippy ranger lady took the pic

Philly cheesesteaks!!

The amazing dessert! we started tearing into it before I realized we needed a picture

Anna

here's the annoyed puppy look. sorry the bottom of the pic is messed up

About a year ago, my wife and I woke up one morning and drove an hour and a half to the middle of nowhere looking for a special puppy. We were broke then as we are now but we wanted a dog. We didn't know what the puppies looked like but they were the breed we wanted and they were the closest ones around. We drove from our house (then in draper) to Evanston, Wyoming. On the way, we discussed names and as I remember it, it was a blast. We new we wanted a female dog. I'm not really sure why. I've just always grown up around female dogs so that's what I loved. We thought about names and actually settled on Anna pretty quick. We couldn't name her Annie because of a good friend : ) So we drove to evanston...actually about 15 miles outside of Evanston to a little double wide. We knocked and immediately heard a million dogs barking! A really nice young woman opened the door and greeted us and let us in. Inside, there were about twenty chihuahua's in cages and gated into the front room of the house barking like mad. We saw the little Border- Aussie pups behind another gate in the hall. We talked a bit about what we wanted and we met the doggy parents. We wanted a quiet more mellow female so they took out two of the cutest puppies I've ever seen, one with black spots and a crooked tail that was dead asleep in our arms, and a little white with almost pink spots around her eyes and ears with one faint one on her back. We held them both and talked for a minute, then switched. The black and white puppy just hung there sleepily and the white and brown/pink puppy gave us the look that said "Why the hell did you pick me up? I was napping...." after seeing that look I was hooked and Brooke was too. We paid $45 dollars to the lady, took our new doggy and got in the car, and the rest is history. She's been a huge part of our small family and has brought some irritating moments and far more happy moments. She kept Brooke company while I was rafting all summer, and she keeps me on my toes and entertained while Brooke is at work until late. She's always home waiting to happily give you a big kiss on a bad day, and annoy the heck out of you on a good day. She's always there to share her slimy dog bone, or dog drool rope toy. I'm excited for our future children to grow up with a lovable dog to play with and to help take care of. I never thought I'd be such a trippy pet owner to actually write a post about her but I couldn't help it. Maybe it was out of boredom but I think it was how happy I am to have the little lady in our lives. If you don't like this post....Screw you! I don't care, I love my dog and that's all there is to it. Happy Birthday Anna!

My favorite Anna picture. She had one droopy ear for a month or so : )

Valentines Day

Well, Valentines day has come and gone once again. Last year was nothing memorable, cause I don't remember what we even did. I remember Brooke worked which meant I sat at home doing heaven knows what, probably cooking something. This year I feel like I redeemed myself a bit and it made me feel pretty good. I'm not gonna go into details about what I did because this is not a post to brag. What was really nice about last night for me was doing something unexpected and fun for my beautiful wife who takes such wonderful care of me. I had a blast making a simple idea become a reality and it all came together beautifully! I don't feel like anything really went wrong, or tasted bad, or didn't work. The look on her face was worth every minute of time spent making it all come together. That's what Valentines should be about. making someone you love happy. It doesn't have to be a boy or girlfriend, just someone you love. It also doesn't have to be big and expensive..last night the bill was $49.10 and there's enough ingredients in the fridge leftover for the rest of the week. The thought counts! show someone that you love them. A friend said to me yesterday that she didn't celebrate valentines day cause it's a big scam and that "you should act like everyday is valentines day." I agree with her that companies make a bunch of money off the day of love, and that yeah you should treat your significant other like every day is valentines day. My one thought that doesn't really go along with her is the fact that it's one day a year when you actually are given the time and the reminder to do something nice for someone else, so why not celebrate : ) I hope everyone's Valentines day was as good as mine turned out to be, and if it wasn't there's always next year ; ) 

Sunday Morning

It's been awhile since my last post about movies and what not. It's been a great couple of weeks full of working, cooking, and school with the occasional time off to just relax. Sunday morning has to be the best morning ever. You wake up and have nothing to do so you lay around till you get hungry. :) Then you get up and make some food. Today I made crepes with whipped cream, fresh blackberries and a blackberry purée to top it off. Here's a couple pics I snapped.

Mmmm! Tasty!

Then I went back to bed! I'm currently horizontal and it's wonderful! To all the poor people out there working today I want you to know that I'll relax extra hard for you today and I'll make and eat potato leek soup tonight just for you! I'll post the recipe for crepes on damnthelemonade and the potato leek soup is already there, only tonight I'm gonna add a little bacon to the guest list and maybe some cheese like gruyere. Happy Sunday everyone!!

Movies, Ice Cream and a Blanket

One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is watch a movie, eat ice cream, and hang out with a blanket. It's something so simple but it really does make me a super happy guy. And I can't forget that it's not complete without my wonderful wife, Brooke, sitting right next to me. It doesn't matter what movie it is, it makes me super happy. Now, the ice cream does kinda matter. The most recent was a homemade peach ice cream, that really hit the spot. I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com. It's simple and pretty tasty. I did change it because the recipe makes a gallon of ice cream and I only wanted a quart. I also tweaked it a bit because I wanted it to be a touch sweeter. So if you try it, taste the mix before you freeze it and adjust to your liking. Other nights, if I'm not making ice cream, my personal favorite has been any of the Häagen-Dazs sorbet's because I've always been a sucker for fruit flavored ice-cream. While Brooke usually favors Häagen-Dazs new flavors like ammaretto-almond crunch, or bananas foster, or chai tea. I do, of course, have to have a bite of any of those flavors because they are incredible! The point is to get an ice cream you love and sit down with it and who cares if you eat the whole pint.... : ) (I usually only stop after the spoon is starting to taste like paper from scraping all the ice cream dregs out of the carton.)

On the subject of movies. Everyone has their favorites. No, I never really want to watch a chick flick but I gotta let my wife have a turn and honestly I usually end up kinda enjoying it. HOWEVER, some of the films are complete wastes of time and energy and I wish that whoever created that film had a heart attack and died instead of made that horror. I am positive that Brooke would say the same about some of my favorite movies too. Either way we usually end up enjoying what we watch and it's a great way to end the work day and relax before bed.

To end this post I would just add this last thought. I'm saying all this simply because you don't have to spend a lot of money or real energy to have a good evening. Enjoy the simple things in life like ice cream, a movie, and a blanket. I love going out as much as the next guy but at the same time I couldn't be happier to live life at it's simplest.

To the New Year

Well, it's 2012. I spent my first day of this year spending time with the woman I love and relaxing from the chaos we've had to deal with at work this holiday season. 2011 was a good year. It had it's ups and downs with the biggest down happening through the beginning of October, with many ups throughout the rest of the year. But that's all history. What's gonna happen this year? Well a few things are already going on. I'll finish culinary school this year and me and Brooke are deciding what to do and where to go next. On the list of possibilities there's been London, back home to Utah, Portland or Arizona for more schooling, and a few more. We'll just see what happens. I've been thinking recently about new years resolutions. Basically they are things that we hope to achieve to make our lives easier, happier, healthier, and...well...better. Some try to make life better for others. Others just wanna get by. As for me I want to make this year better than the last. I want to see myself and my family progress and move up and forward. I'm a little nervous to make some of the decisions that will need to be made this year but I know I won't have to make them alone. I'm excited for all the adventures I'm going to have this year and the new experiences that will hopefully help me and my family grow. When you really think about it, it's nice to not know what's going to happen ahead. We can hope and plan a few things along the way but life will happen as it's supposed to happen. All we can really do is be the absolute best we can, working hard and doing what we know is right, then leaving the rest to God. I don't know exactly the purpose for writing this particular post other than to get some thoughts and feelings out of my head and into the world. To close I just wanna say I love you, to all of you that should know I love you, particularly my wife and all of my family and friends both here and at home. You all have made me who I am today and I'm thankful to have you all in my life. I wish you all the best and hope that everything you would like to accomplish this year can happen for you. To a happy new year!

The Day Off

We all love a good day off, whether it be a day off from school, work, or being stressed out about life. There's something about not having anything to do or really worry about for a day that's refreshing and rejuvenating. A few things that I like to on my day off include

• Being horizontal for as long as possible. You don't necessarily have to be laying down but sitting and relaxing is key.
• Munchies. Hang out with your favorite snack and/or beverage while being horizontal. 
• Cooking. This is a personal one. I love to cook when I'm at home hanging out. Usually Brooke is working when I have a day off so it's nice to cook something good for her to come home to.
• Watch something good. It's been awesome to catch up on my shows and hang out with a good movie.

Here's a couple links to some old school disney cartoons about days off for your enjoyment : )

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_3VBST-4w This one is a goofy cartoon and is the exact opposite of what I enjoy doing on my day off. In fact it's a nightmare day off but entertaining none the less.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdEwNOz-P50 A classic donald duck cartoon. Gotta love it!

Well this is a short post. I mean, it is my day off  : ) Take it easy everybody!

Culinary Chronicles #3

Well, another week has gone by and life in culinary school is as good as ever! We are learning the basic cooking methods like roast, braise, fry, grill, saute, poach. We did some great recipes that I'll post on damnthelemonade so you can check them out. They were super easy and delicious! I'm still in my safety and sanitation class and it's going good. We finished parasites so here's a link to a video we watched about cryptosporidium. It was pretty gnarly to see how tough some bugs are! We also learned about cockroaches and other creepy crawlies that can infect a kitchen and how to get rid of them. Pretty mellow week, and culinary foundations 1 is almost over! Then a 3 week break and I start foundations 2 where we actually get to start doing some cooking! Sorry this post is so short. NOW this up coming week is going to be a little crazy! I have almost nothing but tests everyday! Thank goodness it's on knife cuts, recipes, herbs, spices, and who wrote the first cookbook instead of useless imaginary math questions. Thank goodness for easy math questions in the form of cooking measurements! We learned a bit about lobsters this week when we made lobster bisque and I thought this clip of Julia Child talking about lobsters was kinda funny but actually really informative.
Here's the link Julia Child and Lobster! Have a good week everybody!

sick!

So once again I have a cold...I'm in Florida and I have a cold...it's crazy. So this post is going to be about what I like to do when I'm sick.

#1. Do as little as possible- It's never fun to do a lot while you're sick! I wasn't going to go to school today but I really like school so I guess I'll suffer through it. On the other hand, I don't want to go into work today so I'm praying they call me and say that I don't have to come in.

#2. Drink lots of tea!- As a matter of fact I have a thermos of tea right next to me at this very moment. It's a tension relief tea with peppermint, lemon and ginger that my dear sweet wife bought for me! And I spiked it with a good glob of honey and a few drops of fresh lemon juice. Sure feels great!

#3. Eat something hearty and flavorful- For a lot of people, I don't think eating is on their list. Eating wouldn't be on my list if I was nauseous of course but when I have a cold I'm always looking for a real hearty satisfying meal. Oh yeah, and it needs to be packed with flavor! Why? Because one major cold symptom of a cold is congestion, and you won't be able to taste anything if the food doesn't have loads of delicious flavors.

#4. Watch movies, and catch up on favorite T.V. shows- It's always good to be entertained when you're sick. Nothing better than hanging on the comfortable couch with a snack and getting your mind off how crappy you feel.

#5. Sleep- Last but not least, sleep is great. It's nice to take some awesome cold medicine and crash in a comfy bed. Plus, everyone knows that sleep is one of the best things for you to do while your sick. It's nice to take the day and just relax.

Well, that's my list. It's pretty basic but it's nice to do this stuff to make you feel better! If anyone does anything else that is interesting or "fun" (when I mean fun, I mean it in a make you feel a little less like dying kind of way) leave a comment. And here's some cartoons about being sick I thought were awesome. ENJOY!

Cartoon courtesy of toothpastefordinner.com

Cartoon courtesy of toothpastefordinner.com

Cartoon courtesy  of toothpastefordinner.com

Culinary Chronicles #2

So a couple weeks have gone by in my classes and I've already learned a ton! Right now I'm in Culinary Foundations 1 and Food Safety & Sanitation. The classes alternate every day and it's a lot of info coming really fast. So far in my sanitation class we're learning about the proper handling of food along with proper holding temperatures, receiving and processing of food, and preparation.  It's a good time and I've learned some crazy facts about things like botulism and other food borne illness. Here's a link to a clip we watched in class about ice and how dirty it can be in restaurants. Just click the link Dirty Ice. In Culinary Foundations, we've learned basics like vinaigrette and homemade mayo, as well as how to make "mother sauces" and stocks. We've worked on knife skills with various vegetables and the specific cuts that can accompany a dish. I'll actually be posting recipes on Damnthelemonade if anyone is interested and they'll be stuff that I learn in school as well as random recipes that I try on my own. Well, that's it for this week but there will be much more to come! Here's a little comic that I thought was kinda funny courtesy of toothpastefordinner.com.

Holidays!

Well this post is a couple days late but thanksgiving is really a great holiday if it's done properly. I was worried this year that thanksgiving wouldn't be worth much because me and my wife moved to the opposite side of the country and away from our families. I was worried that I would be home sick and really miss everyone back at home but the truth is I had a wonderful thanksgiving here in Orlando Florida with just me my beautiful wife and our little dog. We went to Disney World for part of the day then went home and made dinner. We had ham, mashed potatoes with jalapeños,bacon, and cheddar cheese, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and gravy. Oh I can't forget pie!!! My wonderful wife made two pumpkin and one pear pie (one of my favorites). We chowed down then went and saw the movie "Tower Heist" with a friend. Later, I went home while my wife went "Black Friday" shopping while I went home and went to bed. What a day! Now it's the holidays and Christmas is coming up quick I'm super excited for all the holiday happenings and I'll Try to post what's going on in the river rats life. Happy holidays everybody!

Culinary chronicles #1

Those of you that read this blog on occasion and that know me personally already know that I just recently moved to sunny Florida with my beautiful wife and our little dog to go to culinary school. It's been a wild ride so far but school has started and it's turning out to be better than I expected! I rafted all summer and wrote about my river adventures. Now I would like to share some of my culinary adventures with all of my friends and family and other curious and more than welcome readers. As for exactly what I'm going to share here opposed to my other blog Damn the lemonade I'm still deciding. I think I'll post recipes on damn the lemonade and talk about things I've learned and what's going on with life at school and the stuff I'm gonna be doing there. This could possibly change based on mood and all the normal random stuff that could happen to change my mind. but either way I hope to share some cool stuff with anyone who reads.

River Chronicles #11



Well this is it. The last trip of the season. This post has taken forever to get done because I moved to Florida and had a little bit of a bumpy time. This last post will be a little different than my others. I'm gonna do the post the post journal style instead of just giving a brief summary at the end and see which one I like the best.



pretty picture

Tuesday September 20th 2011

Well it's day three of our trip already. We've pulled into Nankoweep for a half over because the hike is good, the beach is shady and we rowed a lot our first two days. It feels good to finally row the Grand Canyon. It's already given me a new perspectuve and a renewed respect and appreciation for the power of the river and a greater love for the canyon. I feel like I've done well so far but even as I write that I know I haven't done anything really difficult. There's a lot more to come. The people are great. They relax when it's time to relax and they play when it's time to play. The crew is great too! Kevin is TL with Butch and his wife, Nancy. Then there's Mark, my dad Bryan, Joe, and me. OH, I can't forget Ron my bailer. So far it's been great and I can't wait for whats next.

Thursday September 22nd 2011 

It's day five. I've already cooked for the second time cause we're doing cook crews and switching off. I have the night off and we're camped at Rattlesnake Camp and we only came a few miles today. We hiked to Hill Top Ruin, wandered around the Unkar Delta and saw Ancestral Puebloan foundations and pottery shards. We got to camp early and Mark and Kevin took a few people on a hike to a large mesa called the tabernacle, while my dad, joe and ron cooked lasagna  : ).....as for me....I'm just hanging out. That's another thing that is amazing about this place, the sound of the river, the usually perfect temperature in the evening, and the scenery make Grand Canyon a great place to just enjoy life. There's no cell phones or other distractions, it's just relax. I love this place! It's a great place to just think and love life. As for enjoying life, we go into the gorge tomorrow.. BIG WATER!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Saturday 24th 2011

Wow! Today we ran granite, hermit, crystal and the gems. Granite was interesting. I had a good line but I felt out of control. I went through and hit the big stuff head on and made it through with no real issue other than my boat was FULL of water. Hermit was a different story. I've never screamed in excitement so much in my entire life. The waves were HUGE in a row boat! I always thought the ride was big in a motor boat, but it's just nuts in a row boat. I liked my run. I hit everything straight on and we made it through safe and sound. That last ride in was definitely a highlight of the summer! Crystal.....my run pretty much sucked and I feel like I got pretty lucky. It all started with me going sideways through the right shoulder of the hole....I'm happy I didn't flip. Then, as I think I'm out of the through, I'm heading down the right channel and end up going over a rock sideways.....I'm stuck, we high side, and start bouncing on the boat to shake it loose and I'm screaming every four letter word in the book.....not one of my proudest moments. We came off a few seconds later and I scream "GET ME OUTTA HERE" as I grab the oars and start to push out of the rapid. We made it through alive and upright so that's a big plus. It wasn't pretty getting through there but it could have been a lot worse. Me and Mark cooked some sweet salmon for the folks and life is good. The trip is going great and everyone seems happy. We still have a long way to go but oh boy am I glad crystal is behind me!

Ron punching through a killer wave in Hermit, what a ride!!

Thursday 29th 2011

Today was CRAZY! It started like any other river day. Wake up, eat breakfast, load the boats, stop at Fern Glen for a hike, row to Lava Falls, stop and scout.....we get set to run. Kevin Jo is the first in line with me next, then my dad, Butch, Joe, and Mark running sweep. We all scouted together and we all knew the run that we wanted. There was tension in the air but everyone was confident...I personally thought I was gonna have a heart attack and die, but I kept my cool : ) We got in the boats, and pulled away from the shore. Kevin Jo was first with me second, my dad third followed by Butch, Joe, and Mark Jo. Kevin got set up, went down the slot and dissapeared out of sight. Three seconds later I saw kevins boat upside down spinning in the ledge hole, I yelled "KEVIN IS OVER! KEVIN IS OVER!" to the other boats and I panicked a little, completely forgetting what was going on and started to freak out I yelled "WHAT SHOULD I DO!!" Which looking back is ridiculous cause I was literally just about to enter the rapid at this point. I couldn't hear it, but my dad was screaming "JUST GO!!!" but what snapped me out of it was my bailer Ron, He yelled "PICK A SPOT AND GO!" I snapped out of it and hit the slot, went past the hole and made it through ok!! We were soaked and full of water but we were freaking upright!!! Now that we were through it was time to start looking for people and keep the trip going. We were headed down stream and we heard that Butch got thrown out of his boat, and that his wife Nancy came floating by by herself with their boat. Then Joe came floating by on top his boat with both of his frames hanging off either side of the boat with no people in it.....We headed down stream and began helping Joe put his boat back together while Mark got Kevin's boat back together. We had a bunch of help from two other companies A.Z.R.A, and C.R.A.T.E they picked up one of our passengers, and helped get Kevin and Joe's boats over to shore. The rest of the group came down a little after, and we had lunch on the beach. We made it through without anything serious, Kevin and Butch were cut up a bit but nothing too serious, and others had some bumps and bruises. We didn't lose anything that we couldn't really stand to lose and some straps and oars broke. It was by far the most carnage that I've seen on the river and I hope I don't see that much again! But that was it! My last trip for the season!! We made it through ok, and it was a trip to remember! To finish up, I just wanna say to anyone who went on the trip that has read this, that if anyone has more info about any of what went on during the trip feel free to add it in the comment section. : ) So that's it for this season I loved every minute of it and I can't wait till the next season!



All my passengers after the flips in Lava



River Chronicles #10

Trip number ten down!! This was a really fun one. It helped that it was a fun trip because I'm kind of beat after ten trips. The trip was with twenty really great guys from Sweden. The trip was organized and brought all together by two extremely talented and adventure loving gentleman. Let me just say that this was probably the most rowdy group I've had all summer. These guys knew how to party and you couldn't help but to join them. Two ukulele's were brought on the trip and they added a musical feature that I've never had before. Great songs were sung before and after dinner from both Sweden and the U.S. and it was a really fun time to hang out and to get to know everyone. The weather was pretty good but it threatened to rain almost everyday. The little Colorado was muddy but we swam anyway. I mean, I only have so many times I can swim there, right?! The food turned out great and the guests were really happy with it. A couple of the nights there were more than a few bottles of whiskey opened and drained before bedtime as the whole group sang songs and told stories. I really believe that this was one of my most memorable trips. The people were great, the crew was great and the work was easy. This was my last motor trip for a while. I have another trip coming up on Sunday but it will be in row boats and that will sadly be my last trip for a couple years. I love the river and I love the opportunity to work for the greatest company down there. I'm so stoked I have one more trip left and that it's slow and long so I can enjoy the canyon for as long as I can. Another adventure awaits and there are more rapids to be run! Wish me luck! Sorry I don't have any pictures yet, I'm hoping to get some from the swedes. When I get them I'll post them up for you all to take a look.

River Chronicles #9

Another trip down, and it was a pretty important trip for me. After years of training, I finally got my own boat for a trip!!!! It felt great to be on a trip where I had control of what went on on my boat. Jake Skeen was our fearless trip leader, Kevin Honeycutt was our trainee, Jake's friend, Tyson, was one swamper, and I got to bring my wife!!!!! I was so excited! I've had to leave her alone all summer so it was nice to finally be able to bring her with me. We also had my aunt Lorie with us too. She helped a ton and was there to take pictures for the company. The trip went well, the people were really nice and the weather was great. We still had high water, and the side canyons, Little Colorado and Havasu, were clear and blue. There really wasn't anything too crazy to report. It was a great trip and I was sad to see it end. BUT, before I finish, I have to tell you about the 9 year old spawn of Satan that was on the lower end of the trip. I've never seen a more horrible little kid in my life! He screamed at his parents, and would not stop asking to do things that he already knew he couldn't, like asking to get on the boat before he was supposed to and asking for lunch before it was done. The last night, he had a full blown melt down and what did his parents do??.....NOTHING!! Their friend who was on the trip finally did something and took the kid away from the group. I'm not going to go into detail about all the stuff the kid screamed at his parents, but I was blown away when the next day his mom asked me if anyone else on the trip had noticed and was annoyed by the kids behavior......HELLO!!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!!! No one wanted to even ride on the same boat as the little demon!! Well, the trip ended and it ended up being a sweet trip. Here's a few pictures Enjoy!

Brooke and Lorie

 

Cover up from the sun

Elves Chasm

Havasu

Me and Brooke at the top of Deer Creek

Brooke hanging out in the middle of the prickly pear

Floating through the Little Colorado

The crew in the AWESOME suburban Jake is taking the picture