July 4th - Yakima River Float

After we took my truck to our ending spot of the float we all got into the van and went up river with all our equipment. We took everything out of the van to start preparing for the trip down the river. We finally got it all tied together, placement for everyone and the coolers. The rafts started floating down the river but The New Guy, Bush and Ginger didn't have it quite together. The first four of the group detached and floated down a little bit and waited. Bush got on her horeshoe innertube, The New Guy was on his New Guy Raft (cooler and airmattress, superman redneck hat, beer, oar and rope) and Ginger...sat in her raft finally with some bush persuasion and hit the bottom of the river. As Ginger and Bush were finally getting it together, we realized the keys to the truck that is sitting at the end is in the van at the beginning and we were on the river to the end. We started floating to catch up with the others. We got too close to the edge where the bushes were hanging over the river. Bush got tangled and flipped. She lost her prescription sunglasses in the bush, but was able to right herself back on her float. Thank God!! I was so scared for her. We all gathered together and started floating down river. We managed to hit bushes a couple more times down river and unfortunately Bush was the target. But she was a very good sport.
Pedro was the Guide. He was the float skipper. He was the rope holder. He was the drink passer. and he was the water scooper. Not to mention the Spanish/English translator. Did I mention bikini watcher? Over-all Pedro was a great Mexican that played the game well, even though we picked him up hitchhiking at Toys R Us on South Hill.
Chrysta and Malissa found it very hard to pee in the ice cold river. They had to go .... but once that cold water hit their most inner parts... it no longer wanted to exit the body. They had to float for a good few minutes before they were able to go.
Malissa's husband (sorry I can't remember the name) the muscles of the power oar on one side of the raft, while The New Guy was the muscles of the power oar on the other side. They are the reason we didn't hit too many rocks, trees, walls or bushes.
Ginger and Bush later were designated beer holders for The New Guy when he had to steer us to safety.
We had a relaxing time for the most part with an absolutely cool scenic view. Bush brought a waterproof camera that we used to take a few scenic photos.
We floated by this big rock wall, there were a bunch of mud nests built onto the rocks. As we floated by, birds flew out of the nests. It was awesome to watch.
We made it to our destination and got lucky to find a couple of nice guys to run The New Guy and Malissa's husband back to the van to get the keys to my truck and all of our belongings to us.
Ginger and Bush decided to head back to the other side of the mountain...and the rest of the group stated they were heading back too. So we loaded all the gear and headed out.





These three birds (didn't see the third until we drove away) were sitting atop a wooden utility pole in their nice size nest. I couldn't pass the photo up.