Oh my, I have been sooo busy the last month so I apologize for the lack of posts. I love that I’m busy, but don’t like that I then don’t feel I have time to write about my adventures. So I’ll try to give a quick update on what’s happening in my little world.
Let’s see, I started off the month going to Detroit for my friend Carrie’s wedding. It was held in the GM complex where there is a Marriott. It was right in downtown Detroit on the Detroit River. I spent a day exploring the city and ran into a parade and festivities for the Stanley Cup champions (Detroit Wings). The weekend was filled with meeting new people and visiting with old friends. I had a great time and the wedding went off without a hitch.
Here’s a pic of the GM Complex – It has 4 towers in a square and one tall round one in the middle which is the Marriott.
Me, Allison, and Carrie. Roommates my second year in college – We missed Mayra as she was our 4th roommate.
Carrie and I – Thanks carrie for picking out NICE bridesmaid dresses for us ladies!
I headed back down to the Lochsa river the next weekend and this time did a bit of rowing myself. I wasn’t going to, but my friend Josh said, “I’m going to put together a cataraft for you and you’re going to row, k?” So I said, ok. The level was around 5.5-6′ and was really nice. I was definitely nervous, as I hadn’t rowed in over a year and a half. I did a lot of positive self-talk as I headed down the river to help me get through the rapids and build up confidence as I went. I had some minor technical difficulties with some of my equipment but other than that, I had a great run! No swimming or going through any rapids backwards! I don’t have access to any of the photos right now, but I’ll try to remember to post a few later.
I was then off on Friday the 20th to Montana where I was going on a 5-day flat water fishing trip on the Smith River. There was a group of 10 with me only knowing 3 of the people in the group. The Smith River is a premier fishing destination that you have to apply for a permit to get on the river. It’s done by a lottery system and it’s hard to pull a permit. You can really only run the river most years between April and the end of June. This year because of all the snow pack it will be runable through July.
It was probably the prettiest river I have ever been on and the weather was perfect. It was in the 70s with clear blue skies everyday. I decided to sleep outside 3 out of the 4 nights and crossed my fingers that no large animals would visit me (black bear, cougar, etc.) I was fortunate to not have any visitors :) I did get rained on a little 2 nights, but I just pulled a tarp over my sleeping bag and had great musical rain drops to help me fall asleep.
Overall the trip was amazing – good people, good food, perfect weather, and stunning scenery. I feel blessed and fortunate I was able to experience such an amazing river that cuts through a Montana Canyon.
All my pics are pretty large size so I made a little slideshow.
The pictures don’t really capture how beautiful the rock walls were. I didn’t get many pictures of the really huge ones either cuz of my lense. They had amazing caves all over the place, it was really neat.
Well, that sums up my busy month. I did a bit of much needed house cleaning yesterday and today I’m inside steering clear of the 98 degree weather we’re approaching.