Rafting ...from the River's edge

Last week, we spent a couple of days at the mountain home in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina. Jody and I are both short on vacation time at work and trying to spare as much as possible for the big event (coming in just two short months!), but we took a short little 4-day weekend to meet my parents in the mountains. Since it's a 9-hour drive up there, we were basically left with only 2 days to play while we were there. Jody had never been whitewater rafting, so one of the days we were there, Jody, my parents, and my brother went rafting on the Nantahala. I wanted to go, but wasn't sure it was in my best interest given my present "condition" (as Jody calls it) since there's rough water, rocks, and 50 degree water (quite cold), and you never know if or when you might fall out of the boat. So I got to watch and play photographer from the riverside.

Here they are braving Nantahala Falls, the class III rapid just before the take-out.

This is still Nantahala Falls, and Jody is getting a face-full of that big wave (you can only see his paddle in the picture). Apparently my brother (guiding the boat) had been trying all afternoon to get Jody wet, and this is where he finally succeeded.... Way to go, Ben!

This is the "post-Falls" picture... my, Jody looks refreshed! Glad to see everybody's still in the boat!

And one more picture for the road! Now Jody's ready to try a kayak, so hopefully next time we're up there, we'll have time for him to take some kayak instruction and see how he likes it.