a little bit of white water to wake you up…

So, how did you spend your past Saturday morning? Coffee? A relaxing breakfast after sleeping in? Perhaps an extra long shower with the extra minutes you had in the day? Me & the Mr. and 4 of our friends from SoCal… not so much.

Meet our 8:30am wake-up call named “Tunnel Chute”:

As a way to lure our friends from the coastal cool of Southern California to the ridiculous heat of the Central Valley, we planned a 1-day whitewater trip on the Middle Fork of the American River. You may recall that last September we spent my mom’s birthday rafting on the South Fork of the American, so we thought we’d pick it up a pace with a river heavy with Class IV rapids. This one above just happens to be a Class IV+… which was incredibly fun because halfway through you just get to squish in the boat, put your paddles up and enjoy the ride! However, we did have to leave the house at 5:45am… and we all got good sunburns after spending all day in the sun, but boy was it worth it!

I mean, we never ended up in the water as a result of a rapid (like these folks below), just due to silly boating games that we brought on ourselves.

As a water lover at heart (seriously… I could never be landlocked wherever I lived!), there’s nothing better than spending the day on the river just floating along. It makes me wonder why we don’t do it more often… and why Mr. M has to pry me away from future visits to REI where I might indulge in some personal watercraft options!