ANOTHER FUN-FILLED AND "WET" WEEKEND

WARNING:  Picture overload :D

When you are living in a four-season country (where winter, no matter what, seems to be always longer than all the other seasons), you ought to know how to make the most out of the warm season - SUMMER, and that's exactly what Vince and I have been doing.  After our camping (mis) adventures and other escapades last long weekend, we decided to go for another outdoor fun, so we went whitewater rafting yesterday!

It was last year when Vince and I first tried whitewater rafting.  We went to Lehigh River Gorge in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, one of the most popular rafting sites in the country.  Along with four other friends, we enjoyed the experience of paddling through small waves and a couple of rapids, hitting huge rocks, falling off the water, and swimming in the river, as well as the splashing and waterfighting we did against kids and other rafters on the trip.

Lehigh River - July 2010

Our team this year was composed of seven people; the four of us (Vince, me, Chris and Joff) being second-timers at Lehigh; Donn and Maria as newbies; and Lillybeth, although first time to join us in Lehigh, is not quite a newby as she had previously gone rafting in Costa Rica.

Power breakfast before rafting !

This year, since it's already the second time for most of us, we opted to level up a bit and chose to raft on a "dam release day."

Ready to get wet !!!

There was a lot more water, stronger current, and bigger rapids along the 9.5-mile course.  Our paddling skills have actually improved as compared to last year, in that this year, we were able to perform more tricks with our raft like "pirouette" - rotating it (on purpose) while riding rapids, evading huge rocks, being able to get our raft out smoothly when sandwiched between rocks, parking our raft uneventfully, and directing our raft to where we wanted it to go.  

Chillaxing after a series of rapids

We got stuck on rocks only a couple of times (as opposed to last year, when most of the time, we were stuck on rocks and shallow parts of the river).  The quick fix to unstuck a raft from a huge rock is for the rafters to move away from the rock and "bounce, yeah baby, bounce" until the raft bounces off the rock and allowing water flow between.

Synchronized paddling captured on cam.  Good job, guys!

We switched sides a lot of times during the trip as paddling on just one side could get really exhausting.  We also took turns on being team captain - responsible for giving directions on paddling and for the steering and veering of the raft.  For the most part, Vince played the team captain - and wow, what a smooth sailing we did during those times.  Kudos to my man ! ♥

Not even the rapid ahead of us prevented us from saying cheese.  Hehe!

One thing we also learned from our experience last year is to pack a lunch!  We didn't know then that you couldn't get food nearby the river.  Only one person brought lunch so the rest of us shared on his lunch.  Poor us.  Hehe!  So this year, we made sure to bring enough food for all of us.
 

Pulling over at the Lunch Rock :)

Thanks to Donn for bringing a "mini-fridge" full of goodies.

Mini rapids on the background.  Cool !

Unlike last year where we had our chance to jump on the water whenever it's safe to swim, this time we weren't able to do that, most likely due to higher water and stronger current owing to dam release.  However during lunch time, some of the other rafters literally rode on the rapids, and Vince and I couldn't resist testing the waters ;)

♪♫ Proud (Vince and Karen) kept on rolling.  Rolling, rolling, rolling in the river ♪♫

The current was indeed strong that I had a hard time standing still when I stepped on the water.  It was a bit scary too because the rocks were slippery and once you sit on the water, God knows how far the current would roll you down.  Haha !  You'd know when to start swimming back to the river bank by the yelling rafters and tour guides standing on the bank and cheering on you to "keep swimming" when you've reached a certain point.  Since I am no salmon and was never trained to swim against the tide, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't swim towards the bank.  Eventually, one of the tour guides in kayak (seen partly in picture above) came to the rescue.  Vince and I grabbed the end of his kayak and he brought us back to the lunch rock.  There was this one tour guide who was holding a rope, on watch, and looking very much ready to rescue anybody who'd go merrily down the stream - which in that case, was me.  Hehe!

Later that day, we encountered a few more rapids - some small and others big - and we had good splashings too - some from other rafters but mostly from Joff and Donn !

Joff showing Donn some bucket love :D

 

The awesome "right-side" paddlers :D

Overall when compared to last year's trip, this year provided us a better experience - more thrilling and more fun - and since there were not much kids on the trip, there was lesser splashing and waterfighting, which we didn't mind at all ;)

After a whole day of being out in the sun, all of us came home one shade darker.

We hope to do it again and maybe a Grade 5 or 6 whitewater next year ;)

Vince and I hosted an after-rafting dinner at home.  We invited some other friends who didn't go rafting with us to join the dinner.  Below are some snapshots:

Dinner time !

Vince and I cooked chicken afritada, tuna casserole and maja blanca (corn pudding).  Guests brought drinks, shish kebob, KGC, Red Ribbon (from New York), fruit salad, and veggie salad.

Good times !

...and of course, we served fresh fruits !

Mario Kart Tournament after dinner

Baby Madeline having fun with tita Karen :)

So, there goes another fun-filled awesome weekend - thanks to good friends who made it all memorable and sweet.  Vince and I plan to have more and more of quality bonding time like this in the future ♥

♪♫ Do I love you, my oh my?  River deep, mountaing high! ♪♫

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This is my entry for Travel Diva's Wet September:

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