All of us were excited to start the day today as rafting day was finally here. Dave had booked us a trip down the French Broad River a few weeks before and we'd been talking about it ever since. It was in the afternoon so we had just enough time for a short hike.
We chose Frying Pan because it was short and because I thought the kids would enjoy climbing the old fire watch tower at the end. We also chose to park on the road close to the end. What we didn't choose was another straight up hike! We were all winded by the time we reached the top but poor Dave hadn't been hiking with us all these weeks so he was especially beat. I started a game of Contact for the kids to keep their minds off their tired legs but it worked for me too!
They had the access door to the actual tower locked but the view from the stop of the stairs up was beautiful of course. Dave decided he didn't trust the integrity of the tower and immediately went back down. The rest of us stayed for a little while trying to spot different mountains and roads then we came back down too.
It was Brayden's picture day be he decided to hand off the camera to Laney as we were going down because she spotted some neat flowers. She's getting a lot of practice!
We had some time to kill before our arrival at the rafting place so we decided to head into Asheville for lunch first. We ended up in West Asheville which Dave and I immediately thought we needed to go back to soon. We've been in the downtown and Biltmore areas so much we didn't even know there was so much there too! We decided on Asheville Sandwich Company and were highly impressed. Who doesn't appreciate a sandwich with the fries ON TOP!!We made it to the rafting company with time to change before we were sent to watch the instructional/disclaimer video. Our guide did a great job of inserting a lot of humor into his talk but Evey wasn't thrilled with the all she was hearing. I told her she most likely would not fall out of the boat and wouldn't have to worry but it was good that she knew just in case. I'm not thinking she was believing me at that point!
We had a fun drive down to the river and were on the water within a few minutes of meeting our guide, Hadley. Dave and I were positioned in the front, Evey and Laney behind us, Ryan and Brayden behind them, and Emily in Hadley in the very back. We went down the first tiny rapids to test all our listening skills and to give Hadley a chance to see how strong of paddlers we all were.
The first couple sets of rapids were Level 2 and fun with the last one getting Dave and I pretty soaked. We went by Turtle Rock and Dave was able to tap him with his paddle for good luck in keeping with tradition.
At a calm section Hadley offered the option for all of us to swim so we all jumped in quickly to enjoy the frigid water. It did not take our breath away but it was very cold! Dave stayed in the boat to help Hadley get us back in once it was time.
We switched spots with Ryan and Laney to give them a chance up front. I was a little nervous for them as the second section of rapids were mostly Level 3 so they really needed to be tucked in to stay in the boat. On two of the rapids Laney bounced up and into the boat to save herself. Before we knew it the trip was over and we were back on the bus. Definitely too short!
After a quick dinner we headed to the program about native plants. We learned a lot about the history of the plants in the area according to the Cherokee and early settlers. While I certainly wouldn't use some of the plants to cure what they claimed it was definitely an interesting and fun program.
It was bedtime by the time we got back to our site and we were all pretty tired from the day anyway. I pulled out my secret weapon for sleeping after having a rough few days next to a snoring guy - ear plugs.
