Having made our way to Jackson, Wyoming in the trusty Camping Machine, we're searching about for something interesting to do.  Something to make the trip special.  Something to go back and tell the guys at the office, "My weekend?   Oh, nothing special.  We just took a raft trip down the Snake River, that's all.  Oh, and mowed the lawn.  How about you?"

Yup, that's what we needed.  And that's what we did.



We booked a trip with Teton Expeditions to float the Snake River for a couple of hours.  Rafts? They have rafts like kings have castles.  And we were honored guests. 

Understand we have never taken an official river trip.  Oh, sure, we've piled into inner tubes and floated down the Madison River a couple of times.  I've written about that on this website.  Floating the Madison is fun.  Everyone does it.  But this was a Real River Trip.  With Guides.  The kind of guides that belong on the old Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom.

So you can imagine the excitement Chris and Tommy had going into this thing.  A wild, exciting ride down the famous Snake River.  If you're a boy, six or eight years old, do you think you're going to be excited?  I'd have to think yes.

And my guys certainly were.





Oh, sure, it may look like they're apprehensive.  They're not.  This is called Getting Your Game Face On.

Let me be clear.  We booked what is called a 'scenic' trip.  The kind of trip you sit back, relax, and let the gentle rocking of the raft on the placid river lull you into a sense of extreme serenity.  Sure, you're wearing a life preserver on this trip.  I think they make you wear it just so you feel like you're having an 'adventure.'  It's so you can take a picture and show your friends that you really did float the wild and woolly Snake River, and survived to tell the tale.  We did not  book the 'whitewater' trip, the type of trip where you experience waves in the river capable of making 'The Poseidon Adventure' seem tame.  Nope, on our trip there would be no 'Lunch Counter.'  There would, however, be a picnic basket.

  

The photo above is why they call the trip we booked the 'scenic' float.  It's scenes like this that you can't believe you are seeing in real life.  This is something you see on The Discovery Channel.  'Tonight at 10!  Brave Adventurers Risk Life and Limb on the treacherous Snake River to get a glimpse of rugged mountain peaks!!'  Or some thing like that. 

And yet there we were, with two young boys, lazily floating the river, risking neither life nor limb and casually looking back at the Tetons as though we see something this beautiful and dramatic every day.  "Ho Hum, another snow-capped mountain."  And just when you start to take it all for granted, your river guide says, "Take a look in the trees along the shore.  See that small black speck?"  So you lift your binoculars, the ones provided to each guest on the raft absolutely free, and you focus in on the black speck in the trees.




You focus those binoculars a bit and it turns out that speck in the trees is the quintessential American Icon, the Bald Eagle.  Just sitting there in the trees, looking out over the river, hoping a trout will come to the surface so he can snatch it up for dinner.  An everyday occurrance.  For the eagle, anyway.

This is no Zoo eagle.  This is an acutal, no-kidding in the wild Bald Eagle.  I don't know about you but I don't see this everyday.  And yet in the couse of our two-hour float, we saw no less than ten of these eagles.  If I may say so myself, that is pretty darn cool.



The Guide on one of these river trips can really make the experience special.  Sure, at the end of the trip you've floated the river, no matter what hte guide does (provided, of course, you don't run aground or something).  But our guide, JoAnn, was awesome.  She always managed to orient the raft on the river to give us the best view.  She pointed out the wildlife, her experience allowing her to know where the best viewing spots would be.  Her knowledge of the river gave her the experience to point out things along the way that we, as passengers, would never have noticed, but made the trip all the more enjoyable.

For example, she called out to tell us there were two eagles in a tree up ahead.



I am sure I would have missed this had our guide not pointed out this dramatic sighting.  However, she had seen them together on previous trips, and she told us they were a mated pair, and their offspring was likely nearby.  A few moments later we heard a 'trilling' and our guide told us that was the sound of the young eagle.  Moments after hearing the bird, we saw it in a tree further down the river.  As it was, this was a moment we will long remember.

With a full complement of wildlife sightings and the trip drawing to a close, the discussion on the raft turned to other portions of the river that can be floated.  The 'whitewater' float includes some Class 2 and Class 3 rapids, and our guide explained the rating system.  She talked about the section of the river referred to as 'Lunch Counter', a place that will 'eat your lunch' if you are not careful.  She then asked if we wanted to experience a much milder version of 'whitewater', and we said yes.



Chris looked ahead, eager and excited to spot the rapids we would run.  He was already imaging the stories he would tell his friends.  "I ran whitewater on the Snake River!" he would say.  "It was awesome!  I got soaking wet!"  That's what it's like to be eight years old, in case you've forgotten.



Okay, so it's not Lunch Counter.  But it was waves, and we did go down into the trough nose-first, and we did get wet.  So that has to count for something.  So I suggested to the Guide that if this wasn't exactly 'Lunch Counter,' it still deserved a name.  Given that we had finished the lunch provided from the large cooler on board the raft, I suggested we call that section 'Picnic Basket.'  Our Guide agreed.

  Before we knew it, the float was nearly over.  How could two hours go by so quickly?



We made a point to thank our guide JoAnne, who really made the trip fun and interesting.  We have the photos to prove we did it.  We saw live eagles in their natural habitat.  We ran whiteater on one of the iconic rivers in the western United States.  And Chris get's to tell his third-grade buddies on the first day of school, "I ran whitewater on the Snake River this summer."

And dad has a story to tell the guys in the office.  Besides mowing the lawn.  

It's been at least five years, maybe more like seven, since I have been to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  It may even be a good ten years.  Whatever.  It's been too long, that much I know.  I don't know ol' Jack any more.  But now, at last, that situation has been rectified.

The Camping Machine rolled into Jackson, Wyoming for a impromptu long weekend.  We're staying at the Virginian RV park.  Our little 27-foot travel trailer is dwarfed by all the huge Motor Homes in the park.  It's giving me an inferiority complex.

Today we set out for Grand Teton National Park.  We took the ferry across Jenny Lake and hiked up to Hidden Falls.  If you haven't done that hike, it is not strenuous at all and the payoff is worth it.  The falls are beautiful. 

We also stumbles across a moose taking a dip in a stream just inside Grand Teton National Park.  She didn't seem to mind a couple dozen people taking photographs and video clips.

 

 
Look, I understand seeing a Moose in no big deal in Grand Teton National Park.  There are almost as many Moose around here as there are mosquitoes (or so it seems sometimes). But it is still a minor thrill.  We were less than 30 feet away from this one, and our kids thought it was awesome.  They talked about it the rest of the day.

Tomorrow is a float trip on the Snake River ( a 'dry' float trip - we have young children!) and we're looking forward to that. 

Maybe we'll run into our Moose again- or one of her many friends.  

I have two sons.  They both play soccer.  They are just far enough apart in age that they cannot play in the same league, which in our city rec department is sorted by school grade.  I started out coaching my first-born son when he first asked, "When can I be on a soccer team?"  When my second son, after watching his older brother play soccer, said essentially the same thing - "I want to lay soccer, dad.  When can I play?  And you'll be my coach too, right?"

So, sure enough, this past season I coached both teams.  Two practices each week, two games.  I really enjoy it and love watching all the kids develop their skills.  What I love most of all is the time I spend with my sons in a structured, athletic environment where they are learning to interact with other kids.

While I love the involvement I have with my sons and their teams, there are times when I'd rather just watch them play and take pictures or video.  As coach, that never happens.

However in the last game of the season for my eldest son's team, one of the other parents did shoot some video.  The quality of the video varied greatly, but the parent tapes almost the entire game and managed to get some good action sequences. 

As I scanned through the tape I saw several sequences featuring my son.  All false modesty aside, he was one of the better players on the team, but during the game I cannot watch my son as other parents watch their boys, as I am trying to teach the game as they play.  But as I watched the tape I couldn't help but notice some of the good plays he had made.

So I copied the tape to my computer and edited a sequence of his plays to show him how well he had done.  He enjoyed watching it, and I enjoyed sending it around to his grandparents to see as well.
 
In this particular game my son's effort could not stem the tide of a superior team, and our team lost 4-1.  Still, our team had some good moments.   At the risk of being 'one of THOSE parents', I've posted a shortened version of my son's soccer skills in a short clip on this website. If you'd like to see it, go to the Multimedia page and click the 'Soccer Highlights' link.  Watch number 10 in red.

In case you missed my last post, or somehow could not get enough of the rodeo photos I included in that post, click over to the Featured Photo page and you'll see a larger image of one of the photos from the annual 4th of July rode in Ennis, Montana. 

As I have said in previous posts, I'm no country kid.  To me, cowboys are the stuff of western movies.  And the whole rodeo thing, well, I just don't get it.  Honestly - Bull Riding?  Calf roping?  I'd rather watch curling.

That was, until I went to the annual 4th of July rodeo in Ennis, Montana. 


I really like Ennis, Montana.  Ever since my Brother-in-Law and his family built a summer home there, I've had the occassion to spend time up there visiting them, usually over the fourth of July.  We hang out, float the Madison River, and just enjoy the peace, tranquility and fresh air in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

So this year, in addition to floating the Madison and hanging out, we went to the  rodeo in Ennis. 

These cowboys are nuts.

I mean, really.  Look at the guy in the photo to the left.  Can you say WHIPLASH?  This can't be fun.  If seen car wrecks that weren't as bad as what is happening to this poor guy.  Not ot mention the horse doesn't look like this is what he bargained for.  One day he's out on the prairie, minding his own business, the next thing he knows he's got some smelly cowboy stuck on his back.  I'd buck like hell if I were him.

For the record this cowboy made the full 8 seconds required, but was disqualified for some sort of technical violation.  That's just not right.  This cowboy is getting his eggs scrambled every which way, and he gets DQ'd over some trivial thing?  Something's not kosher about that.
 
Or how about this guy?  He lasted less than two seconds before getting a face full of arena dirt.
This can't feel good. 

What amazes me, outside of the fact that people actually volunteer for this stuff, is that this is a JOB for some people.  It's what they do FOR A LIVING.  Now I can see being a professional baseball player.  An NBA player.  Even, to a lesser extent, a professional football player.  But a Rodeo Cowboy?  You've got to be kidding. 



And then there are the Steer wrestlers.

If I didn't know this guy was trying to wrestle the steer, well, I'm not sure what I would have thought.  It isn't a kiss, I don't think anyway.  Still, what would possess someone to dive off a horse and onto the back of a steer and wrestle it to the ground?  Call me crazy but I'll take Greco-Roman anytime over this.  At least that is an Olympic Sport.



One more photo for kicks.  Doesn't this look fun?  It looks like a baseball player, dressed as a cowboy, is sliding into home plate with a giant hamburger.  To bad the cowboy will spend the next 48 hours trying to clean the dirt out his mouth, nose, ears and other places.

Yes, our trip to Ennis was fun and relaxing.  And after having watched the annual 4th of July Rodeo live and in person, I'm happy to say I have a whole new appreciation for cowboys.

I just don't want to be one.

To see more photos from the 4.th of July Rodeo in Ennis, Montana go to The Camping Machine Image Gallery.