{"id":2708,"date":"2011-06-18T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_travel_adventures\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2022-02-21T12:44:12","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T17:44:12","slug":"adventures-by-disney-quest-for-the-west-day-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/adventures-by-disney-quest-for-the-west-day-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventures by Disney: Quest for the West Day 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Woke up at 7am and we got organized to get to breakfast.\u00a0 We had some free\u00a0 time this morning to browse the shops and I bought a hoodie, t-shirt & cap\u00a0 combo and a shirt.\u00a0 Then it was back to The Wort Hotel so we could\u00a0 meet for our tour of the Jackson Hole\u00a0Playhouse, which has been in existence since 1916 in the same building.\u00a0\u00a0 After our quick tour we were taken to their restaurant and given lunch and a bit\u00a0 of a dinner show.\u00a0 After the lunch it was time to get back to our rooms and\u00a0 put on swimsuits under our clothes, and head to the bus to get suited up for our\u00a0 rafting trip.<\/p>\n

Jackson Hole \u00a0has received 700 inches of snow this year, and there is still a lot of it\u00a0 in the mountains.\u00a0 Because of all this melting snow the waters were pretty\u00a0 swift–and it was cold.\u00a0 Oh, and to further add to our Wyoming\u00a0 experience–it was raining.\u00a0 Because the waters were so high and fast, the\u00a0 younger guests on our trip were unable to raft because of safety (more on this\u00a0 as you read on) however they were given the opportunity to do a water float\u00a0 instead in a calmer partof the Snake River.\u00a0 There were 21 of us who went\u00a0 rafting:\u00a0 19 guests and our two guides (Micheal and Geraldine.)<\/p>\n

We went to Barker-Ewing White Water and were given wetsuits, booties for\u00a0 our feet and fleece, and loaded up on the bus for the 40 minute ride to the\u00a0 launch site.\u00a0 At the site we were given rain slickers and pants, and were\u00a0 bundled into life jackets.\u00a0 At this point it was sort of misting, and not\u00a0 raining hard. I didn’t think it was that cold and once we started paddling\u00a0 it would warm us up.\u00a0 There were six boats all together:\u00a0 the ‘green’\u00a0 boats with Boy Scouts, the ‘red’ rafts with a bunch of adult men in one raft and\u00a0 kids in the other, and our two in ‘blue’ boats.\u00a0 Ahead of us was a guide in\u00a0 a kayak sort of scouting the water.<\/p>\n

We loaded up the boat and\u00a0 our guide Mark gave us some instructions on paddling, and told us to work\u00a0 together and listen.\u00a0 We all seemed to be doing pretty well, and floating\u00a0 down the river was nice.\u00a0 The scenery here in Wyoming is beautiful, even to\u00a0 a warm weather\/palm tree\/beach loving person like me.\u00a0 Anyways, we quickly\u00a0 came upon some rapids and Mark had us paddle while he steered from the\u00a0 back.\u00a0 We made it–but the boat full of adult men were not so lucky.\u00a0\u00a0 I actually watched them hit a rapid and flip.\u00a0 Now things got interesting,\u00a0 because they had to get back to their boat and it was a safety issue.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a lot of water, it was cold, and raining.\u00a0 (Very cold, and very\u00a0 rainy by now.)\u00a0 We steered over to them and their second boat had things\u00a0 under control but we had to go find their paddles.\u00a0 As we went down the\u00a0 river with the kayaker we found a couple of paddles, which we gave back to\u00a0 them.\u00a0 No one seemed worse for wear, although they were looking a bit\u00a0 cold.<\/p>\n

By now it was pouring, and the rain felt like needles on my\u00a0 face.\u00a0 Some of our group did not have their hood on, but I couldn’t deal\u00a0 with the water running down my neck so I dealt with the hood in my eyes and\u00a0 paddling.\u00a0 We hit several Class III rapids with no problem, but I did think\u00a0 we were going to tip when a wall of water just came crashing into us.\u00a0 The\u00a0 best way to describe this is reverse surfing:\u00a0 you go in to the water as\u00a0 its coming towards you, and you don’t really ride it out.\u00a0 If you ride it\u00a0 out you flip.\u00a0 Plus there’s all sorts of currents and whirlpools, and its\u00a0 best to just keep going.<\/p>\n

The ride was about 75 minutes long, and not\u00a0 exhausting at all.\u00a0 (At least I didn’t have any problems.)\u00a0 It finally\u00a0 stopped raining about 3\/4 of the way into the trip, and it was nice to just sort\u00a0 of look around at the wilderness.\u00a0 Finally we made it to the debarkation\u00a0 area and we paddled the boat towards the launch, took off our rain gear and life\u00a0 jackets, and walked up the hill to the changing area.<\/p>\n

Now here’s the nice\u00a0 part…\u00a0 on the bus we picked up our clothes, and were given towels–and\u00a0 mine was warm.\u00a0 The bus was warm, and we were cold, but it really felt like\u00a0 I had a heated towel.\u00a0 We grabbed our stuff and went to the changing\u00a0 room–which was just an open area in back of a hut.\u00a0 Modesty aside, we\u00a0 quickly dressed in 45 degree weather and got back on the bus.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 ride back was about 30 minutes, and we were dropped off at the Wort Hotel.\u00a0\u00a0 Marisa and I wanted to see the\u00a0Jackson Hole\u00a0 shootout in the town square, and we hustled up there and only missed the first\u00a0 few minutes.\u00a0 After that we went to dinner at The Bunnery.\u00a0 She had a\u00a0 veggie burger she really liked, and I had a veggie omelet.\u00a0 Since we were\u00a0 in a bakery I wanted to have some pie, and it was pretty good.\u00a0 On the way\u00a0 out we got some granola for snacking on the next few days.\u00a0 I would return\u00a0 to The Bunnery.<\/p>\n

Since the next couple of days would be in the mountains,\u00a0 Marisa went back to the room and I went to buy a windbreaker jacket as the coat\u00a0 I brought was not going to be warm enough.\u00a0 Today’s trip to the river was\u00a0 pretty chilly, and I don’t want to be stuck in Yellowstone without enough\u00a0 clothes.<\/p>\n

On Friday we have an early start, with luggage in the\u00a0 hallway at 7:15am.\u00a0 Then breakfast and off to the Grand Teton mountains and\u00a0 Yellowstone.\u00a0 I’m wearing my hiking boots, two shirts, a sweatshirt, and my\u00a0 windbreaker.\u00a0 I’ve even got a Disney theme park poncho is its raining.<\/p>\n

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