Tubing

The thing Amanda most wanted to do for her birthday this year was to go tubing.  In case you're not sure what this is, you can check out this link from the company where we rented our tubes.  We pushed the limits of a day trip with a 2 hour drive each way, but it was completely worth it.

Amanda packed a picnic lunch which we enjoyed on their site.  The only problem was that we were kind of rushed after eating and before leaving for our tubing adventure.  Consequently, I did not apply my sunscreen very uniformly and have a very patchy burn.  Now my skin color looks even more ridiculous with my shirt off -- something like a pink instead of a black cow.

Noah had one of the kiddie tubes with a bottom and a rope.  We tied the cooler tube to Amanda's.  The main problem was that although Lily had a smaller tube she was pretty nervous about it.  They didn't have a life jacket for her like we thought they would.  Even if they did she would have been very nervous.  She did relax about 1/3 of the way through.  Next time we'll get her a tube with a bottom.

The whole experience was very mellow and it was a great way to spend a 93 degree day.  There were 2 spots with a tiny bit of class 2 rapids and one spot with a 1.5 (if such a thing exists).  All that meant was that we moved a bit faster and got splashed a little bit.  Noah loved it.  Lily grew to like it too.  Amanda and I had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat.  It would even be more fun with some grandparents or with another family or two.  And for those of you who are nervous about water -- there are very few spots where you cannot stand up comfortably.  I was glad for my faux Tevas though.