Memories of Summertime

If only we were so dignified.

In celebration of my birthday a few summers back, I was camping out with some friends for the weekend. It was early September, but the weather was still warm and beautiful so me & two of my girlfriends sat out to go tubing down the river. I had taken lots of short trips down before and really enjoyed it so I wanted to make this trip last longer.

We were camped out about a half a miles drive downriver from where we put our tubes in & we were guessing the trip back would take about an hour or two. Well, as Im sure alot of you know, a river can be very unpredictable- if it hasnt rained in a day or two, chances are it will barely be running. Such was the case that day, but we were too excited to turn back & decided to go ahead and make a go of it anyway.

We eagerly jumped into our tubes and floated about 30 feet before dragging the bottom so hard there was no amount of scooting and pushing and giggling and grunting that would get us any further. Determined not to give up, and seeing some deeper water ahead, we stood up and walked down the river with our tubes. We made it another few feet and had to get up and walk again.

Im a well bred mountain girl, so I was smart enough not to go into the river without some shoes on (those rocks hurt!) Too bad I was only smart enough to wear .99 cent flip flops instead of some kind of well made strappy river shoe. By the time I had tromped another 15 feet downriver, the pull of the river against the flip of the flop was enough to rip the thong out of my dollar store delights, and I was left to fight the savage river rocks with only my bare feet.

After a little while my friend Kristen felt sorry for me and let me borrow her shoes for a little while & my other friend, Tessa, did the same- so we were all 3 taking turns being horribly abused by mother nature (just go with it ok?). A short time later, we came to our senses and decided to abandon our river adventure. We thought we were pretty close to the campsite, or at least the main road, and decided to walk the rest of the way back along the river bank and give our aching feet a break.

The walk through the woods seemed a Godsend after walking barefooted over the sharp river rocks...for a little-bity while; After some amazing discoveries ("This would be an AWESOME campsite") and alot of laughter and speculation (also after crossing over about the fourth mountain), we started to realize that our campsite wasnt 'just over the next ridge.'

I began feeling a little pang of anxiety. Our surroundings were eerily quiet. There were no more road sounds, no voices, and it seemed that even the river was a solemn spectre far in the distance. So naturally (of course!), we tried the 'HOOTIE-WHOO' call, in hopes that we were close enough to camp for the guys to hear us and give us some audio guidance in the right direction. ( Note: Neanderthals Guys- don't bother leaving me any comments on how helpless women are without you. Although I have to admit to the occasional lapse in judgement as proven here, I have cared for enough of you when youre sick to know the truth about the 'stronger' sex!)(Im laughing, but its true, no?)

I digress.

Eventually, we heard an answer to our calls and followed the sound;

At the bottom of a hill overgrown with extremely thick mountain laurels and rhododendrons, various weeds, and generally every kind of undergrowth you can hardly see daylight through- seemed to be our way out.

I dont know who it was that took that first slippery step onto that big, mossy rock (it wasnt me!) but since we were walking in a close-knit formation we ended up in sync, like dancers in a badly choreographed ballet, clinging to one another & sliding stiffly down the rock, and, PLOP! into the river we went.

And the person standing on the bank of the river was not one of the guys we were camping with.

And this was not our campsite.

Instead, standing there and looking amusingly startled and wide-eyed, yet somewhat pleasantly surprised, was a guy I had never seen before in my life.

(*We later found out that he'd been walking his dog and had stopped at the river to let the dog get a drink).

I can only imagine what thoughts must have ran through his mind, when, out of nowhere, the peaceful walk he thought he was taking was interrupted by three, somewhat scantily clad women, falling out of the trees and into the water, literally right in front of him. All I know is, the look on his face was completely priceless, and I doubt any who were present that day will ever forget the experience.

Once the guy had regained his speech & explained where we were, we were able to get our bearings straight and quickly found the road that we followed the rest of the way back to our campsite. And in keeping with the 'Venus/Mars' theory, the guys we were camping with still dont know exactly what went on that day, which only makes the whole thing that much sweeter.

*Note: You could say there is a moral or two to be learned here;

1. A snake can be longer & meaner than it looks at first--so dont mess with it unless youre sure you know what youre doing (the river)
2. All mothers can seem cruel at times even if they dont mean to (mother nature) 
3. Good things can come out of nowhere- and when least expected (the women falling from trees of course!)
4. And always, ALWAYS, wear well made strappy river shoes when wading in the water.(read into that however you like)