Yuck....You swam in the Spokane River???

This past Sunday was my first time swimming in the Spokane River....in the Spokane section (I have swam in the section in Idaho). I was NOT among the group of idiots over the weekend that did not have life jackets or a professional guide. Nick and I along with our small group from church went with a rafting company called Peak 7. There were 4 boats total, and our group was split between 2 of them. The river is very high this time of the year and also very dangerous. Let me start out the story by telling you that rivers terrify me. The fact that you could be swept away in a second or get pulled down by the undercurrent, keeps me far from swimming in most rivers. So why did I go you ask? Because my husband loves for me to take part in adventures with him, and he is so good to me, the least I could do is face my fears to make him happy.

Our put in was just down river from TJ Meenach Bridge and our take out was at Plese Flats. Everyone in our boat had been rafting before, and our guide was impressed with the power of our strokes. We felt pretty good, but our baloon was to be deflated quickly. There is a pretty big hole (like an ocean wave that is just about to break) called "widowmaker" just past the bridge at the Bowl and Pitcher. Our guide prepared us to hit it with full force. But instead we hit it like a brick wall and flipped faster than you could take a breath. So there we were all 7 of us spewed across the rapids and our raft upsidedown. Luckily, we were all able to grab onto the upsidedown raft or someone that had a hold. Our guide swam like a storm and jumped on top of the raft to guide it to the right side of the river and we all struggled to hold on, keep our heads above water, not suck in a lot of water (although I did) and float to safety (eventually). Adreniline sped things up for me because it seemed all took place in seconds, but I am told it was more like 5-10 minutes before we were all safely in the boat. They had a professional photographer at the bridge so I am really hoping he/she got some great pictures of us flying out of the boat. I will share them if so. Long story short, every muscle in my body was sore the next day (from the adrenaline, I assume) and I have crazy bruises! But we all survived, I had a blast, and my fear of the river swallowing me whole lifted just a little bit that day.

Its been a bit crazy but I will post soon about Joelle's bachelorette party, the wedding, and my garden, so keep checking!