----->>> In a Home Named Destiny: Adventure Day

6/17/13-6/23/13

West Yellowstone and the next town over, Big Sky, put on an annual "host week." All the different tourist attractions are offered to employees of the towns for free or for half price.There were so many options available we didn't even know where to start from museum visits, IMAX films about the park, horseback rides, zip lines, kayak tours, boat rentals, whitewater rafting.... We were so excited! The constant rain lately has been making us feel a little cooped up. We are hoping that it will clear up a little bit so we can get some adventuring in! We completely booked both of our days off with every free thing that we could do, otherwise we might not get the chance to do them.

Come Wednesday morning we woke up to rain..... :-( ..... We were kind of depressed that we wouldn't get to do some of our activities but decided to enjoy the down time and have a pajama day. Thursday morning I woke up early to get things ready for our second adventure day and it was SNOWING! Yes, snowing on June 20th! What is this place?! We were supposed to drive up to Big Sky to go whitewater rafting and horseback riding, how could it be snowing. I called up to the rafting company to see if our ride would still be on and they said yes! It was blue skies up there. So we shook off our sad, cold, snow faces and head towards sun and adventures! We barely made it to Montana Whitewater Co. on time, but they suited us up in wet suits, booties, sweatshirts, splash jackets and helmets. We were going to need them, because although it was sunny and blue skies it was still only 58 degrees outside.

Jordan has been whitewater rafting with his family before in California, I have never been! So as he is gearing up for the excitement I was just trying to imagine what is to come. We hoped on an old school bus and tried to wake up on the 15 minute bus ride to the top of the rapids.We met our guide for the day, Robert. He was a full time "boaty," searching the country and the world for the best waters and biggest adrenaline rushes! After a quick review of safety guidelines and pep talks we were off. Jordan sat in the front seat and was our lead for the day and I sat right behind him. If we weren't awake yet, the ice cold water surely woke us up. As we set the raft in the water we walked about knee deep in the river. Why are we doing this again?! After a few minutes we were numb and the excitement of what was to come kind of blocked out the ice cold water. The ride was pretty mellow for most of the part but we hit a good stretch with a lot of rapids. That was so fun, they weren't so bad so I never felt afraid for my life just excited! Jordan got soaked up in the front and loved every second of it. There was one rapid called "Rodeo" and it was just that! We were forced to our feet for most of it.... bouncing up and down! It was awesome. The last part of it was really mellow and we just enjoyed the view and listened to some stories from Robert. By the time we got out of the water we could barely walk.... sea legs or something. It took at least a half hour for us to get feeling back in our toes. But we didn't have time to sit around and wait.... we had a horseback ride to go on!

We checked out the pictures from the ride! They were awesome, we are going to order them later. They were $60 and we didn't have the money.... but the photographer got some awesome ones of Jordan fighting the rapids and me giving the water dirty and confused looks ha! Anyways, we quickly changed out of our wet suits tipped our guide and drove the ten miles down the road to Canyon Adventures! We checked in with the lady, grabbed a jacket and went to go get our horses. As most of you know by now, I am terrified of horses and Jordan absolutely loves them. I was excited to see that we would have two older people and two kids on our ride, it means we could go slow! Our guide, Kate, gave me a horse named "Little Guy" and he was just that, little! I was so relieved. Jordan got a mustang in training named "Junior," he was feisty and young. Thank goodness she did not try to put me on him. Throughout the amazing ride my horse kept kicking Jordan's horse in the face. Some kind of male dominance thing going on.... haha! It was so incredible riding on horseback across Montana. Sort of a dream come true for Jordan. And thankfully I didn't have one weird thing happen with my horse and I actually enjoyed it! Crazy huh?

After our two hour ride, neither of us could walk. Between the white water rafting and the horses we were shot! We decided to check out the town of Big Sky and got a little snack and a drink at a local restaurant. We had a slider sampler plate... It was AMAZING! The owner was there working and apparently he smokes all the pork and beef himself. They were served with sauces that he also made, it was amazing. By the time we finished our food I could barely keep my eyes open. We were thinking of going to the rodeo that night in West Yellowstone (it was also free) but I just couldn't do it. On the drive home my eyes were half open.

Such a good day and glad we got the opportunity to have some fun!

Ps- I will post the Whitewater pictures if we get them!!!