7.03.2006

Cobbled Holiday

We’d been talking about taking the kids whitewater rafting ever since Biggy and I went biking at Tsali and watched the kayakers/rafters on Memorial Day. He and I love to kayak, but we’d never taken the chil’ren. Anyway, Biggy’s boss gave them a surprise day off work, so we decided to take a long weekend for the 4th. The plan was to go up to North Carolina on Sunday and come back Monday or Tuesday.

Alas, I could not get off for the Monday (Orientation day for new students—granted), in spite of my begging toward that end all week, so we had to move our plans up. Try getting a place to stay at the last minute on the 4th of July weekend! My poor husband tried for three hours straight, calling every cabin rental within an hour of the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Sunday and Monday? No problem. But Saturday? Riotous laughter on the other end of the phone.

We’d pretty much given up, but around mid-afternoon on Saturday, a woman called and said she had a double-wide (“It’s clean, though.") that she hadn’t advertised. They’d been putting on cedar siding, ("which makes it look like a cabin") and had finished that very minute. Oh, we’d take her cabler, all right. Hell yeah. Even Georgie’s beau, GareBear was on board. We grabbed our swimsuits and our WalMart water shoes, threw the dogs in the car, and headed for the mountains. We had to take two cars, since I had to come home early--In the red Beetle: me, George, Gare, and Stella. In the blue minivan: Biggy, JackMan, Lo, and Daisy.

Here's the play-by-play, for your entertainment:


This is how we roll.





Picturesque cabin that would have been available Sun-Tues, passed on the way to our rental.





Arriving at the cabler.





Stella calls dibs on the couch.





When in Rome...





Waiting for a table. Biggy has turned on his heartlight.





The Stone's Colossal Onion Loaf. Have I told you how much I hate onions?






Sunday morning on the trorch.



Then lots of whitewater:



I would have done this last series of rapids, but I had to help Georgie get these sweet shots of the boys.




Survivors





Kids these days! When I was a child, after we kayaked for three hours, we walked home uphill, in a hundred degrees, wearing our personal floatation devices and carrying our boats on our backs...





Leaving my peeps and heading back to Atlanta with the dogs (Stella took this photo). Of course I got stuck behind a big-ass truck hauling an offroad vehicle. I was cussing the whole time.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You didn't go on those rapids because the water was too cold and you're a pus.... don't lie...

Collin Kelley said...

Sorry, I can't feel too sorry for you because you've been on vacation for a month or two. Boo-frickin'-hoo. Good pics of all the action.

However, Hank is a sadist of the high order for having orientation the day before 4th of July.

Tania Rochelle said...

Hey hey, Collin, remember two of those trips were compulsory--and paid for, one by my in-laws and one by my employer. They qualified as work.

Tania Rochelle said...

And as for you, anonymous (Georgia!), I guess I'm just gonna have to tell the story about how you cried for the first hour on the river...

Mary Campbell said...

Um, sorry Tania...I can't feel too sorry for you either...that's a lot of vacation time that I've witnessed via your blog. Plus, you have that killer tan. Hank IS a nazi for having orientation the day before the 4th, though...but would anyone really love him if he were any other way? Never mind...don't answer that.

minus five said...

your hair is looking good, tania. but yeah, come on, how many vacations can one kid have? mandatory or not, the beach is the beach.

minus five said...

and two more things i somehow missed commenting about yesterday:

1. the group shot. i don't remember seeing that picture yesterday. you definitely look the happiest to be there. come to think of it, i don't know that i have ever seen a picture of you happy or laughing your ass off.

2. it is illegal to hang things from your rearview mirror in your vehicle.

and now i'm going to call you so just so you won't answer the phone. i think i might have fractured my right wrist and acquired rheumatoid arthritis.

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