Conquering The Mighty Ocoee

Sunday Richy and I took a trip down the Ocoee with the youth group from church. We left the church around 1:30 and arrived at the Ocoee around 2:15. Richy and I had the pleasure of driving five of the youth up to the river. This is the first time Richy and I had really participated in any events with the youth, so I was actually a little nervous about the ride up. The kids were great and the trip up went very smooth. I did tell Richy when we got up there that I started to feel kinda old and not very "cool." The conversations they were having with each other kinda dominated the ones I tried to be apart of, but that was fine I needed to make sure Richy focused on the road :) . Once we arrived at High Country Outfitters we had to wait about an hour til we could head up to the river. Before getting on the big green school bus we were given the proper equipment needed for the rest of the day. This included a very smelly life jacket, a helmet, and a paddle. The trip leader gave us a quick tutorial and then we were off the the river. Once we arrived at the top we got in groups of six. These six people would be in my boat and assist greatly in the trip down the river. In our boat was Richy, Yancy, Kari, Dewayne, and Ethan. Our guide for the day was actually a guy that Dewayne went to high school with. Knowing the guide really made the experience that much better. I felt like we got to do somethings that not just everyone does. Not to mention our guide was a seven year veteran and really made the trip so much fun! We all made it down the river safely. We truly had a great time!

Some of my favorite moments from the trip....

The first time I saw Richy in his life jacket and helmet. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. Sorry no pictures of it..but trust me.

Richy and Dewayne falling out of the raft. Yancy yells where is Dewayne and we look and all of the sudden this large arm comes from underneath the raft. Dewayne finally surfaced and with the help of Ethan I pulled him in...or with my help Ethan pulled him back into the boat. The guide pulled Richy in before we pulled Dewayne (so no I did not leave my husband in the river :).

The guide let Kari and I sit in the front of the boat. I had never sat in the front and it made the trip that much better!

The whole trip was amazing and sadly the only picture I got was of the kids in our car.