Our Third!

Karl call our celebration this year, “The Anniversary of Water.” Traditionally the first year is the year of paper, second year is cotton, and third year is supposed to be leather. I thought that maybe we should get Karl a pair of leather chaps, but we took a little mid-week get away instead.
We stayed at the Silver King Hotel in Park City Utah. That hill behind the hotel, is the Alpine Slides and Coaster we visited with my mom for her birthday. We drove into the parking garage and we were the ONLY car there. We walked up to our room, and it felt like The Shining. We didn’t really even see any staff around. We were pretty sure we were the only people in the hotel. I guess if you want seclusion, go to park city, on a Tuesday evening, the week school starts.
We got up to the top floor of the hotel and walked into our room:
I was really impressed. Karl found the room all on his own, for a really great price. It had vaulted ceilings, a huge sky light(which was really cool because we were able to look at the stars as we went to sleep), a fire place (which we never got to use, but could have), a big bed…
A full Kitchen, totally stocked with plates glasses, silver ware, etc. There was even a …
WASHER AND DRYER! Yeah we brought our laundry!

We went to dinner at this cool little New York eatery called Maxwells’s.
We were seated in this HUGE booth, made for like…12 people.

We had never been to this place, so we had no idea what to expect with portion size and stuff so we just ordered a bunch of stuff thinking we would have leftovers. Boy did we ever!

The Hotel was awesome. There was an arcade room. This is me playing a free round the Pirates of the Caribbean pin ball.

The pool was really cool too. Half inside half out side with an awesome Jacuzzi and sauna.

Did you know, Karl loves to swim! All by himself, in the pool. We really were the only ones at the hotel.

Eddie Munster! Yeah, when Karl swims his hair does this.

We left Park City in the morning and headed up to Morgan Utah (a little town just east of Ogden) to Bare Foot Tubing. This table with a couple of plastic chairs was the center of the operation. The guy went to go get us some sun screen and Karl helped some more people get all signed in.

Karl put sun screen on one place…his watch white spot.

I love this picture:

Karl looks so funny with the little life vest. It was one size fits all. We were really excited about getting in the water.

I mean look at us.

We jumped in the water, and it was quick and FREEZING! The river was lazy at first. No road blocks and reeds on the banks.

Our guide had given us a bunch of directions as we drove down the road toward the river. I couldn’t remember anything by the time we were there. We hit our first set of rapids, and the poop really hit the fan. The rapids lasted like, half a mile and for the first 1/4th of it, we didn’t have any problems. Then the rocks to dodge became more frequent, and the water seemed to go faster and I was hitting more and more of them. Finally we came upon a set of big rocks with a 10 inch gap. It seemed funny at first. I got stuck on one side of them, I pushed back but as I did I felt a hard thud and heard a high laugh; Karl hit me, and my tube became wedged in the 10 inch gap. Karl tried to bounce away from me so I could get free, but I began to lose my footing, and felt my tube being sucked out from under me. It slid into the space and I felt my leg being sucked down. Panic set in. I was under. I popped out frantic to hold on to my tube, and screaming for my husband. I soon realized that Karl was in a similar predicament. At the same time that I had found myself being sucked under Karl had pushed away from me, went down a rapid backwards, lost his balance and was in the white water. The water slowed down enough for us to paddle to the bank and get back on to our tubes. I was exhausted.
We made it through the first set of rapids, and I thought the worst was over. I was SO wrong. However, there were lots of fun moments on the adventure. We floated under a large bridge that was full of bird’s nests. The birds would come dipping down all around us, grabbing bugs off the surface of the water. There was this really beautiful portion of the river that went through a series of willows. The rock cliffs were just amazing and when the water was calm, it was nice and relaxing. There was this moment where we went under a set of low bridges and as just as we did, a train went over the tracks. It was almost too much to bear.
The second set of rapids came and I was really proud of how well I was doing. Karl and I got separated, and I was focusing on getting back up to him with out falling off of my tube again. As I went down a dip and the water flattened out for a little while, I looked to my left and I saw something black floating on the surface of the water. I swore that it was just a large black stick, but I did a double take and realized that it was a huge black snake swimming in the water five feet away from me, near the shore. The head was about the size of my fist and the I could see much of its body floating on top. I screamed, and tensed up in response. I got cramps in BOTH of my calves, and yelped in pain. I lost my balance and was in the last place I wanted to be: in the water with the huge snake. I screamed for Karl, who though I was drowning. I was paralyzed in the water again desperately trying to get back on to my tube, Karl got to the shore and grabbed me, still not able to understand what happened because I was so hysterical. Karl begged me to come to the shore so he could help me to get back on my tube, but in my total panic and terror of the giant snake, I wouldn’t go near the shore.
He was able to coax me near enough and as I stood up, one of my legs cramped up again. He finally understood what was going on, and helped me up on my tube. Sobbing, I floated down the river through the rest of the rapids, we got down to the calmer water and I was again, totally spent. Karl caught up to me, and I was able to explain what had happened. I was done being in the water, but we still had a few miles to float. I saw another, MUCH smaller snake, and I am proud to say, I didn’t even flinch, or cramp up.
On our last rapid, the guide took this picture with our little camera. I am the third one back, and I don’t think that Karl is in the picture.

I came limping out of the river. I was tired, grumpy and totally ready to do anything else but this. Would I do it again, yes. I just don’t think I was ready for what I got. Now that I know what to expect, I think I would be more able to have fun. I would bring a large stick or a paddle, and lots of water. If you are interested in this activity, or want to see video of some of the rapids, check out this link.
My sweet Karl knew that I was grumpy so he made a big gesture to get me into a better mood. We went back to Provo, to the nail center at the Super Wal Mart and both got pedicures. It was Karl’s first time and was very hesitant to do it. The Korean ladies in there were a little perplexed by Karl.
I think that Karl was a little uncomfortable a first.
But as soon as the warm foot bath was on and the massage chair was vibrating and kneading into his back, his discomfort was no longer apparent.

They cleaned up our dirty feet and worked on heals. My heal was so thick that the lady used a Dremmel on my foot!

We had a really good time. We sat there holding hands as they messaged our feet and legs.
Which felt totally amazing on my really sore calves. I chose a turquoise color for my toes, and I chose a bright green for Karl.

The girl was so amused that Karl wanted his toes done, that she put flowers on his big toes.
Here is a photo shoot of Karl’s sexy feet!

We left the parlor, and were wearing these awesome shoes, as we went into the store and got stuff for dinner.
We bought steak, and fresh corn and made delicious mashed potatoes.
We turned in early, after a really great day! Three years and counting.

3 thoughts on “Our Third!

  1. First of all, Karl you have to be the best sport on the planet. A pedicure and green nails, with a flower!!!!!
    That place in park city was the bomb, sign me up. Allie, that snake wasn't going to hurt you, but I am glad that you would consider going back, because if I come next summer, we're going! Happy "water" anniversary. Hard to believe that is has already been three years!!!

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