Epic, I think that's the word...

We went "camping" this weekend. And I will try to capture all of the hilarity as best as I can for you. But I may forget some funny stories which you will have to hear at a later point from me directly.

My mom and stepdad are currently living in a fifth-wheel camper in a little RV park near Dotsero, Colorado. A little trivia for you, Dotsero is named such (Dot Zero) because the geologist Ferdinand Hayden did a survey of central Colorado forever ago and Dotsero was his reference point on his maps. I know I am an a dork...

Anyway, Aiden spent a few days with Grandma and Papa Tennant at their cozy new place last week and we went up with some friends on Friday to see them and camped below the RV park next to the river.

It was kinda late when we got there Friday and we of course set up our tents in the dark, but we've become pros at it, so no big deal. It was hilarious though that one of the couples had a much larger, nicer tent than everyone else. So we spent the entire weekend making jokes about them staying in the Hilton and asking if their guest bathroom worked. We were just jealous because our tent wouldn't even zip all the way.

When I woke up in the morning, I was less than amused. There was a bug on my face. Because Steve opened the door in the middle of the night and switched himself around to be sleeping perpendicular to me, with half his body out side the tent, in the dirt. I wasn't pleased. But after my coffee I was in a better mood. 

We played around a bit at our campsite.

Steve and Aaron - The Hilton in the background there

Steve, forcing me to put his *unlit* cigar in my mouth

us bein silly

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Saturday, Aiden hung out with Grandma and us crazy kids piled into one truck and drove to Paonia Lake. I've only ever driven past it before so boating and swimming there was a first for me. It was so much smaller than I remembered. But I guess I got a little bigger haha. It was really secluded and of the 7 boats we saw, 2 others were friends of one of the guys. So those two boats tied up to ours and we spent most of the day drinking and hoping to get enough of a beer sweater to jump into the dirty cold water. 

The girls after jumping in

Steve surfin

Jeb surfin and drinkin!

Aaron being frustrated with Steve

The clouds wouldn't leave us alone, we would get about 10 minutes of sun every hour - so we had to take that opportunity to jump in and pee and get as warm possible again before the sun was gone. Luckily we never did get any rain, and it was still warm enough to enjoy even though the clouds were hovering.

We made the best of it though, by making "Get Off!" jokes all afternoon...people kept asking for "Off! Bug Spray" and inappropriate jokes always ensued.

They boys didn't let the weather ruin their fun, that's for sure!

On the way back to camp, we stopped at the natural hot springs near Carbondale.

I've always referred to them as "Hippie Dips" because on just about every raft trip I have taken, we have passed natural hot springs and they were always being used as a bath by transient people.

By the time we got home and showered and ate dinner, it was nearly 9:30. With big plans to go rafting Sunday, we nixed the idea of going to see the Eli Young Band in Gypsum, and had a little fire then went to bed early. Good thing too, because we were really in for it on Sunday.

We rafted the Eagle River, from Wolcott to Eagle. Our guide wanted to pull out a little early because of some pretty serious rapids at the normal take out place, but  we decided to chance it anyway. Even though most boats flip there. Even though someone died there last week. Even though our raft was half full of first timers.

I've been quite a bit and I was scared.

Most of the trip was sunshine and enough beer that the cold water was easy to handle.

The girls taking a beer break

The whole crew

But after our beer break, the weather caught up to us. Just in time for the rapids to get serious.

I had taken my shirt off when we stopped, because I was soaked from paddling up front. So I was sitting there in my bikini, drenched in rain, anticipating the monster ahead of us. Not going to lie, I was a little freaked out. But we did really well, we kept the boat flat and no one fell. When we came to the take out though, there were three rafts waiting on the ramp not moving or doing anything and we had no where to go. We crash landed into some brush and the raft was pretty determined to keep going down stream even with the 4 guys in the water trying to hold it.

It was so determined in fact, that the force of the water sucked one of the guys under. He appeared next to me and Lauren who were still sitting in the boat, and he heaved his arms up over the side of the raft. Lauren grabbed his arm and he kept telling her to let go, everyone was scared. All I could think to do was grab his life jacket, so I stood up, grabbed it and just threw my body backwards. Fewf. 

Then Lauren and I had to scramble to get off the raft  so we went climbing in the brush hoping to get solid land under our feet. In the process, I got a nice little gash going up my leg. It hurt so bad I didn't even want to be touched. (It already looks a million times better)

Since I was driving the "shuttle" I went running to the car to get changed. I was so cold I just started stripping in the middle of the Eagle County Fair Grounds parking lot. You know what they say, let it all hang out...I think they say that anyway.

Once we made it back to camp and I could feel my toes again, I was so high on the whole thing that I wanted to go again. Not sure the rest of the crew was ready but they'll come around I hope :)

Here's one more funny video - happy Monday!