Got the River Shiver?

Yesterday, I failed to mention that Meghanne, Lauren and I visited what is called the First Friday. Something like an art walk on the first friday of every month here in downtown Phoenix. They hosted a drum circle that was pretty awesome! I danced for a few hours and gave myself some serious blisters. It was interesting seeing what other drum circles are like and what I've discovered is that aside from the actual environment there is NOTHING different about it. lol drums all sound the same and they all play together and formulate rhythms of such unity that it can only be described as exactly the same in every circle.. the only thing missing was a more barefoot friendly dance floor and some poi spinners! we still went to bed pretty early last night, worn out from the dancing and drinking. lol
Today we had a late start to the river but we made it in time to see countless arizonians blowing up their rafts and lathering up with sunscreen. It wasn't the hottest it's ever been, I was told, but it was still pretty hot to me, and I'm used to the Texas sun! Anyway, everyone was not surprisingly ready to get in that water... I think there must have been close to 500 people alone within eyesight down the straightest, longest stretch of the river. It took us 4 to 5 hours to get from one end of the river to the other and in those few hours I managed to exhaust myself completely. We had planned to visit the drive-in movie after but needless to say we were all pretty beat and still a little drunk. lol. I must have said hi to a hundred people on the river! I also was impressed at the over all behavior of everyone and well one thing I thought was neat was that part of what I was told was tradition was marshmallows, and it certainly was! Everyone just soaked their little white grenades in the river and tossed em in every direction. there were marshmellows left and right and half of them were the same marshmallows that we started with in the begining, they just floated along side us and occassionally we'd get new ones landing in our laps, next to us, or in the raft itself. not everyone had such great aim, though i did manage to get a guy right in his chest thanks to his target of a tattoo right smack dab in the middle! I tried to get some video footage of us going over the rapids but as it turns out I just sat there with the camera completely exposed and on, but not recording!!

at some point I tried getting into the river and floating next to the boat so i could grab a couple marshmallows but i was instead greeted with an entire mouthful of disgusting water... I really DID want to throw up for a minute. I almost lost my contacts that time, and several times thereafter, but managed to keep em in surprisingly! Also, as the river started picking up I didn't realize I shouldn't have let go of the raft because although i was swimming upstream and the raft floating down stream I couldnt swim strong enough to move and the raft was too slow to reach me before I ran out of breath! I was literally stationary for quite some time, but, I was rescued (several times) by a nice gentlemen. I tried to swim across the river at a stopping point where lots of people get out, climb up to a cliff and jump off... but I couldn't swim across the river... that current was incredible! I couldn't swim back either once I had been helped across... it was invigorating and scary and exciting and certainly memorable all at the same time. I got plenty of sun and managed to stay free of a sun burn! I also had a few people trying to "talk" to me. luckily big brother is rather intimidating lol. in the end I had a relaxing drive home... watching the huge edifaces of red rocks looming over the winding road that lead us back to the main city. I thought more about this trip... I thought more about all the things I really wanted out of it, from minor things i could actually careless about but would still rather enjoy, to larger things that I hope won't give me the slip as I am coming into my own and learning how to stand on these two heavily blistered feet of mine. :) I hope there will be more occassions to dance, certainly. I hope I never miss a moment of enlightenment, I hope to never miss an opportunity for a thought provoking stare off into the distance of this land I call my home. America, the beautiful, and it certainly fits... if you avoid most major cities. Some things never change and I can be grateful for that. I will likely see some of the same sights my father has seen on his many road trips at one point or another and will probably never know it but it's something we can share, in theory. Nature is one thing that is constantly changing however always perfectly remaining the same and it inspires me and delights me and is actually quite astonishing and I hope to further dive into these descriptions as my journey progesses and the plot thickens. As a p.s Rusty is absolutely exhausted from playing with her friends, she's been asleep with me since 9pm and is still fast asleep next to me. Lauren leaves for peru tomorrow, I wish her the best of luck and I'm so excited for her! <3 Good night and good morning everyone

This is before we stopped at the store, where I then bought a neat little hat :)

Then, my brother patrick got me and lauren these cool key chains to remind us of AZ! How thoughtful of him! <3

and this is the hat I got :) don't i look fabulous?

I managed to snap a pic of everyone while they weren't looking :p Here's my sister, Lauren.

This is Meghanne, my sister-in-law! :) She just had my nephew, Peyton!

And This is Pat, my big brother and the first father of our 4 boy siblings!

Lauren wanted one of her looking this way. lol Cheers!

So of course I needed one too! :)

You would have to be at the height of those hawks to see just how many people were really flowing down that river! and those hawks were especially cool, they seemed to follow us. I figure it must have been such an occurence every year it must have made it into what the birds must now classify as the human migration of summer. :p

All of the sights were really something but I think that this captures the purple mountain's majesty quite swell. :)

(btw I dont know why I've never done this blog thing before. I've gots thousands of photos that tell such a story but everytime I go through them I actually have to TELL the story. :p )

Me, trying and failing to reach the little cave up there so i could jump off.... Pat says he's done it 5 or 6 times... you sure do have some pretty cool parents Peyton, good luck keeping up!! <3 Aunt ginger can't wait until you can finally ride the river with us!

And this is just after the river, that desert sun dried us off faster than a towel ever could!

Now, here are some pictures from the last few days that I haven't had a chance to upload yet!

At the Jack in the box drive thru before we left texas, rusty was sitting like a person, ready to order, and ready to eat!

This is Aunt gingy holding you baby peyton!! :) hopefully you'll see this when you get older! <3

This was the drum circle, pretty packed and the guy said it's been an on-going successful drum circle in phoenix for five years, but it's got nothing on dallas! they've been at it for 20+ yrs!

This is my foot just as I took a break after my first dance. :p

And this is my foot after we made it home. the entire light colored spot on my big toe is actually a blister... ew. lol but i'd have to say it was still worth it!

Turn the volume down, there is nothing but wind in this video! that and a pretty good song. lol

 I live for that split second you see when she turns the camera towards the windshield... That road is mighty fine!

A split second of me holding peyton. XD So exciting! My first few moments with my nephew, literally! lol

a few moments of the drum circle too, figured theres not much point if you really can't see lol but it sounds nice. :)

I'm sure this video was taken on accident but it gives you a pretty good idea of just how many people were there and you can even see the tons of marshmallows!

Before the drum circle started they had a band called the Second Hand Killers playing some bluesy type stuff..

The landscape out here is truly something to revel in. it is remarkable!

I just love it! you would be hard put to find a patch of grass in this neighborhood!

That's all folks!!

<3