Ok This is a bit long and to start…I don’t know what day this was but what I can tell you is that it happened in Late July of 2007…
It was our family Vacation to Yellowstone National Park and my sister in law Krista has a family cabin close to Yellowstone about 30 miles south of the National Park. We got to stay in a camper. (I actually liked that because it felt like we were camping as a family). Anyway we went down to this creek I guess it was called or maybe it was a River. I can’t remember but all I know is that we were going to go kayaking as a family. Ok so here is how it went. We had Grandma Rose and Grandpa Russ on a kayak with Isaac (our oldest son) and Lily (my niece) and the small cooler of food.. Yeah it was packed but I was pretty sure they were going to take it easy. Then on my kayak there was Matt and I with Mickey (our youngest son). Nathan and Krista our bro. and sister in law were out on a blow up paddle boat. Yes the young children had life vests. It was an absolutely beautiful day!!! It was 90 degree weather. The water was cool ok so make that VERY COOL. We were told that the water stayed 52 degrees year round. It came directly from a spring in the mountains. So we began on our journey. The water was crystal clear and was only a few feet deep in some places and around 5 ft in others and we actually had to get out and pull the kayaks across some really tall mounds only about 1 foot deep so matt and I got out till the water was deeper and jumped back in… so anyways we would have these little areas in the water where it would split and come back together and because we could see that ahead of us, matt and I would take the long way around and push ourselves to go, go, go, faster, faster, faster.. then we would pass my in laws up a head of us then we would let them pass us, and it seemed as though our day was so enjoyable. My father in law was taking pictures the whole way. It was definitely worth the effort to capture the moment. We were having a blast. As time went on we were trying to make funny faces for Grandpas picture taking and he would set it down on his lap and paddle a bit and take more pictures.. so we kind of got concerned because we noticed that we’d left Nathan and Krista way far behind us.. so we slowed a bit and finally saw them coming around the corner but as I yelled forward to Mom and Dad they were slowing down too.. and as Dad looked back mom said you just dropped your camera.. I saw it too.. He dropped it out of the Kayak and into the RIVER.. AHHH so what was the LOGICAL thing to do? Well I’m on it.. I with out even thinking or taking off my outer clothing.. JUMPED into that what was it?? 52 degree water and swam after it.. little did I know that I was in a current… and my heart almost stopped because of the COLD but no I was determined to be WONDER WOMEN TODAY!! So I caught myself on some long grass on the side of the bank and the now highly fast flowing water.. I pulled myself into a little cove and found that the camera which was inside it’s RED case had gone in there as well.. so I reached for it and grabbed it. I then looked around trying to stand now on the ever gushing MUD under my feet and realized that my husband couldn’t come back to get me… he was WAY down the River.. Hmmm I couldn’t even see Nathan and Krista not that I would fit inside their little tiny boat so what did I do?? I DIDN’T think again.. and I Jumped in the water yelling PLEASE STOP DOWN THERE I’LL CATCH UP WHEN I CAN. So my very COLD body began to swim with all it’s might to catch up to my husband.. and it’s not like the water was 2 feet here it happened to be well over my head by now so I couldn’t take a break and walk a while.. It was deep and COLD but I HAD THAT camera out of the water as I swam.. I eventually got to the Kayak and climbed on board. Ah relaxation.. and NO TOWEL. I took off my sweats that I was wearing and shirt and was sitting in my swimming suit hoping the SUN would warm me up quickly. We then brought the camera to mom and dad and he quickly took everything out of it.. batteries and the memory card and all.. then I felt it.. one, then two, then 10.. It was sprinkling.. Oh no.. so matt and I thought I wonder where Nathan and Krista are.. We went back for them. By the time we found them it was raining.. and in no time we got them attached to our Kayak and pulled them a long with us.. Faster and faster the rain fell.. then it began to hurt as they pelted our skin so I threw my wet shirt over my poor little Mickey’s head and went faster.. It had begun to HAIL!! No more sun.. just DARK BLACK CLOUDS.. I swear they were laughing at us. Then we decided that we NEEDED to get out of that water and FAST we found a dock and jumped out. We put the little boat over our heads while Nathan and Matt went to find mom and dad and the kids.. We sat there and were frozen I believe the temp dropped about 20 degrees. We shivered together cuddled up together as Mickey Cried I’m gonna Die.. I couldn’t help but to chuckle.. Even getting out of the water that’s all he said.. I’m gonna die and I would assure him that the water was only 2 ½ feet deep and he wouldn’t be dying.. Everything will be ok.. so Krista and I laughed and said WOW what an adventure.. so as we waited I faintly heard my name being called.. I looked out from our boat and saw matt maybe 10 ft away and barely heard his yelling.. we quickly got our things and RAN.. WE had to trek through the woods and through peoples cabins that were empty and grown over.. and found our way to mom and dad Isaac and lily. They were all under a back porch of a cabin. It was very tiny and looked so funny to see everyone huddled together.. The rain began to slow and the hail part at least stopped.. so we decided that it was time for lunch. We ate sandwiches and chips and cheetos(my favorite) we decided that as we saw some of the sun come out we would HURRY and try to get to the end of our journey so we all jumped back into the river and our kayaks and found we only had 20 mins left.. OH what an adventure we’d had. I hope our Boys will never forget that experience as long as they live. I swear for me that was the best Family Vacation of a life time thus far. We were safe and sound but got a great experience together as a family.
