We just got back from our annual family micro-vacation. We took route
49 which is always a treat. We celebrated Ozzy's birthday in the town
of Sonora at an ice cream parlor/bookstore called Legends, which we've
been to before and was terrific. Great place: an old-fashioned ice
cream fountain with big mirrored walls and huge wooden pillars in
front, a nice selection of antiques behind that, and a used bookstore
downstairs which is also decked out with old-fashioned furniture and
mining equipment.
Thursday we did the South Fork of the American River. The kids *LOVED*
it. We "camped out" the night before in the company's tent which had
cots and sleeping pads inside waiting for our sleeping bags, and had a
fantastic breakfast of homemade pancakes and sausages the morning
before we hit the river..
The water was probably 50 degrees and the air temperature around 110.
The boys kept begging our rafting guide to let them jump into the
river. Jason in particular. We had a great guide named "Danny Boy."
He dumped both Jason and Ryan in the river a couple of times - they
definitely deserved it! But he also knew his stuff. 8 years on the
American River, experience in the Navy, works as a Vice Principal in
the off-season, and knows his history and physics and local botany
quite well. We learned a lot of the history of the American River,
the Gold Rush, and more. Apparently there's a very famous biologist
living there who did something with tomatoes and kept that region from
having a bad season even after the winter frosts. This biologist
(geneticist?) was also supposed to have crossed a trout with a pirhana
to create the "prout" in an attempt to improve breeding traits, but
then the first batch "escaped" and there were certain areas where the
boys really should NOT swim...
Ryan started in the back trying to paddle but ended up in the front
center just hanging on. Jason got front left and did very well with
following the right front lead. Adam sat behind him. We were with a
man with two teenage boys (12 and 14). Needless to say with 5 boys on
board, the humor was a bit lowbrow. And Jason kept trying to pick
water battles with the other rafts in the group. The guide started
out by telling all the kids that rafting wasn't a ride at Disneyland,
this was the real thing and that they had to pay attention. He would
yell at them and for that he apologized in advance but they HAD to
listen. (You can still get hurt in class 2 - 3 rapids, which is what
we had.)
The big problem with the South Fork is, usually the last 1/2 mile is
dead water but because of the overall low amount we had some 2+ rapids
to play through. We all got a tad sunburnt but who cares? The kids had
fun and want more, more, more.
Friday we visited the California State Fair in Sacramento. That night
we were supposed to drive down to Merced in prep for a Saturday visit
to the Mariposa County Fair but we got as far as Stockton.
Saturday we bailed on Mariposa to go back to Fresno to hit the Wild
Water Adventures water park. The park was great, with lots of very
fast luges and slides and tubes, and a VERY tall U-shaped one called
SideWinder which begins with a total freefall, drops down about 3
stories, then slides back up the other side. Back and forth about 3 -
4 times before you stop at the bottom. But the cement was very hot
and if you weren't wearing shoes (we weren't...) OUCHIES! Speaking of
Burning Man, Ozzy was actually too burnt to go back out into the heat
and went to a shopping mall without us. He saw the movie "Superbad"
instead - apparently an aptly named movie.
Sunday we did the Stupidities of Stupidities: we visited another water
park - Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. 112 degrees. 2 million people, most
of the them obese hippos crammed into illegal spandex. Half the rides
closed. Half-hour MINIMUM waiting in line before even touching
anything waterlike other than our own sweat. We all agreed that it
was a waste of time and money. Yeah, the rides were fun once you got
on them but the waits were brutal. The only redeeming quality were the
scads of teenage girls testing the limits without appearing to do so.
(*Ahem!!* My apologies. Ozzy took over the keyboard for a moment.)
Given the choice between any water park or more rafting, rafting wins,
hands down.
Okay, now, who left the heat on while we were away?
--G.Hinklemeyer
Received on 2007-09-03 21:29:59
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