It was a warm and windy day in Colorado to go river rafting in duckies. My dad and my brother both convinced me to go on a duckie rafting trip with them. Standing there wondering to myself how could they have ever convinced me to do this. There I was standing nervously at the launching area to go into a river in a small, flimsy, and an inflatable kayak into a windy rough river. Before we launched our instructor gave told us how to navigate and what to do if we fell out and lost our boat. She told us “If or when you fall out NEVER let your feet touch the bottom of the river because you will get swept under and it will become even harder to get back into your boat.” I was thinking how hard could it be? Just swim to your boat, grab the oar, and hop on. “The water right now will feel freezing because it’s about 50 degrees,” That made my heart sink, If I fell into the water my body would definitely turn into a snow cone. “Me and the other instructors will be watching to make sure that all of you are following the river path.” After that my mind was racing with fear, what if I fell out and couldn’t get back into my boat, what if I lose the group, or worse. My dad chimed …show more content…
Somehow me trying to push myself forward only ended up making me float even slower down to the second drop only 10 feet in front of me. The water was quickly falling down the miniature waterfall, and the water that was splashing up created a rainbow bridge over it making the drop seem happy and joyous. As my last final attempt to get over the fall without having a splash in the water was to try and hold onto my boat praying that I wouldn’t get cold and wet again. WHOOSH at that moment I already knew what happened because a surge of cold water hit my face, causing me to panic and thrash around to try and find my protective flimsy boat while struggling to get to the
Forty hands shot up pointing towards the bottom of the old twisty slide following the long dreadful whistle no one ever wants to hear. Two other lifeguards and I jumped up off the shaded break bench and rushed towards the scene with the heavy backboard and AED bag in hand. The routine save played like a movie through my head as I arrived. I stopped. I knew from there on out this wasn't going to be emotionally an easy save. It wasn't a child who swallowed too much water or an adult who got nervous because they forgot how to swim, it was a fellow lifeguard, a friend.
Me, Donna, my daughter, Gina, and her friend, Jenny got stranded in the middle of one of the most dangerous places in the world. There was nothing even remotely green, the place was a desert, and it had an area of 3 million acres. We were going to drive to a landmark but we must have taken a wrong turn once we hit the mountains, I tried the GPS but that got us more lost. Then our supplies including gas ran out and we have been walking ever since.
Finally, the boat slid slowly to the water’s surface and my terrified family all raced to the side to get out as soon as possible. (I was the last one out due to the fact that my engine had died). The employees were left speechless. The one employee was so awed by the previous chaos, he almost forgot to open the gate and allow us to escape the horror of the bumper boats.
My sweat soaked shirt was clinging to my throbbing sunburn, and the salty droplets scalded my tender skin. “I need this water,” I reminded myself when my head started to fill with terrifying thoughts of me passing out on this ledge. I had never been so relieved to see this glistening, blissful water. As inviting as the water looked, the heat wasn't the only thing making my head spin anymore. Not only was the drop a horrifying thought, but I could see the rocks through the surface of the water and couldn't push aside the repeating notion of my body bouncing off them when I hit the bottom. I needed to make the decision to jump, and fast. Standing at the top of the cliff, it was as if I could reach out and poke the searing sun. Sweat dripped from my forehead, down my nose, and on its way to my dry, cracked lips which I licked to find a salty droplet. My shirt, soaked with perspiration, was now on the ground as I debated my
Without delay, I sunk right back in the water. My doubts began coming back to me, making me realize I might of been over my head on this one, but I persisted. I reached surface again and began swimming towards the rightmost shore. It wasn’t the best journey, as I kept bobbing in and out of the water, but I managed to reach the shore. The moment I got stood back on my own feet I stood back on them as a new man; I enjoyed the danger I just experienced, besides drinking a hefty amount of lake
Each of us had learned something from that trip. For me, this experience has taught me what gratitude is, the impact a good attitude has, what a servant looks like, and really how the relationships we make with our life are the most important aspect of life. It was the summer after my freshman year of high school. Earlier in the year, my parents had decided that they wanted to go on a mission trip as a family and serve somewhere.
It was this summer when 12 other people and I were going to the Florida Keys. We all spent the night at a hotel, the next morning everyone wanted to go swimming at the pool. I wanted to go too, but little did I know I would have to do something I knew I shouldn’t have.
So we packed up some cloths and water and started on are bike ride. We were riding on a very muddy and rough trail we found a little creek that two or three people were fishing in so we checked it out and the continued are bike ride. A little further up the trail it was really muddy and my dad wrecked and face planted into the mud and again of course I have to get some pictures of that. My dad got all cleaned up and a little further up the trail there was another creek to fish out of so we tried fishing there for a little bit but we didn't catch anything. So we headed back down the trail and went to the other creek to fish and we caught four good size fish. We packed the fish up and headed back to are camp to clean them and cook
My family and I took our boat out to lake Avalon, a small, gorgeous, crystal-clear, spring fed lake that gets up to 136 feet deep lake, in Hillman, Michigan, about a half hour from my house. We met my mom’s cousin, Luke, and I quickly learned that wakeboarding was not all it was cut out to be. Just getting up out of the water proved to be a tremendous challenge for me. I tried the entire day to get up out of the water, my dad pulling upwards of twenty times until my moment arrived. Luke told me from the beginning that I would get up without a doubt, at the time I was a very light kid and the board would just pop me right out of the water. I finally realized how to transfer my weight to my back leg and resist the boat’s pull enough to get up out of the water. Of course, my show boat self tried to do an arm pump out of pure happiness and found my pride diminished by a little wave knocking me into the water after staying up for just 20 yards. But I didn’t stop
As a teen, it 's hard to remember exact moments when looking back at baby pictures. We were babies, we can’t possibly remember what went on when we were too young to comprehend language or the art of mobility. Although we can 't remember exactly, someone does. Whether it be our parents, the photographer, or background characters from the photo, someone can recall that exact moment. The older you get, the more eager relatives are to share stories about you from your childhood, some broadcasted to the world making sport of you, and others in the quiet of your own home, attached to heartbreaking memories. Even though you may not be able to remember them, they are your experiences, your life story, things you should be able
I could see other people jumping off and screaming while they fell towards the water. The noise from the screams was making it worse for me as it was causing my stomach to tighten and making me feel sick. So I decided to take the easy way out of this situation without embarrassing myself in front of my friends. “Yes, ok” I said nervously. “But, only if you jump first.” I added. He said “fine” then got off his bike and put it down and said to look after it. He then made his way to the side of the bridge and stood up on the rail. He waved to us and then he just jumped. No fear or hesitation. He just jumped! I was amazed and then I hear a splash. Oh no! So much for the easy way out of this situation. I had assumed that he would decline and it would be left at that. We watched him swim back to the shore and then he went out of sight. I knew it was my turn next.
I live in a place that gets lots of snow each year. In fact it snowed this weekend, so what do I do in a snow storm? During a snow storm I usually stay inside and either read a book or draw by our fireplace. If I am not relaxing I am probably cooking stuff like Oreo balls, cut out cookies, peanut butter balls, and almond bark pretzels. If I am not inside I'm outside in the storm (if it's not too bad) with my sister, brothers, and of course my dog. If the snow is sticky we make the most epic forts, and we have snowball fights. If the snow isn't too fluffy we go sledding. During every snow storm we all have hot chocolate after our day of relaxing, or fun day in the snow.
After that day I was no longer intimidated by the Columbia River. I think I spent enough time in the water that day that I was finally comfortable with being in the river. Ever since that day, wakeboarding is one of my favorite ways to utilize my free time. I usually spend most of my days off in the summer, out with my buddies on the boat wakeboarding.
As we started to slowly drift down the river, seemingly inch by inch, I began to have feelings of disappointment. I had been planning on a more hazardous and fast-paced ride. The water was crystal clear and almost as flat as a sheet of glass. There was only a very mild current and being as impatient as I was, it appeared to me that we weren’t even moving.
One of the most enjoyable things in life are road trips, particularly to the Colorado mountains. Getting to spend time with your family and friends, while being in a beautiful place, is irreplaceable. The fifteen-hour road trip may feel never-ending, but gazing at the mountains from afar makes life’s problems seem a little smaller and causes worries to become a thing of the past. Coming in contact with nature, untouched, is a surreal experience. My family trip to the Colorado mountains last summer was inspiring.