Lacey arranged a day and time for people, who were interested and had the time, to meet up at Pioneer Park in Tumwater to go tubing. This would be the first time in my life I would ever get into the river this soon. We don't usually get into the river until about July and maybe June if the weather is decent.
The night before I made sure I had everything ready and found my cheap inner tube. It's been in storage since the last time I used it...which was a while ago. Come to think of it I don't think I even used it last summer.
After work, it was pretty hot. I got all my stuff together and headed towards the park, which was like 5 minutes from L&I. Lacey, Lindsay and Justin were already there. They inflated all the tubes including mine while I went and changed in the bathroom. It felt nice to get out of those jeans.
I had the GoPro bag but sadly not the GoPro. I was going to video our adventure. I hoped Ben had the camera because I hadn't seen it. I really didn't want to take my cell phone with us just in case I got dumped in but I risked it. We got a few good pictures.
Justin had been on this section of the river before so he told us a little bit about it as we walked to the bridge. He mentioned that there were some spots depending on how high the river was, that we would bottom out or flip over and the current was going to be somewhat strong in certain areas. We were prepared.
We made it to the bridge and once we step foot in the water...ahhh!! So cold!! But it was hot enough out to where you got used to it quickly and none of us shivered the entire time we were out there. Then when you sat down in your tube...brrr and then a bunch of weird noises. My tube was the lightest so when I got in some of those currents I had to be going at least 20 m.p.h. We tried floating down in a pod and taking a few pictures but that spot Justin was telling us about and the possibility of flipping...yeah, I got out because I was worried about falling into the water with my phone. So I just stood up and walked to the deeper part of the water.
There was quite a few people on the shoreline enjoying the afternoon. We got a couple of compliments, the second time through, from some onlookers about being the first group to pass a section without crashing.
Further down the river, there was an area that forked off into three different parts and we decided to take the right hand fork. We all floated into the tree debris and Lacey ended up taking one of the left hand forks and floating away. I stopped myself, grabbed a limb and gondola'd my way away from the danger. Lindsay and Justin hit the pile hard, making Lindsay lose her flip flop and upon trying to reach for it, she fell out of her tube. I think Justin lost his as well, he tipped himself in, or Lindsay grabbed his tube and pulled him in, and we still had no idea where Lacey went, haha. We saw Lindsay's flip flop floating down the river but we couldn't get to it in time. We hustled down the middle of the fork and that's when I saw Lacey launch herself off of her tube to grab something. We were hoping it was Lindsay's flip flop. We got organized, got back on our tubes and headed towards Lacey.
Everyone got all situated again and floated the remainder of the section before getting out and walking the short distance to the cars. We all decided to do the float again but this time I left my phone behind. We got in at the same place but this time we were prepared for the river obstacles ahead of us. At the fork, we took the left side, just as Lacey did the first time and it was a lot smoother of a ride. None of us fell in or lost any flip flops, haha!
Upon finishing the second round, we headed back to the cars and we all decided that pizza sounded good for dinner. I didn't know Lindsay had a class that started at 6, so we were pressed for time. Justin called an order into Dirty Dave's and we all tried to make it there now that it was rush hour. I took a wrong turn and had to back track but we made it with time to spare. The pizza came out immediately and Justin forgot to put his e-brake on so it rolled down the small incline and hit another car in the parking lot. Upon further investigation the lady he hit really didn't seem to care all that much so it was resolved right then and there. Lindsay had to leave so we said our goodbyes and stayed for about 15-20 more minutes before we all decided to leave. We thanked Justin for the pizza and that we would see him later.
Lacey and I went to the Goodwill to look at some stuff and a possibility of a costume for our upcoming game night on Saturday. Nothing looked promising so we walked to the Safeway next door and got some pints of ice cream to enjoy. It was getting late so we headed home.
Fun Facts:
- It was 30 degrees above the average temperature for April 18 of 59 degrees, the biggest departure from average for any existing record
- It broke the previous daily record of 77 degrees (from 1962) by 12 degrees
- It was 12 degrees hotter than the average high temperature during the warmest summer days (July 19-August 16)
- It marked only the third time on record Seattle hit 80 degrees on back to back days in April (the other times were April 23 and 24, 1905 and April 29 and 30, 1976.
- It was hotter than the hottest day during the summer of 2011 in its entirety.
- Temperatures in the PNW were as warm as anywhere in the nation, including southern Cal and south Texas. It was eight degrees hotter in Seattle than in Miami
Next Adventure: Murder Mystery Game Night
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