Every summer, I try to organize a weekend whitewater rafting trip to Colorado.  Sometimes it happens, other times, it doesn't.  Actually, we have a pretty good track record considering.

It all started back in 1996 when my friend, Marjorie, and I traveled to Colorado Springs, CO to visit one of my best friends, Nick Rae.  Nick was stationed at Ft. Carson as an ordinance officer and well, if you have a free place to stay in a truly beautiful city like Colorado Springs, wouldn't you go for a visit?   So Nick decided to take us rafting, "Don't worry, it's just going to be a mild, 1/2 day float trip."  Now I had gone tubing down the Guadalupe River here in the Texas Hill Country before, but holy cow!! And thus, a monster was created.

Nick, Marjorie (hidden between us) and I chose the front of the raft while our guide deftly navigates us through Brown's Canyon on the Arkansas River.

Since then, we have done four multi-day rafting trips.  The first one was in July of 1999 and we had a blast.  From then on, we promised we'd go again every summer.  We were all set to go again in June of the following year, however, two separate family medical emergencies four days before our departure prevented us from going.  In honor of the loss of a family member from one of those medical emergencies, we canceled our 2001 trip.  Our second trip was in July of 2002 followed by June 2003.  Our most recent trip, June 2004, saw the biggest group we've taken yet.  After each year's trip, we vow to make the following summer trek even bigger and better than the first.  In 2005, we're hoping to add sky-diving, kayaking (not just inflatable 'duckies') and perhaps some horseback riding in the mix.  Care to join us?  COUNT ME IN NEXT YEAR!