June 25, 2013

The Maiden Voyage of Sacagawea

We have wanted a canoe for 2 years, ever since we took our first canoe trip together up to Pillar Falls. Last week we finally bought our Guide 147, which we named Sacagawea. We once again traveled up the Snake River to Pillar Falls, but this time we portaged the canoe, our 3 kids and our ridiculous amount of stuff over the rocks so we could continue up the river. This is where we landed with a view down stream.

This is William taking a snack break on a strange pile of rocks on the island we landed on.

This is Brad, the Snake River and Shoshone Falls! We've only ever seen the Falls from above.

We got back in the boat, paddled against fierce wind to Pilar Falls, portaged the canoe and all the stuff (did I mention that Brad carried the boat by himself both times?), once again paddled against the wind, got stopped by the boat Sheriff for a random boat check (we passed) and got back to Centennial Park where we (mostly Brad) got the canoe back on the car. The weather was mostly warm, except for the crazy wind, and it was a perfect 5 hours. The kids were great, although Claire fussed a little and Will was worried about the tippiness of the boat. Overall we had a fabulous time and then enjoyed a late lunch at Golden Corral with all the other white trash!
On our trip we once again saw lots of wild-life. We saw birds that made their homes out of mud on the side of the canyon, White Pelicans, a Blue Heron, a lizard, tiny brightly-colored-banded birds that darted around the boat, and several dead fish. I LOVE IDAHO!