Are we going to get going today? - Maybe?

August 4, 2004
Today we got up and drove to North Cascades National Park since we had extra time, a rental car, and had driven through it at night. We wanted to see it during the day. When we got back from going there, we filled up some inner tubes that Dad had gotten somewhere free. We were going to go tubing from Twisp to Carlton, 11 miles apart. We had talked to a guy at an information center who said that it would take one and a half to two hours to go there. Dad dropped us off at Twisp and then drove down to Carlton. He then hitched a ride back to where we were so that we could go tubing, too. When we started, it was warm and felt good to go tubing, but soon the sun went behind the clouds and it was cold. Dad also lost his glasses in the very beginning before it hardly even started. We started at some big rapids and he flipped over and he couldn’t find them. It was pretty fun except it got freezing and dark. 11 miles took us 6 hours to do. We stopped at 9 and since it was pretty dark and Dad lost his glasses, he couldn’t see anything. He was pretty close for a while and then he got really far behind. We stopped and waited for him. It was so cold that when we were getting out of the water to wait for him, you could hardly walk because you were shaking so much. You also hurt all over because you were shaking so much that it hurt. It was miserable. Anyway, Dad said that he couldn’t see anything and was going through some rapids that were really rocky. He said that it was really dangerous if he hit his head on a rock and was knocked out, we wouldn’t have known. He got out and at the same time, Travis was getting up on the bank so that he could go and look for him. They met up and some people who were there gave us a lift to where the car was. Dad really told us that we should never let someone out of our sight. He was right there and then all the sudden he was gone, so we didn’t think he was that far behind, but he was. It was lucky that Dad brought his glasses along in the car so that he could drive back to the camper. When we got back, it felt so good to get in some warmth again and we had hot chocolate, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, and took a hot shower. It felt soooo good. Then we went to bed. –posted by Renae

August 5, 2004
This morning dad, Travis, Nicole & I left to pick up the truck in Wanatchee. It was raining when we left, one of the only times we got rain this trip! We hope it’s done when we get there so we can be on our way again. –posted by Lisa

On our way down to pick up the truck in Wenatchee we stopped at the Smoke Jumper base in Winthrop. We got a little tour and learned all about them. It was pretty neat stuff. –posted by Nicole