Welcome to another Monday folks! It was another busy weekend for me. Pretty eventful although unfortunately I have few photos, more details on that later. I am going to try and keep this blog short and sweet today. Friday was a bit of a rushed day. I had a work training and staff outing and was not initially expecting to go out of town. See Derek has friends that go every year to the Apple River in Somerset, Wisconsin. If you are not from around here Apple River is a huge attraction where people tie inner tubes together and ride down the river. It's a pretty well oiled machine and official. Each year we get asked to go and each year we can't. This year we finally made it work.  At first I was not going to be able to go as we could not get a sitter for the pups, but at the last minute we found a patchwork group of family and friends to help us care for them. I ran home packed as quick as I could and off we went. The river is only about 45 minutes away from us which was great so we go there around six, set up our tent and was ready to party. Apple River has a reputation as a party place and it definitely held up to it's name. 

On Friday we hung out by the fire, and played a few homemade games that the others had brought. I'm not much of a camper so I needed to be pretty exhausted before I could fall asleep in a tent. The crew that goes has everything planned out well. They have self made bean bags, kerplunk and a version of beer pong played with a soccer ball and garbage cans. Oh also a giant jenga game with dares written on each block. I played for a bit but mostly walked around and talked. On Saturday it was river day. Again, they had this all plotted out perfectly. We had three coolers and a floating stereo that three of the guys built. The stereo was the coolest part. It is made of wood and fiber glass and they put a touch screen on it so you can select your songs. It looked professionally made and everyone we passed on the river remarked on cool it was. It takes a few hours to go down the river because we stop along the way to drink a little and play games. Overall we had a really great time, but near the end I was ready to be done. There are a bunch of rapids at the end and it gets a little rock so you have to sit strategically so at to not injure yourself. It was also about 1,000 degrees on Saturday so being in the water was not too shabby.

There were a few casualties. On Friday, I went to use the restroom at the campground, which for the record are glorified latrines and smell something fierce. I brought my bag of toiletries, towel and phone with me because I thought there were sinks but I was wrong. I went to put my phone up on the cinder block wall that separated each latrine and much to my terror the top layer was not sealed off and my phone fell to the bottom of the 6 foot wall. I screamed in terror and a kind lady in the next stall tried to help me move on. Thankfully in our group we had some smart and strong dudes and they brainstormed a few strategies. Later on Saturday one of the guys took a hammer to the wall and made a whole to grab my phone. Downside: breaking the brick broke my iphone screen. Hopefully I can get the screen fixed. Another casualty occurred when one of the friends dunked Derek in the river while he was wearing his sunglasses. They fell in the river never to be found again. Derek almost lost his wedding ring when it got hit by a rock in the river. 
by some stroke of fate ,and what I'm sure looked like Frodo catching the One Ring, he caught it and all was well. Nothing irreparable occurred so I consider that a success. As one of our fellow river goers put it "never bring anything on the river you can't afford to lose." Truer words were never spoken.

Here are the two snapshots I took:
Giant Jenga

In the local bar, no  men allowed on the dancing stage

I compiled a few items that if you ever finding yourself this summer camping and tubing down a river here are a few essentials. What I learned very quickly is that you  need water shoes. Nothing fancy because they will get beat up. The riverbed is really rocky and there are not storage lockers. You go down the river with the clothes are you back and leave everything else behind. I had a cheap pair of flip flops I wore and they broke pretty fast in the current. Next time: water shoes. Also, the bathing you wear needs to be fully coverage. The current of the water and people horsing around you don't want to have to watch for potential slips. The one I posted is incredibly similar to what I wore and I felt secure all day. Next: the two S's Suncreen and Sunglasses. It was sunny so you needed those and a cheap fun pair of sunglasses is what you want. Remember the saying "never bring anything on the river you can't afford to lose" this is where that is relevant here. Also, sunscreen because, c'mon! I got pretty red even with my SPF 30. I cannot imagine what would have happened without it. After the river you are going to want some comfy clothes. I picked out a few camper friendly pieces including a hat. It is still sunny and you'll want to protect your forehead from the sun after a long day of floating. Also, safe to pack a sweatshirt more to protect from the bugs than the cold. I also would encourage inexpensive flip flops because camp grounds are dirty and disgusting. Don't bring nice things. Next year, if I go I will pack smarter like this :)


River Weekend

River Weekend by mcainmoss featuring a black hat


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What do you think? Leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you.

P.S. I signed up for Stitch Fix yesterday. Excited for my first box on August 3rd. Anyone else signed up for this? What do you think of it?