Hi, honey, I'm hoooooome!
So, yeah, I've been home from my awesometastic trip since Saturday night. I am soooooo glad I went rafting with Tom instead of going to Family Camp! I love the river, and seeing Tom for that long was really wonderful.
I was in Fresno at Tom's house for two days, hanging out with his mom and aunt while he was at work, and then we headed off on the arduous two-day trek to Riggins, Idaho in his new Honda Fit (it's a gorgeous brilliant blue) with a 100 lb yellow lab in tow. In Riggins, we joined his dad and the other two family dogs and prepared for a five-day rafting trip down the Salmon River. There were 28 people and five dogs in eight rafts on the trip and we had a blast. The first night, though, one of the teenagers decided to be brilliant and try whittling after twilight. He was very lucky in that he didn't cut anything important in his hand, but it was bad enough that he needed to go to the hospital and have it stitched up. Also lucky was the fact that we were only on the first day, so there was a take-out spot just down-river where he was handed off to Tom's mom, who took him to get stitched up. The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful (read: no major mishaps), but it was a ton of fun. I poked Tom about SCA names and heraldry, ince he currently has neither, and we ended up getting somewhat closer to a name and I got some concrete ideas for his device. I also managed to sunburn my legs a bit, and we got rained on our third day out, but that didn't take away from the enjoyment. On our last afternoon on the river, after we had stopped for the day, Tom decided it would be funny to put his cold, unopened can of beer down my cleavage. This led to chasing and wrestling and much amusement for everyone present. After we took out on the fifth day, we headed back to Riggins, making one stop along the way to get ice cream. Strawberry cheesecake ice cream is awesome.
Back in Riggins, we met Tom's sister, her fiance, and their adorable new puppy Star, who had all come up from California while we were on the river. We did some hiking and had a pirate night where we all dressed up as pirates, did a "pirate quiz" (which was hilarious) and watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Tom and I decided it would be fun to make heraldry for all the dogs (5!) while we were hiking. They need to be adjusted, though, since at the time I couldn't remember if brown was a heraldic color (it's not), but we used it anyways. I had two days back in Riggins before Tom drove me up to Lewiston to meet up with my cousin there.
My cousin and I drove out from Lewiston to Bellingham, Washington, where her sister lives, and we met up with two more cousins there. From Bellingham, we then went to Orcas Island for a family reunion, where I met a bunch of awesome cousins on my dad's mom's side of the family. My parents and brother were there, too, and I think we had about 25-30 people in total, spanning 5 generations. There were five little kids there, and I gave them piggy-back rides until I was tired. They were adorable and tons of fun. The reunion concluded with the wedding of one of my cousins, which was really wonderful. Most of us took the same ferry back from Orcas Island to the mainland, so we had one last chance to socialize before parting ways.
After the reunion, my family and I headed to Seattle to see one of my dad's cousins on his dad's side. We had a pleasant evening and morning with him and his wife, then headed off to spend a couple of hours with some old friends of my parents' from grad school before going down to the airport and flying home.
For the interested, here is the heraldry for the dogs:
Rose (11-year-old chocolate lab): (brown) on a saltire argent a rose purpure seeded and barbed vert. (Will probably end up either "Argent a rose purpure seeded and barbed vert," or "Purpure on a saltire argent a rose proper.")
Chief (young 100 lb. yellow lab): Per quarter Or and argent two feathers in saltire azure.
Daisy (flat-coated retriever): Argent two flaunches vert an annulet of daisies sable. (May be modified to "Argent between two flaunches vert an annulet of daisies sable.")
Lily (mostly Jack Russel terrier with some Chihuahua): Argent within a bordure embattled (brown) a hare rampant azure, in base a lily fesswise proper. (Will probably end up "Argent within a bordure embattled sable a hare...")
Star (yellow lab/golden retriever cross puppy): Or within a bordure rayonny gules a compass star sable.
I was in Fresno at Tom's house for two days, hanging out with his mom and aunt while he was at work, and then we headed off on the arduous two-day trek to Riggins, Idaho in his new Honda Fit (it's a gorgeous brilliant blue) with a 100 lb yellow lab in tow. In Riggins, we joined his dad and the other two family dogs and prepared for a five-day rafting trip down the Salmon River. There were 28 people and five dogs in eight rafts on the trip and we had a blast. The first night, though, one of the teenagers decided to be brilliant and try whittling after twilight. He was very lucky in that he didn't cut anything important in his hand, but it was bad enough that he needed to go to the hospital and have it stitched up. Also lucky was the fact that we were only on the first day, so there was a take-out spot just down-river where he was handed off to Tom's mom, who took him to get stitched up. The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful (read: no major mishaps), but it was a ton of fun. I poked Tom about SCA names and heraldry, ince he currently has neither, and we ended up getting somewhat closer to a name and I got some concrete ideas for his device. I also managed to sunburn my legs a bit, and we got rained on our third day out, but that didn't take away from the enjoyment. On our last afternoon on the river, after we had stopped for the day, Tom decided it would be funny to put his cold, unopened can of beer down my cleavage. This led to chasing and wrestling and much amusement for everyone present. After we took out on the fifth day, we headed back to Riggins, making one stop along the way to get ice cream. Strawberry cheesecake ice cream is awesome.
Back in Riggins, we met Tom's sister, her fiance, and their adorable new puppy Star, who had all come up from California while we were on the river. We did some hiking and had a pirate night where we all dressed up as pirates, did a "pirate quiz" (which was hilarious) and watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Tom and I decided it would be fun to make heraldry for all the dogs (5!) while we were hiking. They need to be adjusted, though, since at the time I couldn't remember if brown was a heraldic color (it's not), but we used it anyways. I had two days back in Riggins before Tom drove me up to Lewiston to meet up with my cousin there.
My cousin and I drove out from Lewiston to Bellingham, Washington, where her sister lives, and we met up with two more cousins there. From Bellingham, we then went to Orcas Island for a family reunion, where I met a bunch of awesome cousins on my dad's mom's side of the family. My parents and brother were there, too, and I think we had about 25-30 people in total, spanning 5 generations. There were five little kids there, and I gave them piggy-back rides until I was tired. They were adorable and tons of fun. The reunion concluded with the wedding of one of my cousins, which was really wonderful. Most of us took the same ferry back from Orcas Island to the mainland, so we had one last chance to socialize before parting ways.
After the reunion, my family and I headed to Seattle to see one of my dad's cousins on his dad's side. We had a pleasant evening and morning with him and his wife, then headed off to spend a couple of hours with some old friends of my parents' from grad school before going down to the airport and flying home.
For the interested, here is the heraldry for the dogs:
Rose (11-year-old chocolate lab): (brown) on a saltire argent a rose purpure seeded and barbed vert. (Will probably end up either "Argent a rose purpure seeded and barbed vert," or "Purpure on a saltire argent a rose proper.")
Chief (young 100 lb. yellow lab): Per quarter Or and argent two feathers in saltire azure.
Daisy (flat-coated retriever): Argent two flaunches vert an annulet of daisies sable. (May be modified to "Argent between two flaunches vert an annulet of daisies sable.")
Lily (mostly Jack Russel terrier with some Chihuahua): Argent within a bordure embattled (brown) a hare rampant azure, in base a lily fesswise proper. (Will probably end up "Argent within a bordure embattled sable a hare...")
Star (yellow lab/golden retriever cross puppy): Or within a bordure rayonny gules a compass star sable.