3rd Annual Fishing Trip

I know I'm behind.
This is about our fishing weekend on the first of May.
Todd and I went on our annual fishing trip to Colorado. As most of you know this trip commemorates our first date. Our routine is to get up to Breckenridge on Thursday, and just hang out and relax. Friday Todd goes fishing, and I walk around town and shop. (I love Friday!) Saturday we hook up with one of Todd's friends, who is a guide, and fish the day away! This trip was no exception.


The weather Friday was pretty nice, in the 50's. I walked around town just enjoying my alone time. I don't know if being an only child has anything to do with liking to be alone, but sometimes I do. I loved walking up and down the streets, looking in the stores, and enjoying the scenery and the people. I love not having any place to be, or time limits.


Saturday morning we were up early to catch our fish! We met up with Clint, (our friend and guide) and he told us it would probably be a little cold and rainy where we were going. I knew Todd had many layers for me to put on, so I said let's go! It takes about an hour and a half to get to the river. We were going to float it this year instead of wading, so I was excited. I love being on the boat. The rocking is very peaceful to me. Anyway, we got our life-jackets on, heard the brief 'safety' lecture, and off we were!


We had fished this river before, but always by the shore. You don't get a very good feel for the rapids that way. Going down in a boat was a little eye opening. Below is a picture of the river.



Clint told me that the fishing at first would probably be a little rough. He told me to hang on to my rod and wait it out a while. That was fine with me because I really enjoy watching Todd fish and soaking in the scenery as we go by. Below is a picture of the fishing raft we were on.

Todd was standing up in the front, fishing, Clint was rowing in the middle, and I was just hangin' in the back. I had my camera out, trying to get a good shot of Todd catching a fish. It was a little hard because when he caught them, he released them so fast, usually right in front of him so I couldn't see very well. If you notice on the above pic, the back seat is as far back on that raft as you can get. Well we hit a decent rapid, the back popped up, and Tami.....went into the drink, head first.
I'm no Michael Phelps. I have to plug my nose to go under water, so this was quite a shock. I tried to remember the 'safety' talk Clint gave, and pointed my toes down stream.

Todd saw me go in the water. This was odd because he hadn't looked back at me the whole time. He was fishing forward, so why would he? Anyway, he had a hold of me within a few seconds.

To make a long story a little bit shorter... I made it in the boat, and Todd began stripping off my wet layers immediately. Clint went up the mountain a bit, to give me a little privacy. He was worried about hypothermia, and told Todd to hurry. He took all my layers off, and put most of his on me. We had a few dry jackets in the boat, so I wore those too. I dropped our camera and Clint's fishing rod in the river. (Therefore, all the pictures we had taken are gone, so I used some internet 'stand-ins' so it wouldn't be as boring!)

I hit my head and shoulder on a rock when I fell in. My shoulder hurt quite a bit, so after getting back in the boat I didn't get to fish. I made it through the rest of the trip fine. I was very, very cold by the time we were done, but I sucked it up to make sure Todd got to fish as long as possible. I felt bad that it happened because he had been looking forward to this trip for a while. And once I fell in, he was distracted.

So, I fell in the river...not such a great thing. However, my love for Todd, and I believe his for me, was strengthened. It's a strange thing thinking for even a moment that you might lose the one that you love. I was scared, cold, and hurt, yet I felt safe because he was taking care of me. I have never doubted that he loved me, but watching him in the boat and on the bank of that river just reinforced it.

We left the river, had some dinner and counted these as we went home.



We counted 285. It's kind of a tradition on these trips.

We also got stopped by this: Twice.


Once for a broken tail lights, and once for speeding. Not a banner night for Clint. No tickets however.

Then we ran into this:


We couldn't see anything coming down the mountain. It was a total white out, and very scary. Our 17 hour day was exhausting.

All and all our trip was nice. We loved having a few days to ourselves. Thanks to Sally and Dan who took great care of our girls!