Sunday

I know. I'm posting this a day late!

What did we do Sunday? The two days we've spent so far have been packed with activities. Sunday morning - duel of the tennis titans of big sky at Ophir school! Sorry, no pics of that. Oh, wait a minute. I found one! Here I am reaching for a forehand... Actually, that was Kevin. With 4 extra days of altitude adjustment and practice on the courts, he eked out a 6-4,6-3 victory. The balls were flying off my racquet (long, mostly) - could it be the altitude?

Our next adventure was one I recommend for all our summer visitors here at Big Sky. That afternoon we went whitewater rafting with Geyser Whitewater Expeditions, an outfit located right near Ophir school. We did the lower Gallatin 1/2 day package, with class III and IV rapids (and II). The Gallatin was at a 'medium' level of 1700cfs. Our guide was Dave, an ex-ski bum turned school teacher, who did an excellent job maneuvering us through the boulders. I was quite impressed with the river, having seen class IV and V on the Gauley in WV, and I'd say they were rating the rapids conservatively here. Wet suits were a must for this trip as we got soaked with 42 deg. water repeatedly. But we had a sunny warm day, so for the most part we weren't cold. The trip was 2 hrs long and the action was nicely spaced out. The longest stretch, called the Mad Mile, was class III and one class IV stretch that really got your adrenaline up! Hope to pick up pictures of our expedition today and we'll try to find a way to post it, although they are 'hard copies'. By the way, with five hard paddling people in the raft, Dave said our crew was ideal - we were able to make that raft zoom toward the right place on the river to avoid obstacles. Colin and Chelsea definitely pulled their weight. Indeed, Chelsea made sure we pulled 'THREE FORWARD!' and 'RELAX!'ed at the right times. Great fun!