Salt Lake City, Utah - December 2007

What to do in Utah in the winter? hmmm... well - it better have to do with snow.
Shaun, Heidi, and brother-in-law Jared, grabbing snowmobiles and heading out for the day.

Took the snowmobiles up to Soapstone. There was so much powder that you couldn't turn without standing up and hanging off the side of the sled. No pictures of snowmobiling because we rarely stopped - stopping meant getting stuck. Crazy day - but always fun with Shaun. He's good at everything - I'm bound to find something he stinks at... crochet perhaps? Doubt it.

What else to do in Utah or anywhere else - well, fly of course...
Shaun hand-propping the super cub into life.

My handsome pilot.

His oh-so-beautiful co-pilot. ;)

We flew over Kennecott Copper Mine - very cool. Did ya know it's one of the few man-made 'structures' visible from space? That sucker is huge and deep.
Great adventure in Utah. Flew up in the mountains - and of course we landed nowhere illegal.

Birthday - Nov 2007

Happy birthday to ME! I kinda look like I'm crying... oh wait - I just turned 31, I think I am...

Heidi and Tiff with the twins: Jackson and baby Roo

Me, Bec, Jared, Emma and Kyler.

Donovan, Katherine, JT, and baby Nate

JT, Emma, Kyler, and Baby Nate copping a feel....

Bowling with the kiddies - Oct 2007

Kyler - the ONE time he would actually use the ball-guide... Why use a ball-guide when you can throw a ball haphazardly down any number of different lanes? Emma - confusing the bowling lane for the modeling runway...

Teaching the nephews how to bowl the RIGHT way...

J.T. - wearing his "river" shirt from Auntie's job this last summer.

Costa Rica (Heidi, Bec, and Jared) - Sept. 2007

At the put-in of our 2-day trip down the Pacuare River, one of the top 5 rivers in the world. The rapids are awesome - in close succession, whereas the rapids on Utah rivers are separated by flatwater stretches. It's a FUN run!!

Start 'em out young...

Pacuare River

Pacuare River

Mesh huts built on the side of the hill in the middle of the rainforest. Not bad digs for the night spent on the Pacuare River.

Sleep is goooood. With mesh "walls", the jungle is pretty much in your room. The night sounds were pretty incredible, as was the sound of the river running just below me. Waterfall we stopped and swam at during day 2 on the Pacuare River.

Ok - not the most flattering picture of me... but the freakin bird was trying to beak my eye out.

Heidi and Jared

Waterfall near La Fortuna

View of Arenal Volcano from our hotel room. The clouds did clear one night and we could see lava flowing down the volcano... cool.

Arenal Volcano A localized storm hits a little town as we cross Lake Arenal.

Crossing Lake Arenal on the way to Monteverde.

After crossing Lake Arenal

Monteverde, C.R.

Video of the Tarzan swing - Extremos Zipline

Zipline stuff... we did two ziplines in Monteverde. The first was lame so we found a better one - Extremos - that was exceptionally cool!

Leaving Monteverde, Costa Rica - heading to the coast.
Gentlemen's Quarterly photoshoot...
View from the ferry to Montezuma

Our costa rican hotel room... or was it Mexico? Guatamala?
Montezuma, Costa Rica
Does anybody know where I can get some drift wood?

Got to see Frodo's condo in Costa Rica...
Our hotel in Montezuma
View from the hotel room in Montezuma, Costa Rica. No roads leading to the hotel - they come pick you up in the town and drive over the rocks on the beach to get to the hotel.

Tin-Jo.... mmmmmm....

River Guiding 2007

The Colorado River near Moab, Utah. Life is good here...

I got to spend the season guiding for Western River Expeditions (http://www.westernriver.com/). Best "job" of my life. Best summer of my life. Being retired has its benefits. ;)
-- Danger sign entering Cataract Canyon at the Confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers.
This didn't end well...

Cataract Canyon - Summer 07

Cataract Canyon.
Holding down the cooler... you know, just in case.
(Corey Chatwin at the helm, Grace Rich lounging down back, and Patrick Parsons sacrificing for the other Gott - Desolation Canyon.)

Cataract Canyon - July 07. There's no greater peace for me than on the river. I think God lives here - in fact, I'm sure of it. :) Ashley is a good friend and my roommate in our double-wide trailer for the season.

My purple boat - Desolation Canyon - July 2007
The Pied Piper...

Heidi and Carly making "turn & burn's" for the Captain's Dinner - Desolation Canyon 5 day river trip. Everyone dresses up for the last night of the trip... well, as much as possible.
We're ahead of the curve... this look is all the rage is Paris.

My boat is the one with the orange gott on it... Desolation Canyon 4 day river trip.

2007 Season River Guides after Desolation Canyon rowing training trip - May 2007.

2007 Western River Expeditions Red-Nosed River Guides (I think they're using this as a skin cancer awareness ad).

A Loo with a view... Cataract Canyon

Slack-lining in the park in Moab. This picture is awesomely deceiving. I fell after walking 2 steps - but HAPPENED to get a picture looking like I had a clue what I was doing.

2007 season WRE River Guides - at Brown Betty on Cataract Canyon Training Trip in May.

Working hard on the Daily stretch... "Paddle monkeys! Paddle!"

Wearing every stitch of clothing around on an early season 4-day Deso trip. Mosquitos were biting through my clothes... mean-spirited little suckers.
Life is good on the river... even the worst days are good.