When I was about 10 years old, my family, along with about 5 other families that I had grown up with decided to go on a whitewater rafting excursion. (Bad idea #1) The other families packed up their rafts, PFDs, and lunches and headed to the river. My family didn't own a raft that would work for the river, so my parents decided that a canoe would be the second best idea for the rafting trip. (Bad idea #2). The canoe we had was old, and didn't have any kind of seats in it, nor did it have any kind of even bottom for us to sit on. So my parents, being the innovative individuals that they are, decided to use lawn chairs in the canoe for the 4 of us to sit in. (Bad idea #3). We hit the river early in the morning, all pumped for the adventure ahead of us. Now, I'm not sure if many of you are familiar with the Trinity River, but the section that we were rafting was about a class 3 run which is meant for skilled professionals. My mom's a school teacher and my dad's a Brew Master. I guess to them, that translated into "skilled rafting professional." For the first few miles we're doing great. We hit a few rapids which my parents paddled us through with no problem. About 20 minutes into the trip, we see the first real whitewater rapid ahead. At this point I'm having a blast sitting in my lawn chair in the canoe, not a care in the world! We come up to this rapid, and my parents freak. We're turning sideways, and headed straight for the rocky mountain side, when my mom gets this genius idea for all of us to lean into the current. (Bad idea #4) Now, keep in mind that our center of gravity is already higher than the canoe because we're sitting in lawn chairs. What happened next I'll never forget. We all lean into the current, and as we do that the entire canoe flips over. We lost everything, and I do mean everything. Our ice chest sank to the bottom of that river, along with the 4 lawn chairs, and my mom's car keys. We were left with a wet canoe, our trusty ores and one very shaken 10 year-old.
To this day, I will NOT set foot in a canoe. I suppose the moral of the story is 1. don't take on a class 3 whitewater run unless you are REALLY a trained professional, and 2. don't use lawn chairs in a canoe. I mean, seriously? What were my parents thinking?!
