yesterday's adventure. followed by today's adventure.

yesterday's adventure-

floating the river turns out to be exactly what it sounds like. here's what you do:

drive your car about two or three miles north of town to barber park, where you'll pay $5 to park the car. rent two inflated inner tubes at $6 each and join a mass of mormon youth groupers at a sandy shoal where all sorts of inflated nautical verhicles are in various stages of deployment into the river. the water will be cold, but as the air temperature hovers somewhere around 102 degrees, cold water will feel just fine.

once in the water, position yourself on the tube so that you are with the direction of the current. then, relax and... float!

floating also turns out to be the optimal athletic activity, as it requires little to no physical involvement. in fact, up to a couple of years ago, floaters where allowed to bring alcoholic beverages along with them, presumably to meet their thirst needs on the long voyage. lord only knows why the city outlawed that practice. the most exertion you will, er, exert will be to avoid the mormon youth groupers bearing down on you in their enormous and poorly steered rafts and trying not to fall off your tube when going over what initially appear to be vicious but turn out to be docile rapids.

float on, float on. sing to yourself every song you can think of involving the words "float" and "merrily." (there will be two). see your friend floating a few yards behind you with a lazy smile on her contented face. feel the warm sun, watch sparrows flit and fish test the surface of the water.

you'll float for a total of two hours, down to ann morrison park, where you'll get out of the river and turn in your tubes. from there, a shuttle will take you back to your car ($2 each). on the shuttle, you and your friend will devise ways to make this activity cheaper and listen to an insane bus driver rant about the war in iraq. he will repeatedly refer to himself as a "radical," and in spite of his political leanings, manage to deliver you and your friend safely to your car. you'll drive home, have a glass of wine and delicious foods from india and watch a fantastic french heist film from the fifties, which will be named rififi.

today's adventure - housework.

note: a longer, better version of this tale can be found on the herewehaveidaho blog, along with some other news.