The Salt was nearly 1000 cfs, barely saw a rock and barely had to paddle. The girls are now crackerjack. Buying actual ‘river tubes‘ allowed me to drive the Prius instead of the F150, fill them up from an air mattress pump attached to the cigarette lighter, and string us all together through loops that let us slacken out or tighten up. With cupholders. Pros.

shove your lifevest up your ass! Nobody puts Alana in the corner

I even trusted them to hangout at the water’s edge instead of the parking lot while i went for the car. I said yeah this is another test just like the movies, do you want more freedom? ‘k, don’t drown!

The kids seamlessly adapted my foodieism for  Bavarian Point   whenever we goto the Ranch Market in Mesa. So…hungry… I could hear rumors about a taco stand selling dogshit, and they would lobby for the meal, if they thought they had sufficient traction. There are 3 good German restaurants in the Valley, and 2 of them are next door. So, after buying groceries we finally tried Zur Kate.   BP’s meals are amazing and massive and full of sauce, enhanced with their salad bar where every vegetable is doused in dumplings and onions and vinegar. The ambience is 1996 Best Senior Early Bird Special. Zur Kate is almost as filling, but a little more vibrant, smaller, simpler, sausages or schnitzel, and very smoky beer.

They had a live accordian player, and when he stepped off the German ambience pop all sounded like Ripple by the Grateful Dead.

ripple in shtill vater
ven zere is no pebble toshed
Nor vind permitted to blow

The waitress had to be 70, and with efficient communication and honesty was by far the best server I’d had in years. She struggled to move, yet we had everything we needed in record time. Danke fraulein. I left 22%, unheard of in East BumFuck Mesa.

Verde River float from Needle Rock to Box Bar Rd. 2 miles, 2 hrs. The cfs was 125 and led to many bumped asses and lining of the rapids. But a new adventure, with the twist that we had no recent beta other than “a couple gravel bars that you will need to dismount from. Definitely a slow go…”. 10 dismounts got old and a few times me and Beckie got beat up by the rocks and current keeping the kids clean. I enjoyed watching my girls, all of us, getting a little cold and not quite knowing when or where it’d be done.

The Verde is much tighter and greener, but less ‘wow’ than the Salt. The low levels made it less, and more, scary. Lots of herons, egrets and hummingbirds. The horses were awesome.

Daytrip to Payson, a few miles up Houston Mesa. Beckie and I were here 10+ years ago, didn’t remember it all til we dove in. So much fun for such easy access, a Prius-based adventure that cost $18 in gas, and, why you should hit  it mid-week.

For about 4 hours I was a broken record “hands and feet! careful! slippery! 3 points!”

they are so much fun

I climbed the ladder while they were playing around on the cliffs. It was slick to mount in water i couldn’t stand in, and a little scary the first time as it bounced in cadence with you. Easier the second time after i found the footholds. G HAD to try it, and I approve of this rapacity, so i did it 2 more times right on her butt to spot her. Then Alana  HAD  to try it 2x too, and finally G  HAD  to jump off it with me after we watched someone else dew eet.

We watched another family come down, something wrong with the ~23yo dad, skinny as straw with his hair everywhere and zombie eyes. When he walked by and G said ‘ugh, Dia you stink!‘ I also got to teach them about tweakers.  #ParentingForGnarness

 

 

I lost track of the time, loving it all, and struggling more than them with tired knees and higher COG. The coolest stuff we did swimming a few pools above the draws into falls, tugging Dia along with us, I gots no pics.

wetsuit flatters my junk, but black is slimming and shrinkage = junk neutrality.

The hike out was a girls-high-on-stoke romp: everything is green, the dragonflies are beautiful,  the rocks are warm and the air cold enough to last into the 105 degree evening down in the Valley.

Doesn’t like water

There is a lot of water in Phoenix, if you are willing to  work for it. The drive-ins&outs and load-ins&outs are the prologue to the adventure proper, of book reports and traveling music and shared fountain drinks from Circle K.

Tuesday we rode Saguaro Lake with Todd and Charlie.

Thursday afternoon we went to Needle Rock on the Verde, to give the tubes and children a test float. I didn’t take any pics (duh) but it went great. The girls got clear on what a river, a current, and a riffle were. We air-tested our old river tubes, and realized the deep bed of the F150 is remarkably better for tubes than a Ranger. Plans were a’brewing…and they might include a float from Needle Rock to BoxBar Road.

Saturday night Sam offered me an open seat on his Sunday morning float on the Salt, and my calendar was unexpectedly clear! Most of the good pics are from Sam – thanks buddy for dragging me out of my routine and letting me borrow your gear (again). And for another awesome morning with some friends I hadn’t seen in a few years.

Ryan is stoked!

even the inflatable can play around on Snaggletooth rock

SuperDave!

Sammy

Patty and Corinne completed our group. I’ve known of these cool girls in the abstract FB-way, great to hang out with them in meatspace.

During the float I scouted all the small details I’d need for Tuesday’s tubing adventure with the girls! The path to the water, the current at the put-in, and mostly the same on the way out. 90% is not good enough if someone drowns or loses an ankle. The Chollaballs came out refreshed, efficient, and unscathed!

Top of the river to Blue Point Bridge

Alana compared this to the Lazy River at the Aquatic Center, then asked if they made this river to be lazy like that? I spit out my beer laughing so hard at kid logic. A dragonfly rode on my hat, they learned marshmallow combat from a couple wasted college girls, and watched red-winged blackbirds chase half a bag of chips down the river.