Salmon

This past weekend we went up to Salmon. Well, not actually Salmon. The place we went was a few miles farther than the actual city of Salmon, ID. We went to Salmon River High Adventure Base. Morgan worked there in 2007 as a river guide. He really loved it, but couldn’t do it the next few summers. His brother Calvin and his wife Christine work up there now. Calvin asked Morgan to come up for a few days to help out because they had a lot of people there. Morgan was so excited to go. He loves that place so much and he would get to kayak for a few days. I wasn’t too excited because I didn’t know what I’d be doing the whole time. I’ve only kayaked once and I wasn’t very good at it.

The drive up was nice. There are some beautiful places in Idaho. We got up there in the afternoon. The only problem is that there’s no road into the place. It is across the river and you can only get in by the cable car they have or on a boat. That was kind of a shock to me. I’ve never seen a camp like that before. Morgan crossed over on his kayak to go tell Calvin we were there.

Here’s some pictures I took while I was waiting. 

 

Calvin wasn’t there, so we had to wait for him to get back from kayaking down the river. We drove a little further down the road to Shoup. There was a store and a cabin and that was it. We got some ice cream then headed back to wait. When Calvin came, we put our stuff on the trolley and I rode on it (Morgan kayaked over again). The trolley was actually really terrifying. It is operated by a staff member who pulls us along on the cable. It goes right over the river. It was leaning a bit because there was more weight on my side of it. I thought I was going to fall right into the river. It doesn't look very scary from the pictures, but it was. I was too scared to even get a video of me going across; I was hanging on for dear life. 

We crossed over just in time for dinner. After dinner, Morgan, Calvin, and Christine headed down to the river to help teach people to kayak. I didn't know what to do so I sat on the side and took pictures. 

Morgan is so awesome. The only problem with sitting by the river was the mosquitoes. I thought the mosquitoes were bad at Lake Walcott, these were even worse. I put on bug spray several times and they still kept coming. When I couldn't handle it anymore, I decided I would try kayaking. Christine let me borrow her gear and her boat. I paddled around for a bit, but there were too many people in the water. Plus, I didn't want to learn how to roll. I don't really like having my head underwater. I'm not as brave as Morgan. I tried to get a video of him rolling, but I didn't get the camera on in time. He's already underwater when it starts. 

 

So I went back to taking pictures.

When it was too dark to kayak anymore, we went up to Calvin and Christine's cabin and hung out the rest of the night. Morgan and Calvin we watching kayaking videos, so Christine and I sat and talked. I haven't gotten to spend much time with her before, so it was really good to be able to get to know her better. 

The next day, I went to help out in the kitchen while Morgan went kayaking. I was nervous about this trip because I didn't think I'd have anything to do. I was glad to have something to do. It may sound boring, cooking all day, but it was so much fun. The people there were awesome. Jen is the head cook. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She is a two time breast cancer survivor and she is so kind and optimistic. Elizabeth is an assistant cook. She is married to the assistant director of the camp. She is so funny and nice. I really like her. Rachael is another assistant cook. She is so sweet and wonderful. She is also so creative with food. She even garnished the bowls of mayonnaise and sour cream. I really don't have the words to describe my experience. I spent the day cooking, serving food, and making friends. At the end of the day I was exhausted, but I felt wonderful. It's been a while since I've done a full day's work. I don't have any pictures from this day because Morgan and I were both very busy. 

The next morning, I slept in. I felt kind of guilty. Even though I don't work there, I felt like I should be helping out. I helped make and serve lunch and then it was time for us to leave. Usually when we go on vacations, Morgan is always excited to go home. This time, he didn't want to leave at all. Salmon is very special to him and it was so good for him to be back. He had so much fun and worked so hard, and so did I. Even though I only worked there for a day, and didn't have too much time to get to know people, I felt like I belonged there.  It was such a wonderful vacation in a wonderful place. We are probably going to work up there next year. 

On the way home, there were some mountain goats in the road. They were so close to our car. It was awesome.

We love Salmon and we miss it already! It was a great adventure.