Remembering 2011

Happy New Year 2012!
I came across my my blog about kayaking and am not sure when I last updated, it may have been a year since.
Here's a little of what happened in 2011.
Conor, Liam and I took a trip to California in April to camp along Highway 1. We have a camper truck so that is what we call camping now, who knew? We take Liam tent camping once in a while, such as when we go rafting, so he doesn't grow up thinking camping is an indoor luxury :) We LOVE our camper. This year HWY 1 was closed part way down because of a mud slide so we took a long detour to get to Santa Monica where we visited Uncle Fergus. Fergus and Ashley took us to Disneyland!

In July Conor joined me on a First Descents trip on the Main Salmon River. It was epic and amazing! We joined 30 others from all over and began our adventure in Missoula, MT. This river and the kayaking that took place on it will probably go down as one of my top ten outdoor adventures!That list includes a three week trip to Ecuador climbing volcanoes and swinging from vines in the Andes jungle. It's a good list, but there is always room for more!
The people on that trip are now lifelong friends. There is talk of a reunion in Peru. Wishful thinking I suppose, but I've always had dreams to keep me going :)
Our rafting/kayaking trip was catered and free a.k.a. we were pampered. Once again it was for cancer survivors, some had been cancer free for ten years, others, like me, had medical procedures just months previous. We played volleyball at a ranch riverside one day, got sucked down in river swirlies, dressed up in costumes and played bocce ball, rode at highwater on class III rapids. Those rapids might as well have been Class V to me. I also flipped more than ever including during one of the longest rapid sections. We had some top instructors on this trip including Brad Ludden, who founded FD. The guides and cook crew made this trip even better. Somewhere out there are pics (and video?) of us dancing on the beach to Michael Jackson's Thriller, Beat It and...?

About one month later (in August) I was invited to attend another FD1 camp at the ranch where it all began in 2010. It is also where I met my friend, Katherine who I had just found out had passed away from breast cancer. I was devastated. She was sarcastic and sweet. Love you "Upgrade"!
This time at 7W Ranch I was behind the scenes. I assisted a camera crew in creating a documentary about First Descents and the cancer survivors who attend these camps. It all came about because I approached FD about making my own documentary. This other company had a contract through 2011, but asked if I would like to help them out. We shot footage throughout the day on and off the water. I helped out wherever needed, but was mostly responsible for capturing sound and location scouting and helping out in the editing suite. The crew are great people. I was able to do this for six days. The new group of survivors were also inspiring and, I have to say, some of the best people as is common on these trips or perhaps it is because we share this common bond? One girl works in the White House, another is the Executive Director of a non-profit, one participated in the Walt Disney World College Program so we had that in common too. Life is good. I have a health blog:  www.mylifeline.org/adventurechica and am now living in Denver for four months while Liam gets treatments and surgery for his forehead. Today, January 2, 2012 we enjoyed some nice weather and this week starts a month long session of swimming lessons for Liam. He feels good just looks a little different on his head where he has a port and a tissure expander. Weekly injections of saline are inserted in the port to expand his skin in preparation for surgery scheduled for the  end of February.
Conor is working in Telluride, but visits once every three weeks or so. This is slightly reminiscent to when Liam was born and we lived in Denver for four months in 2006. Let's hope it's not a freak bad weather year. So far it has been sunny and in the 50s and 60s. Michelle visits Colorado for the first time since I moved here in 1995. I will finally meet Zachery and Hallie is joining them! Have a great 2012 everyone! Hope to update on my next kayaking or other adventure soon! Love, Jamie